Falkirk crime: Cabbie jailed after incident in Grangemouth where cyclist was knocked from bike

Charles Yorston, 60, "jerked" his Ford Tourneo minibus to the right just as the cyclist, Andrew Learmonth, drew level with his driver's window.

The resulting impact sent Mr Learmonth, 31, a prison officer out for an evening ride, into mid-air, seriously injuring him.

Tangled in the wreckage of his machine, he travelled right across the road and struck his head on the far kerb. The impact saw him cracking his helmet, chipping his glasses, writing off his bike, tearing his clothing, and leaving him with cuts, bruises, and a fractured right elbow that still causes him pain nearly three years later.

A sheriff, who banned Yorston from driving for four years in addition to the jail term, said Mr Learmonth was lucky not to have been killed.

He said : "What you did was quite extraordinary. This was no accident."

Yorston, a taxi driver for 19 years, now a call centre worker, had previously been found guilty by a jury at Falkirk Sheriff Court in May of causing serious injury by dangerous driving in the summer 2019 incident.

Father-of-two Yorston, of Falkirk, had denied the charge and insisted he had not been trying to scare Mr Learmonth.

Prosecutor Sarah Smith said he had acted intentionally, because he had lost his temper.

He admitted he hit the rear quarter-panel of the taxi with his hand to get the driver's attention, and shouted, "What the f*** are you playing at? You nearly put me into the back of that car."

He said he "wanted to make the driver aware of what he had done".

But he then looked into the driver's eyes and noticed "the look of anger in his face" and "saw the beginning of him turning the steering wheel towards me".

Challenged by witnesses who had asked him "what were you playing at?" – Yorston responded by saying "why would I jeopardise my job?"

Then he complained he was losing money as he had to wait around after the collision.

Sheriff Hamilton said: "The jury found you deliberately drove at Mr Learmonth.

"It is fortunate that the consequences were not more tragic.

"This could easily have resulted in a fatality."