Operator’s licence revoked after van driver attacked with table leg

A commercial vehicle driver who attacked another driver with a table leg in an incident of road rage has had his operator’s licence revoked at a public inquiry.

Kevin Griggs, trading as KDT Skips and Waste Removal, was involved in a minor collision with another vehicle at the junction of the A12 and M25 on July 21, 2021.

Following the collision with the van, he forced the other vehicle off the road at the exit to the roundabout with his HGV and then jumped out of his cab with a table leg before using it to hit the other driver on his back.

From dashcam footage of the incident, the deputy traffic commissioner, Nick Denton, said it was clear that Griggs performed an aggressive driving manoeuvre, cutting right across in front of the van as it attempted to exit the roundabout.

The van was forced to a standstill in the live outside traffic lane.

At one stage during the argument Griggs had put the table leg back in his vehicle, only to return to the vehicle and seize it again and assault the other driver after he pointed out that a dashcam was recording events.

After the altercation was over, Griggs drove off quickly, causing a hazard to other traffic. Another van only narrowly averted colliding with Griggs’s vehicle.

Griggs was arrested by police a week later when a routine tachograph check revealed that he was wanted for assault.

As well as finding the table leg in the vehicle, police also found that Griggs, who held a restricted operator’s licence for two vehicles, was in possession of a tachograph card belonging to his son Thomas as well as his own card.

Interrogation of the data revealed several occasions in the preceding few weeks when his son’s tachograph card had been inserted at a point when Griggs was approaching the 4.5 hours driving limit.

The vehicle had then been driven on for a further one to two hours.

Griggs told police that he had been teaching his son to drive. Asked why he had not put his own card in slot two if that were the case, Griggs replied that he did not know he had to.

He was subsequently convicted at Snaresbrook Crown Court on September 13, 2021, of assault by beating, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, using threatening behaviour and driving without due care and attention.

He received four points on his licence for the motoring offence, one month’s imprisonment (suspended for 12 months) for possession of the weapon, one month’s imprisonment (also suspended for 12 months) for using threatening behaviour, and six months’ imprisonment (again suspended for 12 months) for the assault.

He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.

Griggs failed to notify any of these convictions to the traffic commissioner.

At a delayed public inquiry, held last December, the traffic commissioner heard that Griggs, who had held an HGV driver licence for 23 years, had never been in trouble before other than the occasional speeding offence.

He also argued that there were no other major compliance issues, and he had no record of violence.

In his defence, the public inquiry heard that he had just had a “terrible day” on July 21, 2021, and had acted out of character.

He said he kept the table leg in his HGV to use as a pole (with a sponge attached to the end) to clean his windscreen – it was not kept with violent intent.

He had seen red when the other driver’s van bent his wing mirror forward while undertaking on the roundabout.

He also denied that he had ever driven using his son’s card. It was kept in a bag in the lorry for convenience, so that it was to hand when he took over the vehicle.

Denton, however, was shown video from the police that contradicted statements the operator had made about his actions. This in turn led to the deputy commissioner finding Griggs to be an unreliable witness.

Denton said: “The incident was of an exceptionally serious and shocking nature.

“The public have a right to drive on the road without an operator using his skip lorry to force another vehicle to stop in a wholly inappropriate location causing danger to other road users.

“Other road users should not be subject to the abuse and violence dealt out by Mr Griggs, no matter what the excuse.

“The inescapable conclusion is that Kevin Roy Griggs is not fit to hold an operator’s licence.”

As well as has having his licence revoked, he is prohibited from holding such a licence for at least 12 months and had his vocational driving licence suspended for the same amount of time.

Griggs has appealed the deputy traffic commissioner’s decision.