Fed Up

allen

Just out this PM and nearing the end of my ride feeling good I was punched by a passing chav mobile who then waited in a side road and shot out throwing eggs. Reported it to the police but reg number is wrong could be me or could be false but really takes the edge off riding partic when its my escape at the weekend. I really like riding but I can do without this. So feeling somewhat brassed off.

finchy

Here's a thought to cheer you up - being chavs, their diet will consist of burgers, cheap lager and cigarettes. You'll probably outlive them by a good twenty years.

gabriel959

I know it is going to sound a bit nasty but sometimes you wish you had an RPG in your saddle bag and speed up the outliving bit for an even more favourable amount of years.

meagain

sound a bit nasty

Not in the slightest - entirely reasonable response.

cyclingpunk

That sucks. But then these are the people who think it is funny to throw stones through church windows and steal old ladies handbags so guess you could say you got off rather lightly. Just ignore them if it ever happens again, confront them and you could wind up getting stabbed or something :?

Richard_D

It turn on them occassionally. Therre was an example in the press recently of them stealing some 68 year olds handbag just for her to give chase and cath them up

daz51

I find the police a waste of space anyway. Numerous friends have been victims of real crimes and nothing as been done. Yet other friends have been given "Cautions" for standing up to Kids.

i thought the police wanted us to be "Have a go heroes" ??????

what a joke !!!!!!!!!

guv001

Stop - chase - catch - hit, beat, bite, batter - carry on ride - feel good.

yogi

I find the police a waste of space anyway. Numerous friends have been victims of real crimes and nothing as been done. Yet other friends have been given "Cautions" for standing up to Kids.

It's a sad fact that in these days of government statistics the police tend to go for the 'easy' conviction.

hothead

I tell people at work the tuff we have to put up with on the roads and they dont believe me or think that I am overeacting. Thankfully you are o.k and while we would love to give them a kicking nowadays its not worth it as nothing is worth getting stabbed for. If they did get caught, some youth worker would suggest sending them to manchester Velodrome for coaching so they can understand cycling and cyclists. I think its getting worse out on the road!

chuckcork

daz51 wrote:

I find the police a waste of space anyway. Numerous friends have been victims of real crimes and nothing as been done. Yet other friends have been given "Cautions" for standing up to Kids.

i thought the police wanted us to be "Have a go heroes" ??????

what a joke !!!!!!!!!

Flip side of the have a go hero is the vigilante dishing out his own justice, which is what they are worried about. That and the paperwork that gets generated.

On the other hand everyone has the right to self defence, if I'm being attacked by a 15 year old then the child had better watch out because I'd put them down first and argue about it second.

Difficult part is the police don't prosecute, just arrest and gather evidence, but can't do much more than that. If the CPS can't be bothered with pressing charges, the courts impose deterrent sentences, parents take responsibility for their chav's behaviour and the chav's themselves see any consequence for their actions and so on, as an innocent bystander you're being pretty much being left to hang by the system, which leaves you to deal with it the best as you can, which you seem to have done.

I can only say the chav aspect of London is one thing I don't miss in having moved away, and is one thing I'm not looking to return to.

BUICK

It doesn't ring true, in my ears, when people blame the police for lack of action. I'm sure most of the policeforce are MORE frustrated than the average citizen about things like this because they are restricted so heavily by legislation, time and funding constraints that they sometimes can't do the job as effectively as they want to. Bear in mind that they see crime every single working day and are dictated to about what is and isn't a priority and what they can and can't do. It's a hard job that most couldn't handle - and in thanks the policeforce are popluarly hated, mistrusted and made the target of abuse.

Just a thought.

That being said - to the original poster: I wish a copper had been there when this happened. Throwing eggs at someone is an assault surely, and on the road it could have led to a much more serious accident for you. The little barstewards deserve everything that karma has in store for them

Mithras

daz51 wrote:

I find the police a waste of space anyway. Numerous friends have been victims of real crimes and nothing as been done. Yet other friends have been given "Cautions" for standing up to Kids.

i thought the police wanted us to be "Have a go heroes" ??????

what a joke !!!!!!!!!

Mmm Easy Target....Instead of wingeing actually have a look at what the average copper has to put up with and what they have to deal with. My job description would cover everything from Social Worker, Teacher, Mariage Guidance Councillor, Street Cleaner, Taxi Driver and Few other jobs besides. I can go from Public Enemy #1 to Public Hero #1 and back again in less than 30 seconds. I get sworn at, spat at vomited on and assaulted on a daily basis (just like being a bike commuter really ) And I wouldn't change any of it.

So before labelling the Police or any other organisation as a joke, take a long hard look at what they do. If you don't know, then either do something to change that or :roll: !


http://www.policecouldyou.co.uk/officers/whats_it_like.html

inaperfectworld

i think that ploice view is overall fair we don't really know what the job of the police entails and if they do go for softer options then it's probably the politicians who are to blame. i was once taken ill when out on my bike and collapsed confused. an ambulance came and in my confusion i refused to get in the ambulance without my bike; the ambulancemen got pretty shirty about it but the police who came were both sympathetic and reassuring

Onan

Sorry about that allen. I don't know what came over me. My giro hadn't come in the post, and my girlfriend is pregnant again, and I just lashed out.

