Pushed into Canal this afternoon

Franknstein

Hey all, been cycling the towpaths for 2 months now in London. Never had problems, and I got a bell and do the whole 'two tings' thingie religously. I also cycle quite slowly when pedestrians are around. Anyways, this afternoon at around 5.20pm, i tinged and passed a pedestrian, so slowly he had enough time to turn around and press against my chest and subsequently I fell into the water... then really agressively shouted, 'What you gonna do ey, whatha gonna do'. A real horrible drunken thug type. Black leather jacket, tallish... bottom of the food chain scum of the earth.

Anyways, I was shocked, and really didn't know what to do, he ran off. I got out, and luckily it was only 1m deep or so. Screwed up my tow somehow, must be sprained or something, and I am pretty sure my cellphone is knackered.

Anyways.. I dont really know what the hell to do now. Do I lay a charge? Is that a waste of time? Can I report it to BW?

Is this a regular occurence? Anyone else ever experienced a similar situation? It really peevs me off, as I try my best to cycle there considerately, and obey all the rules. Bleh.

Anyways, I was seriously considering canning the whole towpath idea and reroute through the streets (pentonville / Camden rd sections) as the towpath can be a really slow part of my commute. Now this has done it for me, and I will be avoiding it entirely. But at the same time I dont want this thug to win by his abusive behaviour!

Comments?

thelawnet

THere are a lot of scum around Camden. Scum the likes of which you'd only find in certain parts of London.

And I guess they get pissed off with cyclists on the towpath, who are a bit of a menace to the pedestrians IME from jogging along there.

nwallace

You've been assaulted, potentially claim attempted murder on the basis that pushing someone into the canal is trying to drown them.

Staying in the water and shouting help as loud as possible may have got a better police response than when you've got your self out. Would have been a fire brigade (cos you needed rescued), ambulance (cos you may have ingested canal water) and police job. (because the other 2 were called out)

As for your phone, take it apart and pout near something warm, normally i would say like a radiator but just now the window will do, leave it there for a few days and it should work again. Nokia etc. test their phones to destruction and what they consider average use does involve drowning.

JonS123

definitely report it to the police and british waterways - chance he could be known to the police if he acted so violently to a random person.

Hope your ok, as for your phone I think the advise is to take out the battery, remove any covers that can come off it and leave it in a airing cupboard or something? If you have any of those silica gell packets (little sweet size things that say don't eat that come with new shoes/handbags/etc) leave some of those on it to

But importantly - hows the bike?

JonS123

nwallace wrote:

ambulance (cos you may have ingested canal water)

Did you ingest any canal water? remember in my scouting days we were told to drink coke after cannoing/sailing etc as it would kill off wells disease

Franknstein

Hey guys,

thanks for the replys. Its helpful, as I have only been in london a few months, and am new to the Uk aswell.

I guess I will give the police a ring and BW too, and lay a charge if possible.

Bike seems fine, I turned it upside down and some water poured out the little holes on the frame somewhere. Its a couple year old Specialized hardrock with commuter tyres, quite a hardy bike.... and it dried in like 2 mins in this heat, I reckon I'll just spray the working bits with a load of the lube stuff I got from Simpsons cycles.

Just so annoyed! I wish people like that would just fall off the earth.

EDIT: nope, dont think I ingested any water... oh wait a minute *choke* *cough*

The Chingford Skinhead

Sorry to hear that. I love riding the canals at weekends but I've always found the bits around Camden a bit, er, dodgy. No matter how polite you are as a cyclist it appears all the walkers are agitated. I've enven had old people deliberately walk three abreast toward me while I'm going slowly and expect me to jump in the water or climb the wall to let them past :roll:

You should definatily report it to the police. Don't let it put you off London - we're not all horrible

artaxerxes

Sorry to hear of your ordeal. One of the reasons why I don't commute down the Regents Canal is the number of 'incidents' I hear about. I used to jog down there and some parts are well dodge...

