This is unbelievable.....

I was riding home from work yesterday evening on the Old Kent Road at about 7pm and some dickhead sped past me in a car practically skimming my shoulder and knocking me off and then running over a bag full of rubbish (that was in the middle of the road) which caused it to burst open in front of me. Said car then stops at some lights and I thought about shouting some abuse at him but I couldn't be bothered with an argument so I told him, calmly, to be more careful and that he shook me up back there. 3 cyclist that were right behind me and saw it all happen also stop to tell him to be more careful. This idiot then gets out of his car, steps right up to me and starts effing and blinding and screaming in my face about how I was in the middle of the road and that I was a hazard (funny how he didn't square up to either of the male cyclist that also stopped). As he's shouting at me, I've realised that his car is rolling backwards because he forgot to apply the handbrake. Everyone's shouting at him telling him his car is rolling back and he just looked confused??!! It took him a good 30 seconds to realise what was wrong and he gets back in his car. At this point, I'm still standing in the road on my bike (with my feet on the ground) to the left of his car at a slight angle with my front wheel obstructing his left wheel (not on purpose, just the position I'd stopped in) .

The other 3 cyclists are still there and we've attracted a bit of crowd. So, he's started his car up and is moving forward slowly. I didn't really think anything of it, I just thought he was moving it forward a little back to it's original position until he gets closer to me, and closer (at this point I remember thinking 'he's gonna stop') but he just kept moving forward. We all look on in disbelief shouting at him to stop. He seemed completely oblivious and just kept creeping forward. I jumped backwards off my bike just as his tyre touched my foot and he just carried on and mowed down my front wheel!!! Everyone just stood there gawping, trying to digest what had just happened. He then gets out of his car shouting 'WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?' then he saw my squashed bike and starts shouting at me for being in the middle of the road. Then protests that it wasn't his fault and that I threw my bike under his wheel!! Fucking unbelievable!! I honestly don't know if he did it on purpose or if he was stoned or what. I did notice that he didn't seem 'quite right' though. Whatever the case, I had to summon up every ounce of rational thought to stop myself from smashing my D-lock across his head. So, naturally I call the police. He sticks around as do the other cyclist and plenty of witnesses that all saw exactly what happened.

Now this is the really outrageous part - a meatwagon and a car of police turn up. They bumble around trying to calm the situation down, taking statements etc. An officer then approaches me and asks if I'm hurt. I said no, not that I'm aware of. To that, the officer replies 'in that case, there's nothing we can do. This is a job for the insurance company'. Uhhhhh, hold on a minute... some fucking dangerous, aggressive, idiotic liability of a driver runs me over in broad daylight when I was at a standstill, in front of tens of people and it's an insurance job??? How the fuck does that figure?? Apparently, because no physical harm was done to me there's nothing they can do, despite the fact that he fucked my bike up and could've hurt me badly. 'Doesn't this count as assault or something?' I ask the officer. 'No, because you weren't hurt'. So if someone tries to shoot someone and misses - 'oh well, he missed. no harm done'. And again, What the fuck???!!!! I wouldn't be so mad about it if this guy wasn't such a nasty type of person that is probably going to be even more aggressive to cyclist from now on. He was such a smug prick about it all. He was driving a company car so it's not even his personal insurance premium! They cunt even smiled at me after passing the breathaliser and getting back into his car to drive away! AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!

Has anyone else been a similar situation? Legally, there must be something I can do. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Minh Ai

they should have written him a traffic ticket, they didn't, they don't have to, good luck with the insurance, not have a traffic report will make it hard.

the only thing you can do is sue him privately for the damage to your bike and emotional damage.

this is unbelievable

doesn't sound right either, dangerous driving charge at least.

the old bill are out of order on this, if you've got witness details and number plate then you might have to take it further

thanks. i'm getting some legal advice and i will take it further anyway i can. he's a danger on the road!

Didn't ROXY post something about what to do in these situations..? If you haven't got all the details to follow up you may have to put this down to experience I might not be the best one to ask on handling these situations and remaining within the letter of the law.

The police are plain wrong - an assault doesn't need to involve actual harm. If you were genuinely threatened and felt in danger of imminent harm, that can also be an assault. If you got the officers' details try informing the Independent Police Complaints Commission, although I appreciate that in practical terms you may not see much result. Always worth trying though.

so it's ok to assault someone, as long as you use a car instead of a knife.

I'm getting angry about this, letter to MP or vigilante justice?

I assume you got his plates?

1. Type it into search engine thing
2. Find his address
3. ?????
4. Profit

the police compared it to a car bumping another from behind and if no harm was done and it can't be proved that the person was driving dangerously (despite all the witnesses) then there are no legal grounds for prosecution.

i have all his details - place of work (it was a company van) as well as details of all the witnesses who say they will back me if need be.

thats a shame for the insurers that you had just bought a brand new Hed 3 and that twat has ran over it....and he may even have bent your frame in the process.. wasnt that a lovely old Merckx track frame too?

Get in touch with his company, write a strong letter saying what happened and that you have witnesses - at least that way you may be able to get their insurance to cover it, and the driver would hopefully receive some disciplinary action...hmmm....

The actions of the driver would appear to constitute an act of criminal damage. The police should charge him with this. I realise that they should have already done this but it's not too late to file such a charge.

You have four witnesses to the car striking you, put in a claim for a totally new bike.
Then his company's insurance firm will notify his superiors and he will have to explain his behaviour within his company and may even drive more responsibly in future. Or not but you get a new bike anyway.

I am sure you have or can find a reputable mechanic on here to give your bike a thorough examination and quotation for damage and costs.

i hate the police with a genuine vehemence, on account of their bureaucratic idiocy, petulance, casual racism, arrogance, and above all, their failure to protect the most vulnerable people in society .

i have been in a similar situation to you, rammed by a maniac in a car, very recently. despite the very useful advice given on this forum, i chose to let it go.

i cannot face dealing with the police force, really. i can't. i'd rather hope that karma or some vague cosmic system of balance ensures that the aggressor gets a nasty case of cockrot. as a generalisation, and ignoring those who perhaps are ideologically committed to upholding law and order and to protect the most vulnerable, they are a bunch of racist, mysogynistic, institutionalised fuckheads.

That sucks :(

Cycling organisations should throw less money at cycle lanes and more money at issues like this if they are interested in encouraging a cycling culture.

Don't bother with a letter, we're not quite developed enough as a species for letters to do much good. Either a bit of vigilante justice, or the sad reality of footing the bill and sucking it up, whatever works for you.

I had a situation last year where a girl was driving badly, so I told her so.

Her and her mate begin to follow me and the missus in their car, so I decided to dismount and walk for a bit.

Immediately she pulls over and runs towards us screaming 'fucking mother fucker gona speak to me like that you fucking bitch, who da fuck you think you are bitch'

realising there was no reasoning with this oxygen thief, I opted for a passive stance: don't want any trouble etc, which just encouraged her. for about 5 mins she's spitting in my face, scratching my face, then turns on my bird and starts trying to have a pop at her. Finally she decides she's gonna settle this spat by getting her gun from the car.

Normally i'd have bluffed this one out, but her mate was pleading with her not to which made me think she actually had a gun. There are some very unhappy, unstable people out there.

Now where's that thread about moving to Hackney...

brap brap, lol after reading about murder mile I was doing a bit of searching for more info and found this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7pbcnpmh88

read the comments, my favorite so far is:

"im a white boy from the suburbs and i just want to say these rap videos help me understand the struggles. tomorrow im donating half of my chef bourdee stash to the food pantry."

da worst place to live in da uk is london borough of hackney. it has been proven by goverment n it has been stated on da news n ting so dnt tlk bulshit, u man need ta reserch n tlk init. gangz are in evry oda stret or if nt corner in hackney but for deep under what uno bout turkish n kurdish mafia n fukin terorist organisationz? pkk dhkpc fukin mugz ur endz has no porpose whilst we fight fo reasons u pussys. if ur gna get delt den u mite awel hang urself coz itz a dogy dog hackney!

sorry to hear that pj. that sucks. i should have known better than to rely on our 'law enforcement' officers. when i was 21 i got into a cab and the driver tried to over charge me (£20 for going about 3 miles!) we were parked at north greenwich carpark which was derilict back then except for the tube station. it was about 11 at night. i only had a £20 note which i refused to give him and as i was about to get out of the car, the driver lunges at me and tries to pull me into the front seat. i was terrified! luckily i got out of the car and found the car park attendant who was in his little booth. i called the police from there and when they turned up, all they said to me as i was shaking and hysterical, was that this is a domestic case and look what trouble i got myself into over a few quid! for that and many more reasons, I agree with you about the feds, but in this case, i thought the law was quite clear cut. how wrong can you be eh??!

