Reported to the police.

wizzlebanger

Cycling home on Friday night I was nearly knocked off when someone threw something (a bottle or can) from a passing car that hit me squarely in the back. Usual taunts and abuse as they pass.

However, the lights turned in my favour and after a quick sprint I caught them up. As I approached they obviously saw me coming and all the windows went up.

Girl driving, 2 male passengers.

I'll admit I saw red but it was only verbal’s I gave them as he wouldn't wind his window down or get out. Anyway, I decided I wasn't getting anywhere so just cycled off to the front of the traffic queue.

I then cycled on when the lights changed only to find this car had come within a foot of my rear wheel and then tried to force me into the kerb. (I had to stop and get off for my own safety).

I did manage to get most of the number plate and the car type and a good description of the occupants. Reported it to the police and I'm going into the station tomorrow to make a statement. Although there was no CCTV where the incident happened the car will definitely be on CCTV further up the road.

I'm not sure what will come of it (if anything) but on principal I feel I should take it further. I had done nothing to antagonise the attack and although I wish I had put my foot into the side of the car I'm glad I didn't.

That's 2 incidents in the same week. I'm going to stop wearing my red top as I've commuted for 6 months in black without issue!!!

Why are we seen as easy targets?

shm_uk

wizzlebanger wrote:

Why are we seen as easy targets?

Unfortunately, because we ARE easy targets.

There's no explaining some peoples behaviour.


Now you mention it, I generally wear a predominantly black cycling top, or sometimes blue... maybe it really is a case of 'red rag to a bull'... I'll bear this in mind next time I'm after a new shirt :-)

bails87

On a similar topic, an email I sent to the PR manager and general business email addresses of a certain automotive parts company:

bails87 wrote:

Dear Sir/Madam

I feel I must draw your attention to the aggressive and dangerous driving of one of your employees today.

The incident in question took place here *link*, on the XXXXX heading north-east towards the roundabout junction with XXXXX, at 13:50 today, the 4th of September.

I was cycling at at least 20mph within the cycle lane visible in the link above when I was overtaken by a liveried XXXXX 'Citroen Berlingo' type van with the registration plate DU58 XXX. The van was so close that I had to swerve towards the pavement to avoid being hit by the wing mirror. As is clearly visible from the Google Map link above, there is nearly enough room for two whole lanes of traffic, as well as the cycle lane, so no need for such a close pass.

As the passenger window passed me I saw the driver holding the wheel with one hand while paying no attention to the road ahead and leaning over the passenger seat pointing at me and mouthing the words "f**king pavement".
He then slowed to my pace as if to keep me squeezed against the kerb, whilst still leaning and pointing.

The driver then sped up and got ahead of me at the zig-zag lines of the pedestrian crossing before cutting in front and braking hard to turn left at the roundabout, whilst giving a 'V' sign through the rear window.

During the whole incident, my only reaction was to move towards the kerb, as I did not want to further antagonise such an aggressive individual. As a regular driver who covers over 250 miles per week, I have no idea what elicited such a reaction, but I feel that a driver acting in this manner poses a genuine danger to vulnerable road users. I am sure this is not the image of your company that you wish potential or current customers to see.

I hope to hear back from you.

Yours faithfully,

And the reply

Thank you for your email 4th, sent to UnXXXXX, and drawing our attention to the incident that occurred on that day. I am very pleased that you decided to let us know about this incident as we take issues like this very seriously. We expect all our employees to behave as ambassadors for our organisation and we do not condone or tolerate the sort of behaviour described in your email.

We will be investigating this situation very carefully and once we have established the facts of the situation please be assured we will be taking appropriate actions.

Once again, thank you for drawing this incident to our attention.

Yours sincerely

Mike

Maybe it's just a stock email. Maybe they won't really do anything. Maybe they'll ring up the local office and get a "we don't know who was driving" response.

