A ‘callous’ motorist left a cyclist lying on the ground with a broken pelvis after he smashed into the rear of his car after he deliberately braked in front of him during a road-rage incident.

Seconds before the collision, Michael Evers deliberately swerved in front of the hospital porter after he overtook him when driving over a mini-roundabout.

Footage from the cyclist’s helmet camera showed the 48-year-old driver weaving across the road before twice slamming his brakes on as they travelled along Parkside in Darlington.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the cyclist suffered a broken hip and was forced to take time off work to recover from his injuries.

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Recorder Anthony Kelbrick branded Evers ‘callous’ as he locked him up for 21 months.

“You are a danger to other road users,” he said. “What you did on that day was a deliberate act of road-rage, when another road user protested about your inconsiderate driving.

“You must have known that the victim had been knocked off his bike but you callously drove off leaving him in the road badly injured.

“The effect your actions have had on him were grave and the court has heard of the long-lasting, possibly permanent, impact it has had on him.”

In a victim impact statement, the cyclist said he had been left with injuries that would impact on him for the rest of his life.

He added: “I want to say that because you couldn’t be bothered to wait a matter of seconds behind a cyclist, you put me in danger. Because of your actions you left me lying in the middle of the road and you didn’t even have the decency to check I was ok or ring an ambulance for me.”

The Northern Echo: Michael EversMichael Evers (Image: Durham Constabulary)

Victoria Lamballe, prosecuting, said another motorist came to the stricken cyclists help and he eventually taken to hospital where it was discovered he had broken his pelvis.

Miss Lamballe said the defendant was arrested two weeks after the accident when a police officer spotted the suspect driving around Darlington in his VW Golf.

Evers, of Middleton Street, Darlington, pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified, causing assault occasioning actual bodily harm, dangerous driving, driving with no insurance, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident.

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Sam Faulks, mitigating, said his client had shown remorse for his actions on April 1 last year but accepted that a custodial sentence was likely but urged the judge to pass a suspended sentence.

“These serious offences were committed in the heat of the moment – they were not pre-planned; not pre-meditated or were they sophisticated,” he added.

“He understands the overwhelming price of his stupidity, he is deeply sorry and mortified about what he has done.”

He was banned from driving for two years after his release from custody.