Purposely run over and there's nothing I can do about it?

I think the police will have to take action if they feel people are bothered.

If you are willing to find out the names/addresses of the officer/station that took your statement. I would be willing to write a letter demanding action. As im sure others would.

+1 It's not impossible to push the police into taking the correct course of action. I realise that a lot of people here have had similar and negative experiences with the police, but I don't see that as a reason to allow them to continue to basically be lazy and crap.

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

Thanks,
Minh Ai[/quote]

Hi,

Sorry to come so late to this but I had a similar experience about 6 months ago. Cycling down Prebend Street in Islinginton a guy sped up behind me and started beeping his horn, trying to overtake me as I was going through some traffic calming barriers. As I could feel that he was practically touching my back wheel I looked backwards at him and moitioned him to keep back. This then made him pull up alongside me and shout a whole barrage of abuse at me before swerving his car erratically towards me(I too am a 5"6 girl and pretty certain that this guy would not have picked on me so much if I was a big burly bloke). I cycled on down the road but he continued to drive beside me shouting so in the end i got off my bike and then walked on the pavement. The driver turned left down a road infront of me and then proceeded to turn around, I walked over towards his open window (BIG mistake on my part) to try and tell him to keep back and that there wasn;t enough room for him to over take. I was so shaken that I wasn't even shouting at him but, as I was half way across the road he accelerated towards me and then slammed on his brakes hard, not once but twice. Although I was phyiscally shaking by this point I managed to memorise his number and scribble it on to my hand.

I then reported his actions to the police at Charring Cross, which is near where i work at lunch time. In actual fact the police there were very helpful (for some reason they seem to be OK at Charring Cross, I reported a hit and run incident there too and they were great). The guy talked it through with me and at first thought it was a traffic incident but then decided that in actual fact the guy was both driving dangerously and a displaying threatening behaviour. As I had his car registration then it was enough for them to work out who he was and they were able to check CCTV. Although it's taken them a long time I have been called by Islington Police who took another statement from me and I'm waiting to see what happens.

So I don't know if it's worth exploring the driving dangerously/threatening behaviour options? I didn't have any witnesses (although there was CCTV) but it sounds like he drove dangerously to me and that you just got lazy policeman. Otherwise try the insurance option and talking to the IPCC.

And good luck, it's really scary when something like this happens and people shouldn't be able to get away with it.

all this talk about it not happening to guys is not true, i'm 6ft 6, and male, and i get abuse from drivers, even had bottles and eggs thrown at me.

Yes, sorry I know it happens to blokes too, my boyfiend is 6ft and gets abuse hurled at him. However in this case the guy managed to call me various derogatory names and scream a whole lot of female driver/cyclist crap too.

Minh Ai,

Please follow through on this. Like I say to all the people who post accidents here, like it or not, fair or not, we need to do the work to get these assholes prosecuted. The cops will only follow up if you do. Please file a complaint with the Police Complaints Commission, Please call the guy's place of work and complain to them, please sue him for the damage to your bike in civil court. 100% you can sue as there was physical damage.
Call the police today and request the cctv footage of the area. They will probably say you can't have it. Insist on filing a request per the open records act. Insist that they follow through. Don't say things like "are you going to...." say things like "when are you going to....", "how did it go when you....." (even if they've said they'll do fuck all). Insist on talking to their superior.

Please, please, please everyone, follow through on trying to get these dicks prosecuted and in complaining about oblivious, and therefore, dangerous police officers who choose to do nothing. We can all sit here and whinge but if we're doing nothing to prevent these accidents, and don't fight for justice when they do happen, then we need to shut the fuck up.

I wrote a thread about this. Please update it with any useful info you get.

Minh Ai, if you need anything, support, someone to bitch to about the cops, or someone to make phone calls, give me a buzz. Fight the man!!!! Bring down dickhead drivers!!!!

Thanks Roxy....and thanks for the brillaint post. It's been really helpful, as have peoples responses - So thanks to all. It's so great we have this forum to share experiences.

**Huxley ** -i'm so sorry to hear about what happened to you. At least I was surrounded by a whole bunch of people so i wasn't so scared. If I was on my own with that nutjob, I don't know what I would've done. Glad you got the police on your side - it's good to hear some nice stories too!

