Man given suspended sentence after crash pushes car into Thames
Two people were in the Corsa which was forced into the river by the collision
A man has been convicted for careless driving and failing to stop at the scene of a crash in Maidenhead which ended in a car with two occupants being pushed into the Thames.
The incident happened on 22 August 2019 when Zac Bunyard of Ellington Road in Taplow was driving a Ford transit along Lower Cookham Road, Maidenhead near Boulters Lock.
He went into the back of a Vauxhall Corsa, forcing it into the River Thames near Boulters lock.
The car had two people in it - a man in his sixties and a woman in her seventies.
Police say he then fled from the scene on foot "showing no concern" for the others who were rescued by passing boats.
The victims suffered minor injuries.
Bunyard was traced and subsequently charged by postal requisition in February 2020.
The 26 year old was convicted at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on Friday 19 March.
He was sentenced at the same hearing, to a four month suspended prison sentence, banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay a £500 fine and £288 in costs.
Investigating officer Robin Nickless of the Joint Operations Road Policing Unit based at Amersham, said: "Bunyard carelessly drove into the back of the vehicle in front of him with such force as to knock their car into the river.
"To make matters worse rather than staying on scene to help the couple who were stranded in their vehicle, he ran off from the scene.
"Bunyard has rightly been banned from driving for 12 months’ and I hope this allows him to reflect on his driving and the potential danger he put other road users in by the manner of his driving on that day."