But hopefully it will be enough to put him off doing it again.

rml380z

@bails87;

Why do you feel the need to XXXX out the salient details in your letter? Surely it's better to name and shame the company? The more negative publicity a company gets for their bad actions, the more seriously they are likely to take letters like this. Are you waiting for a more detailed response from them, or don't want to excite the baying mob?

noodles71

I normally introduce these idiots to my D-Lock.

bails87

Meh, it was Unipart, DU58 EYM

wizzlebanger

Called into local police station to 'make a statement' last night. As it seems I have made a mistake with the number plate there isn't much they can do apart from check a CCTV camera which the car definately went past (and me at roughly the same time). Fair enough I guess. I wasn't expecting much more.

However, the only scary thing is that given the original phone call and a 2nd call to a support officer to arrange the interview when I arrived last night the officer had no idea that I was on a bicycle. He thought I was in a car!!!

Anyway, they are going to check the CCTV and if they can match the car and my description I can make a full statement. Gutted I got the reg number wrong but I think I'm only a letter out.

I remember cycling home saying it to myself over and over and over. I blame my neighbour for distracting me when I got home!!! The cheek.

EKE_38BPM

Not really much point introducing a company vehicle to some D-Lock justice as the driver won't really care that much.

I drive a white van and don't slow for speed humps as its not my suspension that could get damaged so I don't care. In my own car though, I'm very careful.

I generally wear red when I'm on my bike. I do get the occassional idiot, but its pretty rare. I did once get hit in the back by a half eaten kebab thrown from a van, but I had no chance of getting the reg number as it was really shifting and it was a dark road.

_Brun_

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I drive a white van and don't slow for speed humps as its not my suspension that could get damaged so I don't care.

Oh, so you're one of the inconsiderate gits in a van who hits the speed bump right outside my bedroom window at 20mph at 7am in the morning. Thanks.

kelsen

wizzlebanger wrote:

Called into local police station to 'make a statement' last night. As it seems I have made a mistake with the number plate there isn't much they can do apart from check a CCTV camera which the car definitely went past (and me at roughly the same time). Fair enough I guess. I wasn't expecting much more.

However, the only scary thing is that given the original phone call and a 2nd call to a support officer to arrange the interview when I arrived last night the officer had no idea that I was on a bicycle. He thought I was in a car!!!

Anyway, they are going to check the CCTV and if they can match the car and my description I can make a full statement. Gutted I got the reg number wrong but I think I'm only a letter out.

I remember cycling home saying it to myself over and over and over. I blame my neighbour for distracting me when I got home!!! The cheek.

If you managed to get the car type and colour as well then maybe you can find it using the DVLA vehicle enquiry website

Search for the registrations you think it might have been and perhaps you just might get lucky. A visit from the police for the driver involved is definitely worth the effort on your part.

EKE_38BPM

Brun, that isn't me. I'd be doing at least 40!

asprilla

kelsen wrote:

wizzlebanger wrote:

Called into local police station to 'make a statement' last night. As it seems I have made a mistake with the number plate there isn't much they can do apart from check a CCTV camera which the car definitely went past (and me at roughly the same time). Fair enough I guess. I wasn't expecting much more.

However, the only scary thing is that given the original phone call and a 2nd call to a support officer to arrange the interview when I arrived last night the officer had no idea that I was on a bicycle. He thought I was in a car!!!

Anyway, they are going to check the CCTV and if they can match the car and my description I can make a full statement. Gutted I got the reg number wrong but I think I'm only a letter out.

I remember cycling home saying it to myself over and over and over. I blame my neighbour for distracting me when I got home!!! The cheek.

If you managed to get the car type and colour as well then maybe you can find it using the DVLA vehicle enquiry website

Search for the registrations you think it might have been and perhaps you just might get lucky. A visit from the police for the driver involved is definitely worth the effort on your part.

Link no workey.

kelsen

http://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/

Click on Vehicle Enquiry link

ConsciousPilot

bails87 wrote:

Maybe they'll ring up the local office and get a "we don't know who was driving" response.

I believe companies are obliged to keep records of who is driving their vehicles where and when. Ours certainly do. Hopefully the individual will at least be reprimanded.

iainment

noodles71 wrote:

I normally introduce these idiots to my D-Lock.

