Missing film of lawyer’s car incident

Footage of a top lawyer allegedly driving at the chairman of a local residents’ group in a parking row outside his daughter’s nursery may have been lost, a court heard.

Boris Bronfentrinker, 43, became involved in an argument with Peter Bullen outside the Maria Montessori Nursery on Marylebone Lane, central London, it was said.

Mr Bullen, chairman of the Grosvenor Mayfair residents’ association, objected to Bronfentrinker pulling up in his hybrid blue Mercedes C350e on 18 January 2019 and began waving his arms at him.

Bronfentrinker, a partner at Holborn firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, is accused of deliberately driving at Mr Bullen but jurors heard today (mon) there was no CCTV of the incident.

A caretaker at nearby Wetherby School told officers security cameras from the doorway looking the onto street would have recorded the driving.

But jurors at Southwark Crown Court heard either there was no footage or it had been overwritten.

PC Chris Barton said: ‘He (the caretaker) assured me that they covered the incident but on the day in question, either for there not being a long enough memory bank or it not being recorded on the day he did not have the footage he would want.

‘The appointment was made because it was expected the footage would be there but it was not because either it was not recorded on the day or it was not recording long enough.

‘The first response was via email correspondence and then an appointment was arranged which he subsequently changed and there was a delay.’

Patrick Gibbs, QC, defending Bronfentrinker, summed up the position: ‘The long and short of it is no CCTV was recorded.’

Bronfentrinker voluntarily attended Westminster Police Station and gave his account of the event to officers on 20 June 2019.

He said: ‘As far as I was concerned I was driving away from Mr Bullen. My vehicle was going past him safely.

‘The fact that Mr Bullen would have carried on to make an incident out of this is very possible.

‘He wants to make an issue out of this.

‘From my perspective this was an unremarkable incident. I drove away in a perfectly safe manner.’

Bronfentrinker, of Highgate, north London and a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP denies dangerous driving.

Lawyer Boris Bronfentrinker told a court it would be ‘preposterous’ to drive at the chairman of a local residents’ group outside his daughter’s nursery.

Bronfentrinker, 43, insisted he had no intention to hurt or frighten Peter Bullen after he banged on the window of his blue hybrid Mercedes C350e on 18 January 2019.

Bronfentrinker had just dropped his daughter off at the Montessori nursery in Marylebone Lane, on his way to work at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP in Holborn.

The commercial law expert told jurors he had no intention hurt or deliberately frightened Mr Bullen.

He said: ‘I have never had a single exchange with Mr Bullen save for about the parking.

‘He would say: “You cannot park here it is illegal, you need to move your car”.

‘I was generally dismissive of him I did not engage in conversation with him.

‘I told him to go away and get on with his business.

‘It was very obvious why I was parking here. I had one or two children in the car, it was in front of the nursery.

‘I had a note saying I was dropping children off at the nursery.

‘There was nowhere to park, I did not see what there was to engage with him.

‘He came by the car. He banged on the glass. He banged on the window which was closed.

‘He made some gesture to me, I was dismissive of him and that was it.

‘He kept walking past the phone and took out his phone. It was obvious he was trying to take a picture of the vehicle.

‘He obviously thought if he had a photo he was going to send it to the council or whoever he was going to send it to and they were going to take some action against me.

‘He was five or six metres in front of me. I had to move towards him because that was only way to leave.

‘I felt at five or six metres I had enough room to move in. The vehicle can only move with a low battery at two or three miles an hour. So, I was only going two to three miles an hour.

‘I rolled forward and then veered to get back on to the road.

‘The car would have started to go forward and then I would have turned the wheel.

‘For a short period of time it would have been going to where Mr Bullen was standing and then turned onto the right to get where I was going.

‘The suggestion I drove at this man is just preposterous, in front of my daughter’s nursery in broad daylight, it is just preposterous.’

Peter Gibbs, QC, defending, said his client had no points on his license or any previous convictions.

Solicitor Nicholas Marsh, who works with Bronfentrinker, said: ‘He is a very successful and hard working lawyer.

‘He never loses his cool. He is very strategic. He is regarded as exceptional in the legal market.

‘I have seen him use his humour and good nature to diffuse difficult situations.’

Bronfentrinker, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP denies dangerous driving.

The trial continues.