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A woman has been fined £80 after a cyclist was killed when she opened a taxi door and knocked him into the path of a moving van.

Teacher Sam Boulton died after being 'car-doored' outside Leicester railway station on his 26th birthday last July.

Now taxi passenger Mandy Chapple, from Leicester, has pleaded guilty to a charge of opening a vehicle door so as to injure or endanger another person.

She has been fined £80.

Magistrates also ordered her to pay a £40 victim surcharge and £30 court costs, the Leicester Mercury reported.

(Image: SWNS) (Image: SWNS)

Prosecutor Sally Bedford said: "Mandy Chapple was a passenger in a taxi. She was sat behind the driver's seat.

"Her friend was sitting next to her. What then followed were tragic circumstances."

Nigel Hallchurch, representing Chapple, said: "It was obviously a tragic event.

"It was a series of things that happened - it was not entirely down to my client, who opened the door."

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He added that Mrs Chapple did look before getting out of the taxi, but could not see clearly out of the back due to the nature of that particular vehicle.

Mr Hallchurch added: "Since this she has been affected very badly with her nerves.

"She has been to see a doctor and is awaiting counselling and has been given anti-depressants. She thinks about it all of the time and is very sorry.

"She is 56 and has a husband who is disabled.

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"She has four children aged 23, two who are 27, and 30 - one who still lives at home. She is not working and is receiving benefits."

Speaking after the hearing Duncan Dollimore, senior road safety and legal campaigns officer for charity Cycling UK, said 'car-dooring' is often trivialised as a minor offence.

He said: "This possibly explains the reluctance to prosecute in many of the nearly 500 cases each year where a cyclist is seriously injured or sometimes, as in Sam's case, killed as a consequence of somebody opening their car door without looking or care for those on two wheels.

"The biggest problem is that this offence is not taken seriously because of the limited penalties.

(Image: Leicester Mercury/SWNS)

"Cycling UK has repeatedly pressed the Government to introduce new offences of causing serious injury or death by car-dooring, with tougher penalties.

"It is not right or just that tragic cases, such as Sam's, see derisory penalties handed down.

"Tougher penalties, including the option of custodial sentencing, should be an option for the court, which in turn would hopefully encourage the police and Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute in car dooring cases."

He added: "Mr Boulton's family realise that the court had limited power and were aware that all that was going to happen was a fine, which is why they support it being classed as a more serious offence, with greater penalties."

Last year an inquest into Mr Boulton's death was put on hold pending the outcome of any prosecutions.