Taxi driver fined €500 for knocking down food critic Tom Doorley

A taxi driver who knocked down food critic Tom Doorley has been convicted of careless driving and fined €500 but spared a driving ban.

Taxi driver Mark Cruikshanks (38), of Cushlawn Park, Tallaght, pleaded not guilty at Dublin District Court to careless driving at Fleet Street, Dublin 2 on October 17th, 2014.

He claimed Mr Doorley rushed out in front of his Toyota Avensis during the incident, which left the writer with two broken shoulders.

Defence solicitor Kieran Friel asked the judge to note that his client depended on his driving licence for work. Judge Miriam Walsh said that in special circumstances the court had discretion not to impose a road ban.

Mr Doorley told the court he checked if any cars were coming before he crossed the Fleet Street-Westmoreland Street junction. “Due to a particular childhood experience I am extremely cautious crossing the road,” he told Judge Walsh.

The court heard he went into the city-centre for a meeting and lunch at the Merrion Hotel during which he drank two glasses of red wine. Afterwards he went to Trinity College to work on a book. He went to a restaurant for a meal at about 6pm and then decided to get a taxi home at Westmoreland Street.

At the junction with Fleet Street, he said, he was on the outside flank of a number of people crossing the road when he was hit.After the collision, Mr Doorley’s left side was immobile for six months and he had surgery, the court heard.

Witness Lucy Fallon-Byrne, who was driving behind the taxi, recalled the vehicle stopping suddenly and a woman standing nearby looking shocked. She said she had the impression the man hit by the taxi was very far across the road.