Driver who blocked overtaking biker jailed

A father-of-two who moved his car to prevent a motorcyclist overtaking has been jailed for eight months for dangerous driving.

Andrew Sherratt, 32, caused “life-changing injuries” to 49-year-old Andrew Morris by forcing him into the path of oncoming traffic.

Paulinus Barnes, prosecuting, said: “Mr Morris went to overtake the defendant.

“There was some traffic coming in the other direction but the road was wide enough for the motorcycle to overtake the car.

“The defendant deliberately turned his vehicle into the centre of the road causing impact with the bike and forcing him across the central white line.”

Simeon Evans, defending, said Sherratt “did not think there was room for the motorcycle to overtake him and decided to block the gap.

“He wishes he had done the opposite and moved towards the kerb but he only moved a small distance rather than swerving.

“The reason he did it was misguided but he maintains that he was trying to decrease the danger.”

But Judge David Hale at Warrington Crown Court said: “You’re a young married man with a loving family but any time any of us gets in a car we are taking control of half a tonne of lethal metal.

“You say that you were trying to block him for his own safety but you could have moved left and your decision had disastrous consequences.”

Morris suffered multiple arm and wrist fractures after colliding with an oncoming car on Burtonwood Road in Warrington Road, Cheshire, on July 23 last year.

Sherratt, from Warrington, was handed a two-and-a-half-year driving ban on top of his jail sentence on Tuesday.