Kieran_Burns

I'm really sorry to hear about this assault mate (and that's what it is, and so please report it)

There is one thing you need to be aware of: you need permission to cycle down a tow-path...

Ah hang on.

"Before cycling on some towpaths owned by British Waterways, you will usually need to obtain a free cycle permit. This includes most canals: for detailed local information, use our search box to look for (say) "Shropshire Union cycling".

You are not required to have a Cycle Permit in London"

There is also this to note: http://www.waterscape.com/canals-and-ri ... of-conduct


Anyway - all that aside, the guy assaulted you and you should report it. It may not be the first time this has happened.
worth reading to make sure you know what to say.

deffler

Im stunned some random d1ckhead just pushed you in the canal.
What a complete utter nutjob! :evil:
Glad your ok, were there any witnesses?
Try to look on the brightside.............bet you were glad of the cooldown

Kieran_Burns

Oh, I have a friend who works on the canals - enforcing permits and the like. I've asked her for some advice

ride_whenever

I coach rowing, so spend a fare bit of time on the towpath....


Only cycled in once so far, iped stepped across me and i was on my road bike so it didn't mount the grassy verge and i barrel rolled in. But i've accepted it'll happen again at some point.

In this case report it.

Jay dubbleU

Report the incident - firstly its assault and secondly the next person he does it to might not be so lucky

fossyant

That's really bad. I've often been tempted to take the MTB out at night and ride the canal paths, but the odd toe rag put's you off - And it's fairly rural, but a gang of kids might think it funny.

Franknstein

Thanks all for your help/advice etc.

Yeah, I was completely shocked and taken by surprise. All in all I really dont think the towpaths are really setup for cycling anyway. I have mapped out a new route, which is a little bit of a pain as I need to ride YORK and Pentonville roads, which I think are quite heavy in terms of traffic, but what can you do.

I have since reported the incident to the cops via telephone, and they reckon they will contact me in a few days, and take a look at cctv. They may be able to identify the guys as he leaves the towpath.... I dunno. I hope they find him and deal with him accordingly, cos I really do try and be very polite and cautious... and dont think I deserved such a blantant attack!

Yes! on the brightside, I cooled down pretty well! The rest of the cycle home was a breeze, might take a dip on purpose again soon (if the water wasn't so manky).

Anyways, such is life. Moving along, look forward to my cycle again tomorrow.

lastant

Best thing for the mobile is take it to pieces, sit it in a bowl of rice and then get that in the airing cupboard for a day or so (or anywhere in this heat!). The rice draws the moisture out.

Need to be patient and don't try and turn it on for as long as possible, can short it if you do. Nokia's are pretty resilient though, hopefully yours'll be fine.

_Brun_

Franknstein wrote:

Anyways, such is life. Moving along, look forward to my cycle again tomorrow.

Good to hear it hasn't dampened your enthusiasm.

tardington

Maybe it just wetted his appetite?*



* I know, okay!

Tom Foolery

Clearly you should keep riding there in case you see the thug again, and shoulder barge him at 20mph, preferably towards the canal.
He won't be able to catch you.

Mithras

Hi,
This may be useful for anyone else that ends up having to report something to the police. The more information they have the more of a chance they have of catching somebody.
It may take a few days for them (police) to get around to you, so jot down a few notes now whilst it is still fresh in your memory.
Colour, height, build, colour of hair, facial hair, glasses etc. Description of clothing. Any distinguishing features tattoos peircings etc. Accent, was it local? Foriegn?
How long did the incident last, how long did you see him for, would you recognise him again?
Light conditions, description of the area etc.
Vike

jedster

Franknstein,

commiserations - that's a horrible thing to happen. I think you should report it to the police - that guy might do something worse in the future. And imagine if you'd banged your head on the way in - would that guy have got you out or left you to drown?