Has nothing to do with the Police, just get a incident number then go through the insurance company.

I mean if the cops aren't going to help you that is.

I think the rozzers are completely wrong / too lazy to do anything about it (delete as applicable). Here's a definition:
Assault is an act that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent, harmful, or offensive contact. The act consists of a threat of harm accompanied by an apparent, present ability to carry out the threat. [COLOR=#1d4994]Battery[/COLOR] is a harmful or offensive touching of another.

Sounds like you were assaulted to me.

I agree with Buddha Fingaz - write to the company, mentioning police involvement, witnesses etc & ask for 'reasonable' compensation.

the way i'm feeling i wouldn't even like to imagine what #3 could be.

If you are willing to pursue the extreme course of action go to the doctor, say that your ankle has gotten really sore or something similar - must have been trying to jump out of the way of the car. He can't accuse you of faking symptoms so then you have a medical report of an incident as a direct result of the man in the cars actions. Next say to the doctor that you have an developed an irrational fear of cycling which has affected your livelihood, getting to work etc. Take a few sick days due to the shock of the incident. Then claim it all through his insurance company.

Make an official complaint to the police that you felt very threatened and that it was not dealt with properly - when I got mugged the officer said that the threat of physical violence constitutes assault. Demand to make use of the police victims support service where they can make an assessment of you. Then take it from there.

Show the useless fucking cops that they can't just walk away from crimes like this;

http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/

Goddamn. This is seriously depressing. Nowadays, when somebody wrongs you, you can't even stand up for yourself -- even politely -- for fear that the other person is a whackjob who doesn't understand the concept of proportional response.

The way the police handled this is absurd, and it seriously sucks that your bike's trashed, but I think it's a minor miracle you came out of this physically intact (i.e. not hit/stabbed/shot).

this is incredible. have you calmed down yet?

<deep breath>

firstly: well done for keeping your cool. you saved a bad situation from becoming much worse. I certainly wouldnt have done so well.

second. did you get witness details and registration of the car? what about police badge numbers?

third: a crime has been committed. Although this may not be a traffic incident, you can still go to a police station and file a report. Be VERY persistent. Assault is defined as "an act which puts someone in fear of immediate unlawful harm/violence". When you file your report make sure you use these words in your witness statement. He also left the scene without leaving his insurance details. Get a crime number.

check out the following links as well as roxy's superb post on this.

http://www.gloucestershire.police.uk.../item5494.html

and here's what you do with his registration number (irrespective of whether the police successfully bring a prosecution for assault)

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread8165.html#post231180


this'll be a long slog, but remember, this guy probably goes home and beats his wife. So stick it to him.

Sorry, but what about criminal damage?

I have no faith in the po-lice in this country, its fucking pathetic excuse for law enforcement.

When i got mugged outside my flat they said "we'll what do you expect it is Brixton..."

This is a sad account to read, hope you get it all sorted and it works out OK.

jesus christ. That guy sounds like a real wanker. I'm glad you're okay though, Minh Ai. Its shit he screwed up you bike but at least you're in one piece

Roxy's 'what to do in an accident' thread..
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread4213.html

V888 form to get his address..
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring...cle/DG_4022067

Yet another case of our wonderful tax money going down the pan, the next time i get close to a situation like this the kryptonite chain lock is going from my waist into my right hand....being 6'4 in a sweaty vest usually does the trick tho!

THANKS EVERYONE for all the advice and nice words....my situation doesn't seem so hopeless now. it just goes to show how messed up our 'justice' system is and it's no wonder people take the law into their own hands.