€500 fine for driver who hit food critic
Mr Doorley suffered two broken shoulders during the incident, Dublin District Court heard.
Taxi driver Mark Cruikshanks, aged 38, of Cushlawn Park, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded not guilty to careless driving at Fleet St in Dublin on October 17, 2014.
He claimed Mr Doorley rushed out in front of his Toyota but he was found guilty yesterday by Judge Miriam Walsh.
Defence solicitor Kieran Friel asked the judge to note his client depended on his driving licence for work. He said his client would have to look for another job if disqualified from driving.
Fining him, the judge noted that in special circumstances the court had discretion not to impose a road ban and she said would not disqualify him from driving.
Mr Doorley told Judge Walsh he suffered two broken shoulders when he was knocked down. He alleged he checked if any cars were coming before he crossed the Fleet St junction with Westmoreland St.
Mr Doorley appears as a resident critic in TV3’s hit reality show The Restaurant.
He told the court that he lives in Cork but also has a flat in Dublin. He said he went into the city centre for a business meeting and lunch at the Merrion Hotel. He drank two average sized glasses of red wine.
Later, at about 6pm, he went to another restaurant for another meal during which he drank two small bottles of water. He then decided to get a taxi home and walked along Westmoreland St.
At the junction with Fleet St, he said, he was on the outside flank of a number of people crossing the road.
He had said he looked up Fleet St and confirmed nothing was coming. He claimed he proceeded to cross and he recalled that as he was about to step on to the pavement on the far side when he spun and ended up on a bonnet of a car.
He said he then landed on the ground on his back.
He broke both shoulders, the court heard. His left side was immobile for six months, he said.
Cruikshanks told the court he picked up a passenger and had to make his way to Fleet St. He was 10m-15m from the corner and the road was clear as he continued driving.
He said a person appeared in front of his car. He claimed Mr Doorley had been in the middle or the road when he was hit and other people were still waiting to cross. He said he would have braked if he had seen him but “he rushed out in front of me”.