No you don't. Stop fantasising.

EKE_38BPM

iainment wrote:

noodles71 wrote:

I normally introduce these idiots to my D-Lock.

No you don't. Stop fantasising.

Maybe he does.

Noodles71: "Idiot, D-Lock. D-Lock, Idiot."
Idiot: "Hello D-Lock, how do you do?"
D0Lock: "How do you do?"

All very civilised.

Bacteria Man

Does anyone else have a crushing sense of futility about the chances of justice being served by conventional means in these and similar circumstances? The main thing that stops me properly retaliating in such situations is that I'm a bit of a puss, although they do have a motorised steel cage to protect them. After reading a repeat thread describing a cyclist who served up a very cold dish on a yoof who threw stuff at him from a passing car, I have to admit a wry grin formed on my face. The cyclist calmly carried on cycling, with his sights fixed on the traffic lights, whereupon he drew up alongside the car, pulled out the offending offender and broke three of the fingers on his right hand. This was abhorred by most of the readers, but I'm not sure how I felt about it. Yes he went too far, especially as the chav was pretty young by the sound of it, but I do sometimes feel a deep resentment that we cyclists do seem to get shat on by some of the car driving public. It's not even an us against them thing; many cyclists, myself included also drive.

georgee

Took offence with a couple in a porsche the other day when the burd wound the passenger window down while next to me to throw rubbish out. seeing she would not look at me I placed it back on the windscreen. Result was car pulled in then driver started getting out.

In my great plan of things I was to remonstrate with him and belittle him into an appology from both of them. but in reality I just rode off into traffic shouting to him to have some more respect for the world around him.

I too read the orriginal post before mine and it did put a smile on my face, and it does make me think of a way of ending even the most minor of confrontations on the road, would I condone doing it or every end up doing anything like, no.

biondino

If any of you don't read Dawn Foster's blog, you should (she's also great on Twitter though I should warn some of you, she's a bit of a lefty). This post specifically, and make sure you read the comments as there's a very pertinent post there.

http://www.101wankers.com/?p=35

gaz545

bails87 wrote:

On a similar topic, an email I sent to the PR manager and general business email addresses of a certain automotive parts company:


Maybe it's just a stock email. Maybe they won't really do anything. Maybe they'll ring up the local office and get a "we don't know who was driving" response.

But hopefully it will be enough to put him off doing it again.

How about this for a non standard reply..

My email..

A driver of a Lomax livered van passed very closely between me and another
> cyclist. I stopped to speak to him and he threatened to assault me. He made up
> various lies (which i can prove are lies) about what had happened and why i
> shouldn't be on the road.
>
> Video evidence of the events can be found here
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY-PIQnfgck and the footage has been passed to
> the police. Driving like this should not be tolerated as it puts cyclists
> lives in danger for very little gain.
>
> Kind Regards,

The reason i sent it is because the driver sqaushed the other cyclist into the pavement. and i didn't even forward it to the police :twisted:

The CEO's reply

Dear XXXX,

I am very sorry you feel this way, however, driving and cycling in London are dangerous things to do and 'road rage', whilst not condoned by this company, is contextual and I can assure you the chap who threatened to do 'assault' you is a perfectly peaceful individual. A case of sticks and stones I am afraid. If you have ever been assaulted, which I have, it looks very different to this. He didn't even get out of the car, and may I remind you - you approached his window.

It is clear from this video (and the other van driver in this clip seems to agree) that both yourself and the other cyclist, offered no other course for the driver to take, given you were both either side of him! You were in the middle of the several lanes of traffic to the vans right and changing lanes (you have no evidence to say you only changed three times) and the other cyclist, rightly, was on the inside of him next to the curb in a safe position.

I am sorry you feel that your experience has resulted in you having to spend what must have taken some time to document this event, so thoroughly. I can only apologise and hope it doesn’t happen again.

I would like to add that the chap you accused of driving badly is also a tri-athlete and cycles everywhere, everyday so is perfectly aware of road safety and would never intentionally put a cyclist in harms way.

