Taken out - very gently though!

hfidgen

Had my first "proper" accident this morning (IE not SPD, pot hole or dog related).

And by accident, mean some guy drove at me on purpose and took me off at the lights leading onto Trafalgar Square.

It started when I accidentally clipped the back of his van with my fingertips as I signalled to turn right off embankment and onto Northumberland Av. He then brushed my sleeve and handlebars with the side of his van as we went up Northumberland Avenue - basically swerved at me as he drove past to "teach me a lesson" and we had a bit of non verbal on the lead into the lights, followed by some Q&A actually at the lights.

The "accident" was that once the lights turned green he floored it straight at me, taking me off clean onto my back on the pedestrian crossing. I'm fine, bikes fine, got 2 witnessess and the registration...

Just left wondering what the f*** was the point really. Filling in the police forms now...

I even thought as we turned at the junction "better apologise he might be a nutter" :roll: Didn't quite turn out that way somehow though...

Mr Plum

Using a vehicle as a weapon, terrible. Glad to hear you're ok and have witnesses.

jonginge

What Mr Plum said. Awful. Glad you're ok.

phy2sll2

There's no excuse for behaviour like that.

Let us know what the cops say.

kelsen

:shock: That's awful! Whatever happened leading up to it would never warrant deliberately driving a vehicle at you. Glad you're ok, and make sure it's all reported to the police.

sfichele

Hope you are okay - what a pr:ck!

veronese68

At least you can smugly think to yourself that you were right. He is a nutter. Hope you get it all sorted and he has any number of books thrown at him. Hopefully there will be useful CCTV footage as well.
Good luck, and I'm glad you're ok.

nameinuse

Really sorry to hear this, very reminiscent of my incident with a van driver last week, which was very similar in everything except he ended it by driving at me on the pavement (I'd got off to record his details) and thankfully missed as I dodged out of the way. It's strangely easy to end up "trapped" in the flow of traffic near an aggressive driver, but once they've been actively dangerous (instead of just careless) I do try and stay back and not engage them in any conversation, though there are certainly merits to standing up to people like that. Recording their driving and letting the police deal with it is going to be my way of dealing with them from now on (just got a helmet cam), that way I'm not at physical risk by engaging with well-armed psychopaths.

Hope you get a result from the police about this; people who deliberately use vehicles as weapons need to be treated as anyone who uses a knife or similar.

SimonAH

Surely this must be classed as premeditated assault with a deadly weapon? Must be a custodial?

Pufftmw

SimonAH wrote:

Surely this must be classed as premeditated assault with a deadly weapon? Must be a custodial?

Yes

Together with a bit of "dangerous driving" & "failure to stop at the scene" which puts him in ban territory


Glad you're OK m8

bails87

It would 'just' be assault, or dangerous driving...or careless driving......or a public order offence?

No such thing as "assault with a deadly weapon".

The guy sounds like a nasty piece of work though, hopefully they'll do him for dangerous driving, a 12 month driving ban would probably hurt him more than a fine/community service for assault.

meanredspider

+1 all the above. I had a similar sort of incident a few years back in Cambridge but no witnesses.

Good luck with it.

MarksMintness

Sorry to hear your experience mate. Make sure he gets the book thrown at him the moron.

petemadoc

I suffered a similar incident where a 4x4 rammed me with his car and trailer whilst we were both travelling at about 20mph. I only got half his reg and the police didn't give a s*it.

I hope you are more successful.

hfidgen

Thanks for the good wishes

Tbh I don't hold out too much hope. I've got 1 witness (turns out I didn't store the second number correctly in my phone), but the rego appears spot on - a quick google turned up the exact van make/model/colour for sale 2 years ago in London

The collision couldn't have been more than 3-4 mph when we actually made contact, I've not got a scratch, the bike appears fine so I'm actually feeling positive about this - it's going to make me much more wary, which can only be a good thing.

The main things going through my mind though are:

Was my road position bad? (I was at the outer edge of his lane, but in front of him and angled in)
- Yes it was, but it's a poor excuse for him still - he'd certainly have failed his driving test pulling that one

Did I do anything else to indicate I wasn't going to move off which would have let him accelerate out of the inner lane cleanly?
- Not that i can think of

Will the police be arsed?
- Probably not, it's not exactly a 50:50 incident, but i've not even got a bruise to show.

Wrath Rob

Glad to hear you're OK. Around that area there's likely to be a lot of CCTV, either public or private. Worth having a look and maybe knocking on a few doors to see if they can hold onto the material instead of wiping it?

t4tomo

hfidgen wrote:

Was my road position bad? (I was at the outer edge of his lane, but in front of him and angled in)
- Yes it was, but it's a poor excuse for him still - he'd certainly have failed his driving test pulling that one

you were in front of him - he shouldn't move until you move clear then, or if he does he should move around you.

He sounds like a right nob, i hope the police do take it seriously.