A DRIVER accused of using a Range Rover to bulldoze a vigilante cyclist who once caught Guy Ritchie texting at the wheel has been cleared.
Celebrity agent Paul Lyon-Maris, 60, was said to be fuming when his route was blocked by Mike van Erp, 50, known as CyclingMikey.
The YouTuber known for his popular channel has previously caught out celebs including Guy Ritchie and Chris Eubank near Regent's Park.
Star director Ritchie was banned from driving for six months after he was caught texting while at the wheel back in 2020.
Van Erp is known for recording and reporting drivers who flaunt driving rules in London and was recently confronted by an angry motorist.
Lyon-Maris, who has represented Alan Rickman, Sir Ian McKellen and Warwick Davis, found Mr van Erp standing in the road while filming on a head-mounted camera and using a selfie stick.
The agent had taken an illegal right turn to avoid a queue of traffic at the junction dubbed Gandalf Corner, on his way to a physio appointment on September 9 last year.
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Footage captured the moment the cyclist came down on to the bonnet of Lyon-Maris’ Range Rover, which continued to drive forward and turned the corner.
Mr van Erp said he had already stopped two drivers for pulling the same unlawful manoeuvre that morning when the incident happened.
Jurors were played footage recorded on a GoPro camera by the Dutch cycling campaigner that showed him being carried on the bonnet for some 65ft.
There is an audible bang followed by Mr van Erp yelling: "Why are you driving into me?"
Lyon-Maris yells back: "I've got an appointment at half past eight. Get out of the way!"
Mr van Erp is heard saying "Hey Siri, call 999" before officers arrived at the scene.
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Lyon-Maris said he felt "surprised and a little intimidated" when the cyclist jumped on his bonnet holding a selfie stick.
He told jurors it was simply not true that he drove purposely at Mr van Erp in a "fit of rage and anger".
Lyon-Maris, of Belsize Park, north London, denied and was cleared of dangerous driving and assault by beating.
A jury at Southwark Crown Court took three hours and 51 minutes to clear the agent of the charges.
Lyon-Maris, a director of the Independent Talent Group with clients including Singing Detective star Sir Michael Gambon, X-Files actress Gillian Anderson, denied the charges.
Giving evidence Mr van Erp said Lyon-Maris had warned him to "get out the way" during the confrontation.
"I think it started as I stood in front of him and made him come to a stop.
"Then the driver drove into me, and I fell onto his bonnet for the first time," Mr van Erp said.
Michael Epstein, defending, had asked the YouTuber how many interactions with motorists he had uploaded.
"I’m not sure of the most accurate account, but I have been YouTube-ing since 2006, since 2018 there has been more than 1,000 uploaded," Mr van Erp said.
"I say 2018 because the transport police were rarely charging dangerous drivers just warning them.
"I have about 1,000 reports of bad driving.
"But my concern is far more with justice than with social media,’ said Mr Van Erp.
"The truth is that this is what you do isn’t it? If cars don’t adhere to what you’re telling them to do this is your sort of fall-back position is it?" the barrister asked.
"If the drivers of those vehicles don’t comply, you have a default position of getting on the bonnets of those vehicles and claiming they have driven into you."
Mr van Erp replied: "I’m not giving drivers orders I’m just infringing on them going forwards. I have no authority I’m just telling them to go back."
"I’m just an ordinary member of the public."
Mr Epstein asked: "Do you genuinely think the risk you were taking walking into the road posed a risk only to yourself, you don’t believe the actions of yourself posed a risk to other road users?"
"I don’t see how a pedestrian poses a risk to other road users," replied Mr van Erp.
Lyon-Maris admitted driving around the keep left sign but said he told the cyclist to 'please' get out of his way after he jumped on his bonnet.
I didn’t know who he was or what he was trying to do. I was met with an intimidating figure."
"A man stepped right in front of my car. I wasn’t going very fast, I applied the brakes and stopped in front of him," said Lyon-Maris.
"I didn’t know who he was or what he was trying to do. In his left hand he had a long stick.
"I was met with an intimidating figure. I came up with something to calm him down. I said I was on my way to a doctor's appointment.
"I said it because I thought it was a calming thing to say.
"He then, with the stick, banged it on the windscreen, at which point I said: ''What the hell.''
"Before I knew it he was on my bonnet."
Mr Epstein asked: "The allegation is that in a fit of rage and anger you purposely drove at him and he ended up on your bonnet."
Lyon-Maris replied: "Simply not true."
Mr Epstein asked: "How would you describe your feelings"
"Surprised and a little intimidated."
James Dean, prosecuting, asked him: "Why were you gesticulating wildly at the windscreen?"
Lyon-Maris replied: "Because someone was on my bonnet. I was very polite. I said please get out of my way."
Mr Dean: "You became instantly enraged."
Lyon-Maris: "I don’t become enraged."
'MAN OF GOOD CHARACTER'
Summing up the case the judge, Mr Jonathan Bellamy said: "The defendant is a man of previously good character.
"The fact that he is 60 and of good character could mean he is less likely to commit the offences with which he has been charged.
"Mr van Erp has been a road traffic safety activist since at least 2006.
Lyon-Maris came to a stop a short distance in front of him.
"He says the defendant was agitated and gesticulating from the driver’s seat.
"Van Erp’s evidence was that he (Lyon-Maris) drove at him and struck him on two occasions.
"He describes the contact as being at or around the bottom of his ribcage.
"Mr van Erp did not sustain any physical injury."
The driver described Mr van Erp as an intimidating figure.
"He said he told him he was on the way to the doctor rather than the physiotherapist because he thought this would have a calming effect.
"He said he did not drive at Mr van Erp, but that he jumped onto the bonnet of his vehicle.’
"He said that Mr van Erp struck the windscreen of his car with a selfie stick.
"The defendant's evidence was that he was not enraged at the time of the incident.
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"He said he had to make a decision about what to do, and that this was his instinctive decision."
He earlier admitted failing to comply with a road sign and was fined following a magistrates court hearing.
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