P.S - I would love to now what the police think of a cyclist filming with what I can only assume is a hand held camera, while cycling - isn't this against the law?

Kind Regards

lost_in_thought

Despite being rather right wing, I really like her blog.

biondino

Amazing how easy it is for all political sorts to get on as long as they don't talk about politics

Clever Pun

biondino wrote:

Amazing how easy it is for all political sorts to get on as long as they don't talk about politics

she tweets about politics a fair whack though. She does seem to be 'victimised' an awfully large amount though... not sure why

wizzlebanger

As the original poster and 'victim' of this incident I have replayed what happened a million times in my head.

Should I just have booted the car and rode away?
Should I have tried to smash my fist through the window?
Should I have jumped on the bonnet?
Should I have tried to drag the passenger out the car?
Should I have put a big scratch down the side of the car?

I honestly can't tell you why I didn't do any of these things. I guess in the cold light of day I can at least say my actions didn't make it any worse (for myself) and that morally whatever the outcome I can at least know within myself I did the right thing.

Would I have been justified in reacting in a physically violent manner? Some will argue yes....some will argue no. I'm a 35 year old physically fit man but who knows the outcome of a confrontation with 2 early 20's males. I certainly couldn't say either way.

Maybe I would have given them both a good beating and be fearful of the police knocking on my door right now or maybe I would be in hospital instead after biting off more than I could chew.

However, I truly think that no matter what did or didn't happen the behaviour of these individuals will never change.

52Teeth

Unfortunately the police seem really loathed to do anything.

You cant tell me that they don't know from your description and partial reg what that car is.

I was knocked off by a taxi who waved as he drove off, using the power of red mist I got up and went after him as I had clocked the car and company.

Photographed the details of the car and went to the plod. They went to talk to the driver (1 man cab company) who denied it. His brother was willing to say he was at home all night, so nothing further can be done.

You will not find justice with the Police in my experience.

BSRU

gaz545 wrote:

bails87 wrote:

On a similar topic, an email I sent to the PR manager and general business email addresses of a certain automotive parts company:


Maybe it's just a stock email. Maybe they won't really do anything. Maybe they'll ring up the local office and get a "we don't know who was driving" response.

But hopefully it will be enough to put him off doing it again.

How about this for a non standard reply..

My email..

A driver of a Lomax livered van passed very closely between me and another
> cyclist. I stopped to speak to him and he threatened to assault me. He made up
> various lies (which i can prove are lies) about what had happened and why i
> shouldn't be on the road.
>
> Video evidence of the events can be found here
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY-PIQnfgck and the footage has been passed to
> the police. Driving like this should not be tolerated as it puts cyclists
> lives in danger for very little gain.
>
> Kind Regards,

The reason i sent it is because the driver sqaushed the other cyclist into the pavement. and i didn't even forward it to the police :twisted:

The CEO's reply

Dear XXXX,

I am very sorry you feel this way, however, driving and cycling in London are dangerous things to do and 'road rage', whilst not condoned by this company, is contextual and I can assure you the chap who threatened to do 'assault' you is a perfectly peaceful individual. A case of sticks and stones I am afraid. If you have ever been assaulted, which I have, it looks very different to this. He didn't even get out of the car, and may I remind you - you approached his window.

It is clear from this video (and the other van driver in this clip seems to agree) that both yourself and the other cyclist, offered no other course for the driver to take, given you were both either side of him! You were in the middle of the several lanes of traffic to the vans right and changing lanes (you have no evidence to say you only changed three times) and the other cyclist, rightly, was on the inside of him next to the curb in a safe position.

I am sorry you feel that your experience has resulted in you having to spend what must have taken some time to document this event, so thoroughly. I can only apologise and hope it doesn’t happen again.

I would like to add that the chap you accused of driving badly is also a tri-athlete and cycles everywhere, everyday so is perfectly aware of road safety and would never intentionally put a cyclist in harms way.

P.S - I would love to now what the police think of a cyclist filming with what I can only assume is a hand held camera, while cycling - isn't this against the law?

