PRESS RELEASE : Road rage and Revocation [March 2023]
The press release issued by the Department for Transport on 17 March 2023.
In a recent public inquiry before Deputy Traffic Commissioner Nick Denton, Kevin Griggs had his operator’s licence revoked, and was prohibited from holding such a licence for at least twelve months and had his vocational driving licence suspended for the same amount of time.
Mr Griggs was involved in a slight collision with another vehicle at the roundabout. He then forced that other vehicle off the road at the exit to the roundabout, jumped out of his cab swinging a table leg, threatened the other driver in an aggressive manner and at one point hit the other driver on the back with the table leg. He then drove off in a manner which was unsafe for other traffic. Griggs was subsequently convicted at Snaresbrook Crown Court of assault by beating, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, using threatening behaviour and driving without due care and attention. He received 4 points on his licence for the motoring offence, one month’s imprisonment (suspended for 12 months) for possession of the weapon, one month’s imprisonment (also suspended for 12 months) for using threatening behaviour, and six months’ imprisonment (again suspended for 12 months) for the assault. He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. Mr Griggs failed to notify any of these convictions to the traffic commissioner.
During an adjournment, Mr. Denton was shown video from the police that contradicted statements the operator had made about his actions. This in turn led to the deputy commissioner finding Mr Griggs to be an unreliable witness.
The deputy commissioner said “the incident was of an exceptionally serious and shocking nature. The public have a right to drive on the road without an operator using his skip lorry to force another vehicle to stop in a wholly inappropriate location causing danger to other road users. Other road users should not be subject to the abuse and violence dealt out by Mr Griggs, no matter what the excuse … The inescapable conclusion is that Kevin Roy Griggs is not fit to hold an operator’s licence.”
The decision can be found here.
