This Made Me Cross

finlayson99

Yesterday afternoon being my half day and also being nice and sunny, I went out for a cycle before picking the kids up from school.

Minding my own business on a nice quiet road I heard a van coming up behind me. The driver (on his own in the van) wound the passenger window down and threw an apple core at me and then sped away.

Why would anyone do that. Would he have done the same to another car, a motorbike or someone he met randomly while walking down the road?

I had done absolutely nothing that could have upset him.

I really can't understand it.

What a tw@t.

imposter2.0

Got the number? Report him for assault and/or poss dangerous driving...

DavidJB

Unfortunately you encountered a tw@t. Best try to forget about it and hope karma gets him in the end.

drlodge

Karma will have its revenge.

mfin

Imposter wrote:

Got the number? Report him for assault and/or poss dangerous driving...

Yes, that sounds like it would be a valuable use of police time.

mfin

drlodge wrote:

Karma will have its revenge.

No it won't, it doesn't exist. If something bad happens to him it will be completely unrelated.

arran77

mfin wrote:

drlodge wrote:

Karma will have its revenge.

No it won't, it doesn't exist. If something bad happens to him it will be completely unrelated.

Next you'll be telling us that Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny don't exist either

Old_Timer

mfin wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Got the number? Report him for assault and/or poss dangerous driving...

Yes, that sounds like it would be a valuable use of police time.

Seems that reporting him to the police and maybe stopping this idiot before he nails some cyclist with worse than an apple core and causing an accident is a good use of "valuable" police efforts and time.

arran77

Old_Timer wrote:

mfin wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Got the number? Report him for assault and/or poss dangerous driving...

Yes, that sounds like it would be a valuable use of police time.

Seems that reporting him to the police and maybe stopping this idiot before he nails some cyclist with worse than an apple core and causing an accident is a good use of "valuable" police efforts and time.

It's not a good use of their time is it, even if they did catch up with him it's one person's word against another with no evidence unless we also get the police to search for the apple core and do a DNA match with the van driver :P

imposter2.0

mfin wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Got the number? Report him for assault and/or poss dangerous driving...

Yes, that sounds like it would be a valuable use of police time.

You think that reporting an assault and dangerous driving would be a waste of police time..?

I like the way you think. Please PM your address to me, so I can come round and burgle your house.

imposter2.0

arran77 wrote:

It's not a good use of their time is it, even if they did catch up with him it's one person's word against another with no evidence unless we also get the police to search for the apple core and do a DNA match with the van driver :P

Reporting an incident is always worthwhile. There may already be other reports of this guy's behaviour on file.

Old_Timer

arran77 wrote:

Old_Timer wrote:

mfin wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Got the number? Report him for assault and/or poss dangerous driving...

Yes, that sounds like it would be a valuable use of police time.

Seems that reporting him to the police and maybe stopping this idiot before he nails some cyclist with worse than an apple core and causing an accident is a good use of "valuable" police efforts and time.

It's not a good use of their time is it, even if they did catch up with him it's one person's word against another with no evidence unless we also get the police to search for the apple core and do a DNA match with the van driver :P

:shock: You spend too much time watching the television and those crime programs :roll:

Have a good lunch and afternoon, Arran, You riding this evening?

arran77

Imposter wrote:

arran77 wrote:

It's not a good use of their time is it, even if they did catch up with him it's one person's word against another with no evidence unless we also get the police to search for the apple core and do a DNA match with the van driver :P

Reporting an incident is always worthwhile. There may already be other reports of this guy's behaviour on file.

Totally agree with you hence the :P at the end of the post.

Even our cousin from across the pond recognised that ^

cougie

I'd report him. If he does stuff like that then he's probably dumb enough to not have an mot or insurance etc etc etc. scum.

hypster

Over the many years I have been cycling on the road I have had various things thrown at or over me for no other reason than the mensub perpetrating it probably thought it was funny. A group of us even had a cup of coffee thrown over us by “white van man” whilst fixing a puncture at the side of the road once!

Whilst these incidents are very annoying, after several incidents where I reacted in a certain way I inevitably ask myself the question now “Do I want more of this individual in my life?” Reporting the vehicle to the Police may be an option but my experience of going down that sort of route is even more frustrating than the original act. I take the hopeful view now that not reacting to these people maybe diminishes their twisted sense of satisfaction somewhat.

Any karma which may emanate from this sort of event is almost certainly generated by you, the victim. Because you are the injured party you hold on to the damage to your ego and pride, long after the ape who perpetrated it has dragged his knuckles into whatever cave he exists in. These people obviously go through life inflicting all sorts of pain on those around them, and no doubt get their fair share of grief from others as well. The cycle of pain never seems to end.

Best just to rise above it all and let it go because hanging on to it and posting your righteous indignation on forums will not offer you any relief, believe me.

imposter2.0

arran77 wrote:

Imposter wrote:

arran77 wrote:

It's not a good use of their time is it, even if they did catch up with him it's one person's word against another with no evidence unless we also get the police to search for the apple core and do a DNA match with the van driver :P

Reporting an incident is always worthwhile. There may already be other reports of this guy's behaviour on file.

Totally agree with you hence the :P at the end of the post.

Even our cousin from across the pond recognised that ^

ah, missed it - sorry.... ( )

drlodge

May be we should haul such drivers from their vehicles, tie their hands behind their back the allow our 8 year old son to shoot them in the back of the head.

