Paul Lyon-Maris leaving Southwark Crown Court where he is accused of dangerous driving and common assault after he allegedly drove at cycling activist Michael Van Erp before carrying him on the bonnet of his Range Rover
(Picture: PA)A celebrity talent agent drove off with a cyclist on the bonnet of his car after being challenged for breaking the road rules, a court heard.
Paul Lyon-Maris, 60, was “enraged” when his route was blocked by cyclist Mike van Erp on the edge of Regents Park last September, it is said, allegedly hitting him with his Range Rover and driving away as he was “clinging” to the front.
Southwark crown court heard Lyon-Maris had taken a banned right turn to avoid a queue of traffic on his way to a physio appointment, and was confronted with Mr van Erp - an activist known as CyclingMikey who posts videos of illegal and bad driving on YouTube - standing in the road while filming on a head-mounted camera and using a selfie stick.
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.
Lyon-Maris, who has acted as agent for an array of top acting talent including Alan Rickman, Sir Ian McKellen and Warwick Davis, denies charges of dangerous driving and assault and has accused Mr van Erp of “jumping” on to the car bonnet.
He is a director of the Independent Talent Group, whose clients include Hollywood stars Daniel Craig, Gemma Arterton, and Colin Firth, Harry Potter actors Jason Isaacs and Dame Maggie Smith, and an array of top British acting talent including Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham.
Prosecutor James Dean said Lyon-Maris “simply lost his temper and did an act no reasonable driver would have done”.
“The dangerous driving constituted the fact he drove into the individual standing in front of him, causing him to fall on to the bonnet”, he told jurors.
“He continued to drive with him - not only a short distance, but he executed a manouevre by turning right while Mr van Erp was still clinging on to the bonnet.
“It was pretty unlikely that Mr van Erp, despite his commitment to spotting people breaking the rules of the road, would have thrown himself on to the bonnet of the car. It is quite obvious the defendant became enraged.”
Giving evidence, Mr van Erp said he had already stopped two drivers for pulling the same unlawful manouevre that morning when the incident happened.
“I remember the driver coming right up to me, pausing briefly, then driving into me”, he said.
“I remember the driver and the passenger screaming at me and waving their hands.”
He said the first “bump” from the car was not hard, but compared the second one to a barge in ice hockey and said it left him on the bonnet.
“I’m told I don’t look very afraid but I can assure you I feel a lot of fear on the inside”, he said.
The cyclist denied throwing himself on to the bonnet, but said he grabbed hold of a ridge on the car because he “had no choice”.
“I was bumped by his car - no one should bump anyone with a car”, he said. “If there was someone solid behind me, the impact would have been far far harder.
“I remember lifting my feet off the ground because I was very afraid the friction of the car might drag me underneath the car.
“He was still driving forward, not very fast, but enough that I felt glad I put my feet off the ground.”
The incident happened on September 9 last year, and began when Lyon-Maris pulled out of a long queue of traffic and “entered the off-side of the road in order to turn right at a junction”, said Mr Dean.
“He was confronted by a man who was taking pictures of people who did that sort of thing.
“He (Lyon-Maris) moved forward, carrying the man on his bonnet, who he had hit at a very slow pace. He turned right, still carrying him on the bonnet, before stopping some 20 yards down the junction.”
Jurors were played footage of the incident from two of the cyclist’s cameras, which show an initial bang and Mr van Erp shouting: “Why are you driving into me?”
Lyon-Maris can be heard shouting “I have an appointment” and then telling Mr van Erp: “Please would you get out of the way.”
The car’s passenger is seen getting out and telling the cyclist, who is attempting to call 999, that Lyon-Maris “is going to the doctors urgently”. After an altercation with the other man, Mr van Erp tells Lyon-Maris not to drive away.
“Mr van Erp was standing at the island as he had done on previous occasions before he went to work”, said Mr Dean. “He was there to see if anybody was going to, in particular, avoid that traffic island to execute a right turn to continue into the Outer Circle.
“He is a cyclist. He and other cyclists had been inconvenienced and possibly endangered by motorists performing illegal movements.
“He saw the defendant in a Range Rover coming towards him. He had moved out of the southbound traffic from some distance back.
“He determined to stop him and advise him he should go back into the proper lane.
“He stepped out accordingly – the driver stopped and immediately started to remonstrate with him in a very agitated manner, shouting, telling him to get out of the way, saying he had an urgent doctor’s appointment.
“A short conversation takes place between them. The driver – despite the fact Mr van Erp was standing in front of him – continued to move at walking pace, causing him to fall on to the bonnet.
“He picked himself up, the vehicle continued towards him and he falls on to the bonnet again.
“In that position, the car continued to drive a short distance, still on the wrong side of the road, towards the junction and turned right into the Outer Circle, stopping with Mr van Erp on the bonnet.”
When later talking to the police, Lyon-Maris admitted the traffic offence and called the cyclist’s behaviour “really freaky”, insisting he “threw himself on to my bonnet”.
“I was really thrown by that”, he added. “As I tried to move, he was pulling at everything. Obviously I wasn’t in fear, he was behind the other side of the glass.”
Lyon-Maris, who lives in Belsize Park, north London, previously admitted failing to comply with a road sign and was fined in a magistrates court hearing.
He denies dangerous driving and assault by beating. The trial continues.