I will NOT let this go -neither the police action (or non-action as it were) or the fuckwit driver himself. I'll post any new findings that may be of help on Roxy's thread.

Safe riding everyone. The most important thing is that we can't let people/incidents like this discourage us from what we love doing. Peace.

I love women's resilience, determination and calmness. Very inspiring!

he'll either crash his car and kill himself, or kill someone else and go to prison and get bumraped for the next 7 years. neither of these are ideal solutions, but there you go.

Not if he does it with a car, he'll just get a small fine!

I'm with everyone else on here though, bring the full weight of all availalble law onto this guy. Worth writing to the Mayors office about this as well, perhaps CC the drivers' employer? Boris wants to promote cycling then I think it's be a good thing to raise the issue of the unhelpful coppers/general drivers ignorance with regards to road positioning etc etc.

Good luck with this.

+1. Don't forget that you can also obtain CCTV (and what the police have done about your case) under the Freedom of Information Act

http://www.foi.gov.uk/yourRights/index.htm#how[[/URL][URL="http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/basics/basics.html"]](http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/basics/basics.html)

if they don't comply (though there are some get out clauses), then it's a criminal offence

I love women's resilience, determination and calmness. Very inspiring!

Hey, if we can grow something size of a watermelon in our tummies, and then squeeze it out through an opening the size of a lemon, then I think we can do pretty much anything, except maybe pee standing up. And these days, there are accessories that can help with even that.

.

Hey, if we can grow something size of a watermelon in our tummies, and then squeeze it out through an opening the size of a lemon, then I think we can do pretty much anything, except maybe pee standing up. And these days, there are accessories that can help with even that.

i know! i've seen people trying to flog 'em at festivals. to be honest, i'd rather get caught sqautting than using one of those. plus you have to hold them there with your hands - accident waiting to happen if you ask me and no amount of baby wipes is gonna help with that!

well i guess everyone said everything i wanted to say but good luck with it minh ai! don't let that bastard get away!

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?

VIGI-FUCKING-LANTE!!!!

No bullshit. I've fucking had it reading this shit. If it aint minh ai it WILL BE SOMEONE ELSE.

Multi-grooves, please don't go and jump on bonnet of cars ;)

Certainly not moving ones anyway.

Hey, if we can grow something size of a watermelon in our tummies, and then squeeze it out through an opening the size of a lemon, then I think we can do pretty much anything, except maybe pee standing up. And these days, there are accessories that can help with even that.

my old landlord 'invented' the first one of these. :)

my old landlord 'invented' the first one of these. :)

probably because the london shoebox they were renting out only came fitted with a urinal.

Certainly not moving ones anyway.

It's his party trick on Old Street.

hopefully This Guy Will Lose His Job, Then His House. He's Already Lost His Marbles, That's For Sure.

Yeah Yeah Yeah

People People Get Fucking Real. When Was The Last Time We Saw Rational Lawful Behavior Rewarded??

As I See It We Have Two Options:

The Rational
Is To Find An Ultra High Classes Lawyer That Is A Cyclist And Will Be Sypathetic Of Our Collective Standing. Compile A Long List Of These Incidents And Try To Make Some Sort Of Deal For Future Actions Maybe Where They Take A Much Greater Cut Of Successful Outcomes

The Irrational
Start Taking Number Plates And Take Mob Action. Either Stake Out Assess The Risks (i.e. The Area, The Size Of The Owner Etc) And Either Smash The Fucking Shit Out Of The Owner Or Do A Gary Glitter (on Grange Hill):
Fiddle With Their Babies (their Motors)

Which Is It To Be?

What's With Capitalising All Of The Words In My Post?

Damn, It Takes Ages To Type Like This

Hey, if we can grow something size of a watermelon in our tummies, and then squeeze it out through an opening the size of a lemon, then I think we can do pretty much anything, except maybe pee standing up. And these days, there are accessories that can help with even that.

Who wants to pee standing up anyway?
And you put the giving birth bit in such a nice way that I have added it to my list of "2,543 reasons not to have children". ;)

Who wants to pee standing up anyway?

Paula Radcliffe :)