Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

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ipc
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Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by ipc »

On Friday I was cycling (Boris bike) down a narrow London street with cars parked on one side. Noticed a car behind me but there was very limited space to pass so I remained in road-centre until I could close the approx 50m to where the parking pattern changed and I intended to pull in to let him pass. However over the next 20m he repeatedly sounded his horn aggressively so I stopped in the road to confront him.

I told him to stop honking, I was going to let him pass just a bit further down. He shouted that there was plenty of room where we were and sounded his horn again. Inadvisably perhaps, I lost a bit of my cool and made a rude gesture at him.

Driver then intentionally drove his vehicle into me, rear-ending my cycle and knocking me off it. Obviously concerned for my safety, I leapt away to the side of the road, proceeded to ask if he was insane, and called 999. Thankfully it was more of a sharp nudge than an attempt to actually drive over me, but still, could not believe he had done this.

The driver parked his Mercedes (well dressed man in his 50s) and also, which seemed strange to me at the time, said he was calling the police as well.

I recounted what happened to 999 operator, she asked whether I needed an ambulance or was in danger, I said no, and she said I should report the 'accident' online or at a police station. Driver took a photo of me, presumably to protect himself in the event I claimed he left me bleeding on the road, and drove off. I photographed his car and registration, but no more than that. There were a few (aghast) witnesses but I did not have the presence of mind to take any of their details.

I've filled out the online form at http://www.met.police.uk to "Report a road traffic collision with no details exchanged" but am concerned that it will just fall into a black hole and nothing happen. While I don't want to get sidetracked by a crusade here or call a lawyer, I do feel he should at least get points on his license or face some sort of consequence. I mean, seriously, driving a car into someone?

Not from the UK so curious if anyone has any advice of a path that won't be hugely involved but could at least get some attention to the situation.
Vorpal
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by Vorpal »

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your incident. There is a slightly dated, but otherwise rather good thread in the 'too good to lose' section, How to complain about bad driving

There are a couple of additional modes of recourse since that thread was created, but it's a good place to start.

IMO, the main thing is to be stubborn and persistently pester the police about it.
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PH
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by PH »

Glad you're not seriously hurt. Yes, keep chasing the police to take some action, though without independent witnesses it's unlikely they'll prosecute.
Postboxer
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by Postboxer »

Maybe try reporting it as an assault, as it wasn't an accident, was there any damage to the bike? Maybe report it to the bike scheme so they can check it and claim damages if there are any.
atlas_shrugged
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by atlas_shrugged »

Really sorry you had this terrible experience cycling in the UK. The UK is completely 'barbaric' for vulnerable road users - and this comes from a tweet from the West Midlands police.

Very specifically some of the worst drivers misuse their German cars: Audi, BMW, Mercedes (Audi drivers were recently voted the worst). However other makes are also bad e.g. Range Rovers and Land Rovers. I was interested to see that in Germany these drivers are equally bad and aggressive.

It does not always work like this though. Once cycling across a side street in Germany a Black Mercedes driver stopped and gave way to let me pass. It is the law in Germany, but still I nearly fell off my bike in shock. A BLACK MERCEDES GAVE WAY TO A CYCLIST!!!! To this day I am still shocked at this miracle.

I wish you a better stay in the UK and I apologise on behalf of our morons.
Ivor Tingting
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by Ivor Tingting »

You should have fallen from your bike and prostrated yourself in the middle of the road screaming in pain. Then dialled 999 for an ambulance. Police would have come on a 999 as well as they have to if an ambulance is called. He would have been nicked unless he drove off before the police could get to him.

But realistically this is going nowhere. No witnesses. Your word against his unless there is CCTV somewhere that filmed what you allege he did, but the police would have to investigate to find whether there is any footage unless you can provide it. Seriously as upset and angry as you maybe this is going nowhere. The police have their hands full at the moment dealing with the Extinction Rebellion rabble so more than likely they won't have anyone free or any time to investigate this. Just be thankful you weren't seriously injured. Grit your teeth, chalk it up to experience and move on.
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gaz
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by gaz »

ipc wrote:There were a few (aghast) witnesses but I did not have the presence of mind to take any of their details.

Bit of a long shot but a Twitter appeal with date, time and location might find one of them.
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Vorpal
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by Vorpal »

CCTV will need to be requested fairly quickly. Most records are automatically deleted after 30 days. You need to request footage in writing. The owner / operator should be named on a sign on or with the CCTV camera, unless it obvious belongs to a business (e.g. petrol station)
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Vantage
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by Vantage »

Ivor Tingting wrote:You should have fallen from your bike and prostrated yourself in the middle of the road screaming in pain. Then dialled 999 for an ambulance.


NO!
There is no excuse for falsely calling for am ambulance. Ever.
They're stretched enough as it is and making them attend a situation where they are not needed prevents them attending real emergencies. You should know this.
Bill


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mjr
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by mjr »

Ivor Tingting wrote:The police have their hands full at the moment dealing with the Extinction Rebellion rabble so more than likely they won't have anyone free or any time to investigate this.

I agree that the police will probably accept the collision report and not investigate further, but that's nothing to do with XR!
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cycle tramp
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by cycle tramp »

Firstly, i'm sorry to hear about what was a very scary and potentially life threatening situation. Personally speaking there may be no recourse. It's a hard thing to write and an even harder thing to read. Yes, there should be recourse, the behaviour shown to you falls seriously below what anyone would expect and boarders on the psychotic. Ideally there should be recourse because none of us want him to do it again.

However, if there is no recourse then all your doing is spending your valuable time thing about a person who doesn't deserve any second of it. He is a bully and coward, if he changes his ways as a result of this that's a good thing. If he doesn't then he will be caught by his own behaviour in the future. And here's the thing even if there was recourse, there's no guarantee he will change his behaviour after the fine, community serve or gaol time.

It's not an easy thing to say, and it's even less easier to do, but you might have to let this one go.
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi
I'm glad you are okay.
My last altercation with a motor car, was for the driver to chase me down a cycle path and drive into me twice whilst I was on foot :twisted:

I phoned 999 as the driver then followed me on foot Punching and kicking me.
They just shouted down the phone at the police operator.
All this on video but fat chance Police will do anything.

The driver said they know the police ha ha, last email was that PCSO had stern words with them.

Dream on.
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MikeF
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by MikeF »

gaz wrote:
ipc wrote:There were a few (aghast) witnesses but I did not have the presence of mind to take any of their details.

Bit of a long shot but a Twitter appeal with date, time and location might find one of them.
A social media site worked for someone around here, so worth a try if you have an account.
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PT1029
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by PT1029 »

I'd say always worth reporting, even if no action is likely to be taken. If the police get quite a few reports of aggression from a particular vehicle, they might be more likely to have words if nothing else.
One of our local CUK groups had a near/loud(horn)/fast over take which was clearly uneccesary (road was wide enough, groups sub divided into smaller spaced out groups, so easier to over take).
This was reported to the police (incl vehicle description/number). The police said they would take no action, but put the report on their data base, if they had a ANPR van out and the car went past, it would be flagged up, stopped and some words had. So something might (eventually) happen. If it happened months later, probably more of a shock for the driver than being spoken to the following week.
Darkman
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Re: Intentionally struck by vehicle - what recourse?

Post by Darkman »

Do the plod actually do anything these days? :evil:
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