Oh sorry, this isn't Iraq its Britain. In which case I'll stiffen my upper lip, keep calm and carry on.

mfin

Imposter wrote:

mfin wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Got the number? Report him for assault and/or poss dangerous driving...

Yes, that sounds like it would be a valuable use of police time.

You think that reporting an assault and dangerous driving would be a waste of police time..?

I like the way you think. Please PM your address to me, so I can come round and burgle your house.

Assault? Throwing an apple core at someone might just about qualify for a ticking off by a teacher in a primary school. Dangerous driving? I don't think it was mentioned that he was doing that, unless throwing the apple was being 'not in control of the vehicle', if you reported everyone you saw with a phone or eating or whatever you'd be in the police station all day.

The bloke was a tw@t for doing it, that's it. The poor old police have enough time wasters to deal with, plus endless paperwork, noone's got hurt, only a time waster would report it.

Oh and home burglary is quite a serious crime, they keep figures on it, I don't think they do with apple core throwing as yet.

imposter2.0

mfin wrote:

Assault? Throwing an apple core at someone might just about qualify for a ticking off by a teacher in a primary school. Dangerous driving? I don't think it was mentioned that he was doing that, unless throwing the apple was being 'not in control of the vehicle', if you reported everyone you saw with a phone or eating or whatever you'd be in the police station all day.

So if the apple core had hit the rider, causing him to lose control, or swerve under a bus, then it wouldn't matter because it was only an apple?

Maybe you should put up a list of fruit and veg - and you can tell us which particular examples are ok to throw at cyclists from moving vehicles?

Tiltzey Boy

Sadly, reporting it to the police won't result in any criminal action against the driver.
I had a similar incident with a coin thrower and his passenger used a catapult smashing my rear derailieur. The bloke and his van were known to the police but they told me that as "noone got hurt" they couldn't charge him.

viewtopic.php?f=40013&t=12934949

Unfortunately, there are some plebians that we have to share the roads with, and there's not much we can do about it except smile and carry on!!!!

:evil:

Colinthecop

Make it your mission in life to find the van and repay the favour in some way... 8)

mfin

Imposter wrote:

mfin wrote:

Assault? Throwing an apple core at someone might just about qualify for a ticking off by a teacher in a primary school. Dangerous driving? I don't think it was mentioned that he was doing that, unless throwing the apple was being 'not in control of the vehicle', if you reported everyone you saw with a phone or eating or whatever you'd be in the police station all day.

So if the apple core had hit the rider, causing him to lose control, or swerve under a bus, then it wouldn't matter because it was only an apple?

Maybe you should put up a list of fruit and veg - and you can tell us which particular examples are ok to throw at cyclists from moving vehicles?

Well it didn't cause anything did it, and it was hardly a hand grenade or a piece of ninja equipment either, so what's the big deal. Seriously, if you'd report what was described then I hope you aren't the kind of person who'd moan the police are under-resourced if you did need them and weren't satisfied with the attention and service they could provide.

RedWheels

The other day a friend chucked a grape in my head, so i went inside and returned the favour with a whole watermelon.... ahhhh how we laughed.

homers_double

I'd have gone bananas!

Hollow-legs

I would just forget it ,the guy in the van probadly has an iq of a grape ,probadly having a bad day and wanted everybody to share it ?
I have had a few things thrown at me in the last couple of years,once i was riding a quite country road and as a car
passed me i got hit with a jet of blue water ! The guy in the car operated his windscreen washer ,but the passenger nozzle was facing ,angled directly to the side of the passenger door,the jet of water hit me straight in the face?

I often wondered if this was just a fautly missed -aligned windowscreen washer nozzle or was there more to it,did the driver rig it that way !!! :shock:

HellsCyclist

Old_Timer wrote:

mfin wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Got the number? Report him for assault and/or poss dangerous driving...

Yes, that sounds like it would be a valuable use of police time.

Seems that reporting him to the police and maybe stopping this idiot before he nails some cyclist with worse than an apple core and causing an accident is a good use of "valuable" police efforts and time.

That would be valuable time if they used it in that manner. Unfortunately traffic police tend to hang around in their vans playing Call of Duty with each other on laptops, leaving their speed monitoring equipment do its thing. There isnt much physical effort involved in traffic policing.

damocles10

mfin wrote:

drlodge wrote:

Karma will have its revenge.

No it won't, it doesn't exist. If something bad happens to him it will be completely unrelated.

This is true, but, if I come across an a$$ that does something like this to me I will go out of my way to be nice to someone else. The van driver is a tw@t and he'll probably do it again. He is a loser so forget about it, it's not always easy though.

imposter2.0

damocles10 wrote:

The van driver is a tw@t and he'll probably do it again.

Quite probably - and next time he may try slightly harder, or he may even kill someone in the process. Which is why (if you have the reg no) it is worth making a complaint. I can't understand why anyone would see that as wasting police time.

cat_with_no_tail

homers double wrote:

I'd have gone bananas!

Sounds like sour grapes

Mikey23

Perhaps he was offering you some much needed nutritional input...

finlayson99

I won't go to the police as it won't help. I don't have his reg I just know it was an Enterprise hire van.

I feel sad that I live in a society where a person sees this as acceptable behaviour whether or not it is an apple or a rock.

I don't know him nor him me, I have done him no harm and didn't impede his journey in any way.

As I said if we were both walking along the pavement would he do the same.

Sad bast@rd IMHO.

Thanks for the thoughts, tonight I was nearly squashed between an Audi and a BMW.........but that's another story.

Think I'll take up knitting, must be safer and less controversial.