derekwatts

Allen, back on thread, something similar happened to me in Richmond Park of all places, on a Sunday afternoon. Passing white van (would it be any other colour?) with spiky haired, ring through the nose oxygen thief learing out the window at me, mouthing something along the lines of fag / queer / poof / bender / tosser (of course I must be, I was wearing lycra for God's sake!) I didn't hear exactly which, but I am guessing from the accompanying hand gestures that it wasn't 'vive le tour!' So I resorted to the age old middle finger salute... This confounded the Great Bard, and his only response was to spit at me. But fortunately his aim was no more impressive than his command of the English language and he missed me. Well anyway, by this time I was extremely angry and accelerated after him. Quite what I would have done had I caught him, I don't know. Probably best that I didn't. Besides a war of words with an un-armed man is never particularly satisfying... But he obviously thought better of it and sped off. In fact he drove across the grass at the top of Sawyer's Hill to avoid getting stuck in the traffic queue and having to face the teriffying cyclist looming in his mirrors. I don't know what the moral of this story is - there isn't one. Probably someone here will tell me that I shouldn't have retaliated with a hand gesture. That he will just go and take it out on another poor cyclist. Well maybe. But maybe not. In fact I would wager that if everyone just turned the other cheek (i.e. the one that hadn't been gobbed on) in situations like these, jail fodder such as him would probably do it more often. But maybe a reaction they were not expecting would make them think again.

As an aside to this, an aquaintance of mine once carried a 'fake' i.e. inert demonstration hand grenade with him that he purchased in a government surplus store. He carried it for many months before a suitably vicious attack on him on a public road prompted its use. He pulled alongside the van, pulled the pin, lobbed it through the window and rode off! The erratic movements of the van that followed were a clue to the panic that ensued within... :shock:

alfablue

derekwatts wrote:

As an aside to this, an aquaintance of mine once carried a 'fake' i.e. inert demonstration hand grenade with him that he purchased in a government surplus store. He carried it for many months before a suitably vicious attack on him on a public road prompted its use. He pulled alongside the van, pulled the pin, lobbed it through the window and rode off! The erratic movements of the van that followed were a clue to the panic that ensued within... :shock:

That is hilarious! Now I know what bar bags are meant for Ammo!

allen

Thanks all. The thing that puts me off at the mo is the thought that its only one step from getting stabbed. Might be early mornin rides for a bit now. Have to say though feel nervous about it all the same

Fermapiedi

My worst experience was being overtaken by a van, and as the van began to go past me the passenger dropped a bottle in front of me. Got showered in glass - didn't puncture though! No chance to get reg, make or anything. I'm afraid logic and reason don't apply. Never tried to have a scrap wearing cycle cleats - don't fancy my chances much!

Mithras

allen wrote:

Thanks all. The thing that puts me off at the mo is the thought that its only one step from getting stabbed. Might be early mornin rides for a bit now. Have to say though feel nervous about it all the same

Don't believe in the Media Hype, you're much more likely to get knocked off your bike by next doors cat or some other errant animal than you are to get stabbed!
Knife crime statistics include reports of people being seen carrying a knife (which may or not turn out to be one or something connectected to it). If it's metallic looking then it must be a knife, oh sorry I've been threatend by a mobile phone wielding maniac!
Added to that the majority of knife/gun crime is gang related. So unless the Lycra Louts have started a turf war with Baggy Boys tehn you are relatively safe.

synchronicity

BUICK wrote:

It doesn't ring true, in my ears, when people blame the police for lack of action. I'm sure most of the policeforce are MORE frustrated than the average citizen about things like this because they are restricted so heavily by legislation, time and funding constraints that they sometimes can't do the job as effectively as they want to. Bear in mind that they see crime every single working day and are dictated to about what is and isn't a priority and what they can and can't do. It's a hard job that most couldn't handle - and in thanks the policeforce are popluarly hated, mistrusted and made the target of abuse.

Just a thought.

That being said - to the original poster: I wish a copper had been there when this happened. Throwing eggs at someone is an assault surely, and on the road it could have led to a much more serious accident for you. The little barstewards deserve everything that karma has in store for them

Well I think you have the right attitude. You definitely can't blame the police for what is essentially a social problem. Mis-directed violence has nothing to do with there not being enough police units. It's more to do with: bad parenting, drugs, nothing but bad news all over the world, much more stressful life in general (partly caused by over-use of technology + overchoice), and a whole host of other inter-related things. Ultimately, this younger generation has inherited all the problems created before they were even born and is now expected to find their own solution. :arrow:

Is there an option for:
a) riding super-early in the morning while these chavs are still in bed or just after they've come home from a late-night rave party...
b) riding with the added secuirty of a lcoal bike club

baz101

I got spat at the other week when mouthing back to car full of chavs, fortunatley it missed me and I was'nt able to catch them at the next lights but was pretty pumped as done about 50km and fancied scrapping my cleat down the side of the car and chucking a water bottle through the window.

On the flip side got a good warm wave from a white van man earlier in the day, sadly there's just alot of pricks about in general but I try to focus on the few positiove responses

passout

I don't like the word CHAV - it's just acceptable snobbery IMO. Anyway, this is a pretty bad incident and this guy was clearly moronic enough to be dangerous. He probably wanted (and was prepared for) a fight. So, you did right not belting him. I guess reporting it the police was the right course; it probably won't come to anything but if you don't report then it definately won't.

I get abuse from young lads now and again. I annoys me but I'm not letting idiots ruin my hobby - keep going mate.

salsarider79

A modern take on the story of the Good Smaritan...
Two social workers come across a man laying on the floor, beaten and bleeding. He's been robbed of everything, wallet, phone, watch, bike, everything.
One social worker turns to the other and says "Whoever did this needs our help."

Tempestas

Had a similar experience when off the bike, I was walking over to grab some stuff from the Co-op and a van drove past and launched eggs towards me, they missed and hit the window of a shop. The stupidest thing was that this van was sign written, so I took the number down and phoned the company, I got a letter a week later apologising and telling me the driver and passenger of the vehicle had been relieved of their positions within the company and that if my drains ever needed cleaning in the future just to ring up and they would be cleaned free of charge :shock: