A campaign set up to increase the penalty for death by dangerous driving has secured a change in the law, nine years after a Bristol couple tragically died at the hands of a disqualified driver.
Ross and Clare Simons were knocked off their tandem bike by Nicholas Lovell in 2013, who had four previous convictions for dangerous driving. Lovell was being pursued by police when he hit the couple in Hanham, the day after they started fertility treatment to start a family.
After admitting the offence, Lovell was jailed for 10 years and six months. He was handed the maximum sentence possible at Bristol Crown Court, but the couple's family said this was still "shockingly low." As a result, Kingswood MP Chris Skidmore, alongside Ross and Clare's family, began campaigning to strengthen the law on dangerous driving.
