C*nt of the day: unnamed policeman

Fuck me it happened again.

About 6.15pm today, I make a right out of Gresse St and head north up Rathbone Place. Coming toward me is a red minibus on the correct side of the road. We make eye contact. He twitches the wheel towards me, purposefully. I swerve and skid to a stop by the pavement. I turn round, see that it's a fucking policeman.

Me: "What the fuck are you doing?! You just drove at me!"
PC Mouthbreather, with look of smug satisfaction: "This is a one way street"
"No it's not"
"Since when?"
"Since they closed the junction with Oxford street, you prick!"

The smug look drops from his face, and he immediately goes into self protection mode. He claims he didn't know the traffic direction had been changed, he claims he rounded the corner in the normal manner, and did everything by the book according to the highway code of one way streets, dotting every i and crossing every t.

I give him a dressing down as best I can: "You're a policeman, you should respect other road users", etc. etc. After a couple of minutes of back and forth, he shrugs his shoulders apologetically, and we both leave.

The whole time I was thinking to myself, "do I report him?" My answer was "no".
Why? Well, it was his word against mine. There is indeed no indication around Rathbone Place that the road has been changed to two-way (apart from the diversion sign I was following). I don't think there were any eye-witnesses, either. And if there were, his actions probably could have been reasonably interpreted as benign.

Moreover, once he realised he was in the wrong, his attitude completely changed. Everything he said and did immediately became set pieces straight out of the policemans' handbook. He didn't raise his voice (I did). He didn't swear (I did). He listened to what I had to say and calmly replied, using neutral language and not making any definite statements that he couldn't back up. He didn't attempt to leave before it was clear I was finished with him (despite us causing a jam).

Put those two things together, and what hope would there be of anything happening toward him? Fuck all, I predict. He would take out his policeman's notebook, write down his neutrally worded, by the book account of what happened, and never deviate from it.

Should I have taken his details? Yeah, probably. Put the wind up him a bit if nothing else.

Ah, fuck it. Writing this has been cathartic enough. So, unnamed policeman of Rathbone Place (who "usually doesn't drive this way, hasn't been here for a long time, and so didn't know it was no longer one way"): you, sir, are a cunt.

Technically probably should be a capital C on the last word of OP.

;-)

I say, if you can be bothered, report him. cctv?

What's more, his actions were different to the Addison Lee driver. That guy wanted to knock me off. The policeman was just playfully reminding me of the highway code. Using a 3 tonne minibus as the medium for his message. If I thought the policeman was being malicious, I would have reported him for sure.

More importantly was he fat?

At least fat in a funny way?

^ha!

I say, if you can be bothered, report him. cctv?

Pretty sure there isn't any, it's pretty close to where the other altercation was, and I couldn't find any for that.

And without his badge number, what would the police be able to do? I don't think my description of "mid 30s, balding, pudgy, and with a face only a mother could love" would really narrow it down too well for them.

Yup. Without CCTV it's a bit more difficult. Shitty.

meh. i ranted, i felt righteous, now i just feel over it.

What you should do Matty is contact Camden council and point out the lack of clear signposting. Point out that even a police officer was unable to tell that it was two-way and that an accident is likely to happen in future. Leave out the stuff about the officer being a cunt.
Rathbone place is bad enough at the best of times. It also doesn't help that so many drivers treat Charlotte st as two way now when it certainly isn't. And the police do bugger all about that; dozens of tickets handed out to cyclists at the Oxford st end of Rathbone place but I have never seen PSOs staking out the bottom of Charlotte st.

He acted like a bit of a nob and got caught out. That's 1-0 to you, I'd say. Doesn't sound like he was being deliberately dangerous, nobody got hurt (except his pride maybe), you've come out of it on the moral high-ground.

Call it a minor victory against The Man and leave it at that.

Get one of those cheap action cams so we can taker feckers like this down.

What you should do Matty is contact Camden council and point out the lack of clear signposting. Point out that even a police officer was unable to tell that it was two-way and that an accident is likely to happen in future. Leave out the stuff about the officer being a cunt.

That's not a bad idea. I will look into it.

...many drivers treat Charlotte st as two way now when it certainly isn't.

Are you sure this is the case? The lines painted on the road at the south end seem to indicate that it is 2 way. I think these were painted on a few weeks after they blocked off the exit onto Oxford st. I'm sure it was one way prior to that happening, but I don't think it is at the moment.

Get one of those cheap action cams so we can taker feckers like this down.

Yes, I had been thinking of getting one of those cameras too.

Are you sure this is the case?

I shall look into it when I get back to London next week.

In front of The Marquis nearly got clobbered by a cab going north as I forgot it was two way recently.

I treat that area with caution at all times. The sight lines are poor, the signage worse, and the pedestrians a law unto themselves.

He acted like a bit of a nob and got caught out. That's 1-0 to you, I'd say. Doesn't sound like he was being deliberately dangerous, nobody got hurt (except his pride maybe), you've come out of it on the moral high-ground.

Call it a minor victory against The Man and leave it at that.

+1