DIABOLICAL DRIVING
SPEEDING CABBIE WHO KILLED MAN AFTER POLICE WARNING JAILED FOR 6 YEARS 10 MONTHS
A cabbie whose dangerous driving caused a pedestrian’s death just sixteen minutes after he had been warned about his speed by the police was jailed for six years and ten months on Thursday 2 May. Dad of four Shakoor Ahmed, 46, was also banned from driving for five years five months by a judge who told him he had behaved with ‘gross arrogance’ on the roads on the night he crashed into Dan Beames, 32, in Cheltenham. Ahmed, carrying two passengers in his Toyota Prius cab, was doing 53mph on a 40mph road when he hit Mr Beames, who was crossing the road after a Christmas party. Sixteen minutes earlier, Ahmed had been carrying a passenger in Gloucester, when he was pulled in by two police officers who gave him a formal warning for speeding. The officers had charitably decided not to charge him with the offence because of the impact a conviction might have on his 16-year taxi driving career. But Gloucester Crown Court heard that Ahmed did not heed the warning - in fact, he boasted about it to his next two passengers when he picked them up at Gloucester Bus station and drove them to Cheltenham. He also told them that he had driven at 100mph along the A40 Golden Valley by-pass between Gloucester and Cheltenham in the past - and he then proceeded to do so again on their journey. Driving along Lansdown Road in Cheltenham, Ahmed pulled out at traffic lights to overtake a slow moving car ahead of him and then cut back in front of the vehicle to
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get back into the correct lane. But as he did so, at a speed of 53mph with his foot flat down on the accelerator, Mr Beames started to cross the road from a Texaco garage on the right hand side and Ahmed could not avoid hitting him. Mr Beames was rushed to hospital in Bristol but did not sur- vive his catastrophic brain injuries. His barrister, Catherine Spedding, said: “He is genuinely remorseful about what happened and the premature death of Mr Beames that he caused and which has had such an effect on Mr Beames’ family.” She asked the court to take into account that Mr Beames had a blood/alcohol reading of 193mgs at the time of his death - almost two and a half times the limit for a driver. He had also tested positive for cannabis and was using his mobile phone as he crossed the road, she said. “My client has not driven since the collision. He has given up his profession as a taxi driver, which was a long standing one.” Jailing Ahmed, Judge Rupert Lowe said he had read character references which showed that he was a caring, honest and hard- working man who looked after his extended family and had, despite some criminal convictions more than 23 years ago, led a law- abiding adulthood.
The only exception, he said, had been a speeding conviction nine months before the tragedy, in March 2021, when he did 45mph in a 30mph limit and was fined and issued with three penalty points. The judge pointed out that immediately prior to the fatal collision, if Ahmed had been driving at the 40mph limit there was only a 30% chance of Mr Beames being killed. But at his speed of 53mph the chance of fatality was 80%.
The judge said the aggravating factors were Ahmed’s speed with two passengers on board, his ignoring of the earlier police warning and the fact that the victim was a pedestrian. He had shown ‘gross arrogance’ in those respects. But in Ahmed’s favour were that Mr Beames had contributed significantly to the collision by his own inattention, Ahmed’s largely good character, the effect of his imprisonment on his children, the strong prospect of him being rehabilitated, the low risk of him re-offending and his co-operation with the police investigation. The judge said he also took into account Ahmed’s genuine remorse. Overall, he said, the mitigating factors in Ahmed’s favour marginally outweighed the aggravating features. The judge sentenced Ahmed to six years and 10 months, of which he would serve half before being paroled. Ahmed would have to take an extended driving test before being allowed on the road again after his five years and five month disqualification, the judge added.
JUNE 2024 PHTM
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