Kind Regards

You sure that's from a CEO of the company, reads more like a mate of the driver having a laugh.

gaz545

BSRU wrote:

gaz545 wrote:

bails87 wrote:

On a similar topic, an email I sent to the PR manager and general business email addresses of a certain automotive parts company:


Maybe it's just a stock email. Maybe they won't really do anything. Maybe they'll ring up the local office and get a "we don't know who was driving" response.

But hopefully it will be enough to put him off doing it again.

How about this for a non standard reply..

My email..

A driver of a Lomax livered van passed very closely between me and another
> cyclist. I stopped to speak to him and he threatened to assault me. He made up
> various lies (which i can prove are lies) about what had happened and why i
> shouldn't be on the road.
>
> Video evidence of the events can be found here
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY-PIQnfgck and the footage has been passed to
> the police. Driving like this should not be tolerated as it puts cyclists
> lives in danger for very little gain.
>
> Kind Regards,

The reason i sent it is because the driver sqaushed the other cyclist into the pavement. and i didn't even forward it to the police :twisted:

The CEO's reply

Dear XXXX,

I am very sorry you feel this way, however, driving and cycling in London are dangerous things to do and 'road rage', whilst not condoned by this company, is contextual and I can assure you the chap who threatened to do 'assault' you is a perfectly peaceful individual. A case of sticks and stones I am afraid. If you have ever been assaulted, which I have, it looks very different to this. He didn't even get out of the car, and may I remind you - you approached his window.

It is clear from this video (and the other van driver in this clip seems to agree) that both yourself and the other cyclist, offered no other course for the driver to take, given you were both either side of him! You were in the middle of the several lanes of traffic to the vans right and changing lanes (you have no evidence to say you only changed three times) and the other cyclist, rightly, was on the inside of him next to the curb in a safe position.

I am sorry you feel that your experience has resulted in you having to spend what must have taken some time to document this event, so thoroughly. I can only apologise and hope it doesn’t happen again.

I would like to add that the chap you accused of driving badly is also a tri-athlete and cycles everywhere, everyday so is perfectly aware of road safety and would never intentionally put a cyclist in harms way.

P.S - I would love to now what the police think of a cyclist filming with what I can only assume is a hand held camera, while cycling - isn't this against the law?

Kind Regards

You sure that's from a CEO of the company, reads more like a mate of the driver having a laugh.

The reply came from an email address with the guys name forming part of it. I checked who the owner of the company is and it matches.

lost_in_thought

The reply is surprising, but I didn't see the problem with what the driver did in the footage. Maybe you had to be there.

Did you respond?

gbsahne001

lost_in_thought wrote:

The reply is surprising, but I didn't see the problem with what the driver did in the footage. Maybe you had to be there.

Good I thought it was just me

gaz545

lost_in_thought wrote:

The reply is surprising, but I didn't see the problem with what the driver did in the footage. Maybe you had to be there.

Did you respond?

He came quiet close to me without indicating or looking but he forced the other cyclist into the curb and nearly onto the pavement.

I did respond, a long one at it, so I won't bother posting all of it.
But it started..

Thanks for the quick response, I'm quite surprised at your opinions on some of the points but at least you are honest, unlike most of the responses I get.

Whilst I agree that cycling in London is perceived as dangerous, it is in fact perfectly safe as long as you behave correctly. I don't condone the actions of many cyclists on the road, but i do not break any laws when I am riding my bike on the roads. What can make cycling dangerous are the people behind the wheels of several tonne vehicles. They do not think about their actions and they put others at risk.

downfader

Governments often complain about legal firms like NWNFees, but perhaps someone like the CTC and the Cyclists Defence League could target some numpties/firms like this in some serious legal challenge. Sue them for a serious, serious whack of what they own, make them lose their cars, perhaps more.

Call it Satisfaction in the old world dualling sense.We should be demanding satisfaction.The monies raised or selling their car on could be put back into a privately funded road safety strategy. Its one of those mad thoughts I get recently with some of the more tedious encounters

Gaz, I'm not suprised, that bloke looked like a right plum, it looked from the angle of his approach that he nearly had the other cyclist with his wing mirror.