A 20-year-old man appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court last month charged with dangerous driving after he was caught on CCTV pulling a man along a road in Harrogate in a wheelchair.
Michael Ward of Walworth Avenue, Harrogate pleaded guilty on 20 July 2017 to dangerous driving on Cheltenham Parade in Harrogate on 28 January 2017.
He was disqualified from driving for 20 months, ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, fined £85 CPS costs and £85 victim’s surcharge.
At around 12.25am on Saturday 28 January 2017, Ward was seen on CCTV talking to 28-year-old William MacPherson outside of the Moko Lounge Bar, Kings Road in Harrogate.
Ward proceeded to drive along Kings Road as MacPherson, who was seated in a wheelchair, held on to the back of the car before they became detached.
Ward stopped and reversed back to MacPherson who took hold of the vehicle again. They then continued to travel and come to a stop on two other occasions up Cheltenham Parade and Cheltenham Crescent before turning left onto Oxford Street and coming to a stop outside McDonald’s.
MacPherson, of Link Way, Harrogate pleaded guilty at the same hearing to holding onto a vehicle for the purpose of being drawn. He was fined £154 and ordered to pay £30 CPS costs and £30 victim’s surcharge.
TC Rob Roberts of Harrogate’s Road Policing team said:
Ward and Macpherson acted selfishly that night. They paid no regard to the safety of other road users or pedestrians and chose to act in a dangerous manner.I hope the sentence that has been handed to them teaches a lesson to both them, and others, that reckless behaviour will not be tolerated on our roads.
