Everton Fans in a 4x4

Cab · June 2007

Going down Arbury Road in Cambridge last Friday, there are several traffic 'calming' measures. One of them is a simple traffic island; 80 yards or so further on there are traffic lights at a junction. Looked over my shoulder to see what was behind me, saw a dirty gold coloured 4x4 a way back, so I ramained in an assertive primary positin to prevent overtaking at the traffic island. You can get a bike and a car through there, but not at the same time.

Car came up behind me, then after the traffic island the car overtook intentionally too close (loads of room on the road, he passed within inches) with shouted aggro from the passenger about me being in the middle of the road. Back window of car plastered all over with Everton FC stickers.

Obviously I caught up at the junction; they took the left hand lane to go straight on, I took the right lane to turn right. More aggro. Simply told them to get a highway code and read it, inhabitants of car started to swear more loudly.

I suppose I can't complain, I haven't had anything even as minor as that for a while. But this kind of thing narks me; they've been slowed for a moment because I chose to take the safest road position, then they intentionally endangered me afterwards just out of spite. And, crucially, the lights were red and they were going into a different lane anyway, they weren't actually delayed at all.

Must get an action camera. Not that I think it'll help much

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Unknown · June 2007

when people pass me close enough to nudge them with minimal movement, i do

scares them quite a lot.

[disclaimer, i'm meaning tap the car with my elbow for example ]

mazcp · June 2007

Arbury, you say? That's one of the 'rough' areas of Cambridge, right? (well, as 'rough' as Cambridge gets, I s'pose). Bad luck, there, Cab. Best let off steam on this forum.

Next time, push a drawing pin out through one of the fingers of your gloves...give them a souvenir as they pass.

Cab · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by maz

Arbury, you say? That's one of the 'rough' areas of Cambridge, right? (well, as 'rough' as Cambridge gets, I s'pose). Bad luck, there, Cab. Best let off steam on this forum.

Next time, push a drawing pin out through one of the fingers of your gloves...give them a souvenir as they pass.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yep, thats the 'rough' end of Cambridge, as they say

Although as you imply, it ain't 'rough' in any real sense.

Thing is, I could give them some physical back (bang on the door, scratch the paing, spit through the window etc.) but it ain't going to stop them doing it again.

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chuckles · June 2007

Hi Cab,

I always completely ignore any of this type of behaviour, beeping, shouting or any attempt to harass or harangue, anything else will only inflame the situation.

Thanks, Chuckles.

andy_wrx · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Cab
Thing is, I could give them some physical back (bang on the door, scratch the paing, spit through the window etc.) but it ain't going to stop them doing it again.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Thing is, this is quite likely to either provoke this sort of ar$ehole to come after you with the car and run you off the road, or for him and his passengers to get out and smack you one.

From experience, and it certainly shouldn't be so, unfortunatley I think chuckles is right

Tynancp · June 2007

yep, ignore is the best thing to do and I managed it for a year or so quite some time ago, I gave a bloke the finger once after he half pulled out on me, he passed me, jumped out of his car and punched me as I swerved past him, and there seems to be regular stories of cyclists being killed by drivers in London, the sort that carry knives and guns as a matter of course

after a period of scootering I'd fairly well settled on the sad shake of the head as a nice compromise, two days back into cycling and already the finger and roared expletive is back in full force, it's the exercise and excitement f London traffic without a doubt

I'm in training for the London to Brighton after a drunken grab of a spare slot in the local team at a party last Saturday, second day in on a 15 mile each way commute after a siz year break, is it hurting? oh yeah

anyhow buying something not clapped out this w/e and selling the scooter as part of operation don't become a fat middle age bloke puffing on the stairs

I'm a big bloke which has stopped plenty of potential scraps but I'm going to try and stick to the shake of the head

Eat My Dust · June 2007

I've even had to take sh*t off of drivers for the shake of the head. Good thing that most of the time I'm up for it. Once drivers realise this, things usually calm down. Only come to blows once!![B)]

SNAPS

Tynancp · June 2007

I wasn't suggesting the shake was non confrontational, it clearly isn;t but it's fairly low key and fair comment

sadly the genuine fright from a near miss sets me straight into full on, it's not helpful, esp when the other party really is sorry

Sheddy · June 2007

The way I see is that many cagers expect to sail past a bike without slowing. Some don't have the skill to anticipate what's in front of them, slow or brake as necessary, and then overtake properly.