I know that stretch of canal path quite well as I used to live in the area and am still a governor of a local school. I walk the towpath from time to time and used to run along it. It is a little dodgy and there have been some nasty incidents.

You said this

All in all I really dont think the towpaths are really setup for cycling anyway.

I totally agree - too many pinch points under bridges, too many conflicts with peds. Some cyclists behave like @rseholes, some peds think this gives them a right to behave badly to decent cyclists*. I'd avoid.

(A collegaue of mine was punched and had his bike thrown into a canal twice when out cycling with his son. He had braked sharply and successfully to avoid a child. The child's family appeared from a nearby canal boat and started on him.)

I have mapped out a new route, which is a little bit of a pain as I need to ride YORK and Pentonville roads, which I think are quite heavy in terms of traffic, but what can you do

They are not too bad, I cycle York Way a fair amount as do lots of other cyclists. Cqn you avoid part of Pentonville road by turning from York Way into Copenhagen Street?

All the best,

J

Jackson81

Hi mate,

Just to let you know I've sent you a private message about this. I stopped to see if you was ok when I saw this happen, never seen anything like it before in my 3 years of commuting on the towpath which is why I searched today and found your post on this site. Im sure you've already given all the details to the police but if you need a witness at all let me know.

UndercoverElephant

Good man, Jackson.

Greg T

Well done Jackson.

prawny

There's nutters on the canals. I used to race marathon canoes one night this drunk guy on a narrow boat took execption to us making wash off our boats and swung for 2 guys in a K2 with a barge pole, he seriously could have killed someone.

As for canal water though, it's lovely I used to swin in it all the time.

Oh yeah and they used to tell us to drink coke too, one of the lush mom's suggested it would probably work better with a bit of rum in.

Feltup

Ahhh yes a litre of coke after a canoeing on the white water course in Nottingham was the cure for Trent belly.

p.s. nice one Jackson

Headhuunter

There are some serious loons hanging out on the Regents Canal towpath. I went for a run from near Angel out to Victoria Park and back on Monday and at 1 point there were a bunch of blokes causing problems. Later I passed a couple of police who seemed to be on there way to sort things out.

Having said that I can understand pedestrians' and runners' frustration on the towpath, some cyclists just fly along there with little regard for anyone despite the fact that the signs say pedestrians have priority. I would avoid the towpath on my bike at all costs.

Porgy

My phone got a drowning at the Great Glasto landslide of 2004 - I nearly wrote it off but about a week later it started to come to life again, and worked perfectly for another 6 months, wherupon I dropped it in some beer. That killed it!

I started sensing hostility from walkers about 3/4 years ago when I was cycling out to Hackney on the canal towpath.

Older people mostly were just being deliberately awkward and picking any excuse to have a go - I didn;t say thankyou loudly enough to one old girl when she'd stepped aside and she didn't hear me - she laid into me for not saying thankyou. I laid back into her for being deaf! And of course there were quite a few who just wouldn;t move out of the way.

I did see cyclists who abused the privelege of being able to use the tow paths - cycling too fast, inconsiderately, etc, but their not going to be put off by old biddies working to rule. Those of us who are considerate will though - I haven;t been back to the tow path in three years after a few bad experiences (never got pushed in though).

So the tow paths are further ghettoised - you'd think that the biddies would want considerate cyclists wouldn;t you - rather than trying to drive them away.

Headhuunter

So your bike didn't go into the canal with you then? How did you manage to come off and not take the bike in with you?

Porgy

Headhuunter wrote:

So your bike didn't go into the canal with you then? How did you manage to come off and not take the bike in with you?

Franknstein wrote:

Bike seems fine, I turned it upside down and some water poured out the little holes on the frame somewhere. Its a couple year old Specialized hardrock with commuter tyres, quite a hardy bike.... and it dried in like 2 mins in this heat, I reckon I'll just spray the working bits with a load of the lube stuff I got from Simpsons cycles.

deffler

Well done Jacko, top man