Cycling UK Forum

Aimlessly cycling home not in any particular hurry after a nice day out in London to see a relative who had come over from the USA. Cruising down New Cross Road behind a bus when someone at a junction reaches out into the road sticking their greasy mitts on me to get me to stop. Lo and behold it turns out to be a police officer WPC ****(name and shame I say) no less from Lewisham nick(not wearing any hi viz). So after sliding and slithering to a halt as my back wheel wanders all over the place as im braking hard, and trying to stay upright on my bike, I ask why I was stopped.

Was it a problem with me? my bike, my lights? no it turns out I wasn't wearing hi-viz or a helmet. So when I asked under PACE why they stopped me they wittered on about hi-viz and a helmet. I asked if they had read the highway code (pointing out its my choice to wear these things( i had planned to be home by lighting up time and was running late, and had reflectors, and lights on my bike ), at which point they said they were a cyclist (planned back story)...(I doubt any cyclist would be so dumb as to reach into the road and try and grab another off their bike( especially at a junction). I almost came off and under the car following me). I asked if that was a criminal offence? no answer. I asked "are you going to arrest me?" no answer.So I took their number and wandered off home and onto Lewisham nick.

Im thinking if she was a cyclist surely she'd spot the rack and see it was a touring bike with sucky cantis and not disc brakes and therefore unable to stop on a sixpence...

Having spent the day watching cyclists weaving in and out of lanes, RLJ, with no lights, and wearing headphones I'm assuming there is probably better people to be chasing than the law abiding ones...

Rant Over
Emma

p.s. left arm is hurting quite a bit and GP has advised me to take a couple of weeks off until things heal up.

Do you mean to say that PC **** injured you when she stopped you?

I would file a complaint. It's likely to end up with her word against yours, but at least it will be on record.

p.s. (I don't think they use 'WPC' anymore)

Seems a hazardous way of stopping someone without first identifying themselves as a police officer and requesting you to stop, think if they did that to me they'd be doing me for assaulting a police officer and I'd be pleading self defence.

That's. crazy dangerous. I'd follow it up in the strongest possible terms, the PC could easily have directly caused an accident.

My only advice would be to cycle further away from the kerb, ao they can't reach...

The officer grabbing you on the shoulder while moving seems extremely dangerous to me and you should take it further if only so that sort of practice should not continue.

If police want to 'flag you down' to give you 'advice' then that's one thing, but forcing you to stop when you've done nothing wrong is quite another.

Emma,

It seems madly dangerous. I would certainly file a complaint.

I've never met you and have no idea what size you are but judging by your name I'm guessing you are not a 90 kilo bloke. I'm sure PC **** wouldn't try the same tactics in such a case.

fluffybunnyuk wrote:
p.s. left arm is hurting quite a bit and GP has advised me to take a couple of weeks off until things heal up.

Get a written note from your GP, take photos if your arm is bruised.

In the real world, I always think it is best to try and keep the Police "on our side" than to alienate them.

An informal complaint, yes, but was it really actual bodily harm?

meic wrote:In the real world, I always think it is best to try and keep the Police "on our side" than to alienate them.

An informal complaint, yes, but was it really actual bodily harm?

Oh well that's OK then, I'll not seek to prosecute the Porsche driver who ran me over, I only got a little cut (and a lot of shock).

This practise is stupidly dangerous - flagging someone to stop is one thing, but you wouldn't push a car in front of a motorcyclist to stop them. Cyclists are vulnerable, not only to big lumps of metal (which could have caused serious injury had she lost control, but also to anything which impacts them - (near stationary) pedestrian included.

The police around here are running a campaign against unlit bicycles at night. There might be something similar running in Lewisham which has encouraged a constable to tackle something she wouldn't normally do or be interested in. She may even have had a quota hanging over her head.

There are also people predisposed to injury, as an extreme example those whose bones lack collagen and fracture at the slightest touch, and I think it would be unfair were such a person to claim assault with bodily harm when force may have indeed been reasonable, or non-existent.

Urticaria wrote:There are also people predisposed to injury, as an extreme example those whose bones lack collagen and fracture at the slightest touch, and I think it would be unfair were such a person to claim assault with bodily harm when force may have indeed been reasonable, or non-existent.

Agreed - but grabbing a moving cyclist is extremely likely to result in a crash, as the cyclist was on the road that crash could easily have been fatal.

Given there are usually no coppers about on traffic duty, doubtless they really scraped the barrel for this latest "operation".
Maybe she got to go home after ticking a box.

Remember Ian Tomlinson. The Plod are there to serve us, not to get away with this sort of thing. This amounts to Common Assault at the very least, and Gross Misconduct in any case.

meic wrote:In the real world, I always think it is best to try and keep the Police "on our side" than to alienate them.

An informal complaint, yes, but was it really actual bodily harm?

Agreed on not alienating police, but they should equally as well not alienate the public with such stupid actions.

You complain to the police, turn it around, you were doing nothing wrong, police offer needs educating on helmets and hi viz are not mandatory and needs training on how to stop a cyclist properly.

Failure to do this, infers negligence on part of the force and the officer. if they were to do nothing does it mean the police force condone "assault"? and inappropriate behavior of their officers?

Failure to resolve the issue satisfactory and you will refer the matter to the Police Complaints Authority.

Just an idea.

Might be wrong on the above so I look forward to hearing alternative opinions.

This is discrimination surely, I'd have just cycled off, given the prevelence of crime in London this could have been absolutely anyone. The police are seemingly doing their best to annoy/frustrate as many law abiding citizens as they can..so long as they are riding a bike..
Make a complaint, don't let them fob you off, your safety and that of others around you was diminished by this 'constable' whose primary function is supposed to be your protection and preservervation of the peace.

As for the 'injury' I think Emma is pulling our chain.. Or at least I hope she is..