Jonathan Mcp · June 2007

Probably the local drug dealers, as the Liverpool gangs are well known to spread their ****ty business into the rest of the country.

On the whole, not representative of the locals in the Liverpool area, but a too common occurance for someone like me who lives within a short distance of Liverpool.

Seeing as probably more than 1 in 10 drivers in merseyside either doesn't have a licence or is tax/insurance/MOT-less, then they couldn't give a damn about the highway code.

It isn't growing up that stops us playing, it is stopping playing that makes us grow up.

Go and see my bikes

pfcboy · June 2007

What else do you expect from Everton supporters![:)]

Portsmouth 4 Southampton 1

Chris James · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Jonathan M

Probably the local drug dealers, as the Liverpool gangs are well known to spread their ****ty business into the rest of the country.

On the whole, not representative of the locals in the Liverpool area, but a too common occurance for someone like me who lives within a short distance of Liverpool.

Seeing as probably more than 1 in 10 drivers in merseyside either doesn't have a licence or is tax/insurance/MOT-less, then they couldn't give a damn about the highway code.

It isn't growing up that stops us playing, it is stopping playing that makes us grow up.

Go and see my bikes

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Are you planning on producing any evidence for your assertions?

Like, with whom is it 'well known', that Liverpool drug dealers are likely to be driving around in a 4x4 in Cambridge? Just you, or do you know someting about Liverpool / Cambridge drug gang links but just haven't got round to telling us?

Also, where did you get the 1 in 10 figure from? Made it up? How does this compare to the rest of the country?

I was cut up the other day and almost knocked off my bike. I just assumed that the driver was pig ignorant rather than being a drug dealer with no insurance.

Cab · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Jonathan M
On the whole, not representative of the locals in the Liverpool area, but a too common occurance for someone like me who lives within a short distance of Liverpool.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

No, I wouldn't have thought that it was. But it did make the vehicle rather stand out around here, you don't see many vehicles displaying that allegiance down in Cambridge.

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Jonathan Mcp · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Chris James

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Jonathan M

Probably the local drug dealers, as the Liverpool gangs are well known to spread their ****ty business into the rest of the country.

On the whole, not representative of the locals in the Liverpool area, but a too common occurance for someone like me who lives within a short distance of Liverpool.

Seeing as probably more than 1 in 10 drivers in merseyside either doesn't have a licence or is tax/insurance/MOT-less, then they couldn't give a damn about the highway code.

It isn't growing up that stops us playing, it is stopping playing that makes us grow up.

Go and see my bikes

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Are you planning on producing any evidence for your assertions?

Like, with whom is it 'well known', that Liverpool drug dealers are likely to be driving around in a 4x4 in Cambridge? Just you, or do you know someting about Liverpool / Cambridge drug gang links but just haven't got round to telling us?

Also, where did you get the 1 in 10 figure from? Made it up? How does this compare to the rest of the country?

I was cut up the other day and almost knocked off my bike. I just assumed that the driver was pig ignorant rather than being a drug dealer with no insurance.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4417330.stm

"Evidence indicates that up to 10% of vehicles on our roads are being used illegally and many of these will be people who drive with no insurance.

"We know that people who don't insure their vehicles, or indeed drive with no licence or test certificate, are more likely to be involved in other criminal activity, and in collisions - collisions in which people may be killed or seriously injured."

Meredydd Hughes, head of roads policing at the Association of Chief Police Officers and chief constable of South Yorkshire Police.

So 1 in 10 is a qouted figure, it is the figure that the police themselves work to, and in areas with more social deprivation then this number is higher - like merseyside.

Re Drugs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3628768.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe ... 443156.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4666103.stm

Do I need to go on?

