David Hoare, a rogue paraglider from Somerset, was prosecuted and fined nearly £3,000 for flying below permissible limits and nearly colliding with a parent and kid on a Lyme Regis, Dorset, beach.
Hoare, 67, is well-known in the south west of England for similar offenses, including two attempts to fly into the world-famous Glastonbury Festival.
The magistrates concluded last week that Hoare had flown recklessly after he failed to appear in court and provided no mitigating evidence.
The area flying communities have referred to Hoare as a “absolute public nuisance” and a “oxygen thief.”
Local gliding instructor: “It makes you want to pelt him with pebbles.”
David Hoare, shown in 2016 and labeled a “oxygen thief” by the Dorset gliding community for his antics along Lyme Regis beach on April 15, 2022, is depicted in this image.
The court reportedly fined the aviating “pariah” roughly £3,000 for two charges of flying an aircraft below 500 feet in violation of the Standardized European Rules of the Air.
The court reviewed evidence this week that Hoare flew “dangerously close” to Lyme Regis beach on April 15, 2022.
A witness who was walking with his one-year-old kid when Hoare passed by stated, ‘As he got quite close to me, I had to stoop and turn away to avoid him.’
I was quite terrified, especially for my son. He was approximately four meters away from me.
When imposing the fine, the court considered Hoare’s prior convictions for comparable offenses.
In total, he was fined £2,000 plus £750 in court costs and £190 in victim restitution.
The Taunton Magistrates’ Court previously fined him $400, and in 2020 he was prohibited from flying any aircraft in an excluded zone in Somerset, encompassing Burnham-on-Sea, Berrow, Brean, and Brean Down.
Alan Bennett, the presiding chairman, stated, “We have reviewed all of the evidence and taken note of Mr. Hoare’s multiple prior convictions for similar offenses over a period of years.”
The judge considered it was an intentional act warranting a substantial fine.
The coastline of Lyme Regis. How low can you go… A pilot with a history of reckless flying has been penalized again for flying below 500 feet along a crowded beach.
The chairman of the Wessex Hang Gliding Club, Sean Staines, referred to Hoare as a “pariah.”
He stated, “He is regarded as someone who brings all of us into disrepute.”
He is a pariah who tarnishes the respectable reputations of the other pilots in the region.
Wessex Hang Gliding Club coach Trevor Lee, 72, stated, ‘I had the displeasure of meeting him when he came to Weymouth, and I informed him that if he even considered launching, we would take his glider.’
He immediately placed it back in the van and drove away.
He is a complete public nuisance and tarnishes the reputation of hang gliders.
I believe he should be imprisoned because he steals oxygen.
“My wife and I were on the beach at Abbotsbury when we saw him gliding too low, and we immediately recognized him.”
It makes you want to pelt him with pebbles. He’s only interested in showing off, and it’s not safe.’
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