Yes, sweeping generalisation that a 4x4 with obvious Liverpool links in a rough part of cambridge is drug dealing, but hey, do you think they could be students?

It isn't growing up that stops us playing, it is stopping playing that makes us grow up.

Go and see my bikes

Chris James · June 2007

The quote you have given about 1 in 10 drivers driving illegally (i.e. no MOT, insurance, bieng banned etc) is interesting, but it is a national statistic, quoted by a South Yorkshire policeman.

So nothing specifially to do with Liverpool, despite the fact that your original quote only mentioned this figure in connection with people from Merseyside.

In fact, I question it's relevance if the 1 in 10 figure is also true of the drivers in Cambridgeshire for example.

Areas of social deprivation may well be worse, although there there is no mention of that in the link you have given. It could equally be argued that someone driving a 4x4 is not socially deprived. Not EVERYONE in Liverpool is a pauper.

You said that they were 'probably' drug dealers. Why? Because they support Everton and drive a 4x4?

I did a quick google search for 'London drug gangs' and the first link it came up with

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6590771.stm

It talks of Jamaican gangs operating and 'dawn raids were carried out in London and Teesside, with properties in the West Midlands, North Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumbria also targeted'

I couldn't be bothered going through any more links but you are welcome to do so if you fancy.

Presumably you wouldn't automatically jump to the conclusion that a black man driving a large car was 'probably' a drug dealer based on this?

I don't know what the driver the OP encountered was doing in Cambridge, and neither do you. I know plenty of people around the country who support Everton and who drive large cars though and none of them are drug dealers!

Cab · June 2007

At the risk of pandering to the stereotype:

"'ey, ey, ey, caaalm down, caaalm down"

I mentioned the everton stickers simply 'cos you don't see that often down here, which made it fairly memorable. I don't know (nor do I really care) whether or not more scousers are driving illegally. Frankly, what with their wheels being nicked so often I'm surprised they drive at all (joke).

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Jonathan Mcp · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Chris James

The quote you have given about 1 in 10 drivers driving illegally (i.e. no MOT, insurance, bieng banned etc) is interesting, but it is a national statistic, quoted by a South Yorkshire policeman.

So nothing specifially to do with Liverpool, despite the fact that your original quote only mentioned this figure in connection with people from Merseyside.

In fact, I question it's relevance if the 1 in 10 figure is also true of the drivers in Cambridgeshire for example.

Areas of social deprivation may well be worse, although there there is no mention of that in the link you have given. It could equally be argued that someone driving a 4x4 is not socially deprived. Not EVERYONE in Liverpool is a pauper.

You said that they were 'probably' drug dealers. Why? Because they support Everton and drive a 4x4?

I did a quick google search for 'London drug gangs' and the first link it came up with

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6590771.stm

It talks of Jamaican gangs operating and 'dawn raids were carried out in London and Teesside, with properties in the West Midlands, North Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumbria also targeted'

I couldn't be bothered going through any more links but you are welcome to do so if you fancy.

Presumably you wouldn't automatically jump to the conclusion that a black man driving a large car was 'probably' a drug dealer based on this?

I don't know what the driver the OP encountered was doing in Cambridge, and neither do you. I know plenty of people around the country who support Everton and who drive large cars though and none of them are drug dealers!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I never said the figure of 1 in 10 drivers was a Merseyside figure. It was applying a nationally recognised figure to a region.

Not everyone in Liverpool is a pauper, but seeing as it has some of the most socially deprived wards in the country (do you want a reference for that?) then social deprivation is very evident in the locality, hence the lung cancer/heart disease rates/life expectancy in the area. The fact that these chavs drove a 4x4 probably shows they are not socially deprived, in fact they may not even be from Liverpool, although its fair to say that Everton has a lot less supporters outside the immediate Liverpool area than the other team has.

Perhaps my original comment should have included a smiley ([:D]) as it was a throw away comment that may have more than a grain of truth in it unfortunately, but seems to have been taken as a slur that "all scousers are drug dealers" which is something that I didn't say.

It isn't growing up that stops us playing, it is stopping playing that makes us grow up.

Go and see my bikes

Everton Fans in a 4x4

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