Water bottle thrown at me by driver angered at having to wait to overtake

Hi, I'm sure you're familiar with the situation. I won't go into details except that the situation deteriorated a bit. I got photos of the vehicle/driver.

I've reported it. Just wondered what kind of result I can expect.

Fingers crossed for a notice of intended prosecution at least

Just wondered what kind of result I can expect.

an unsatisfactory one

Nothing at all, then you'll chase it up a few times and they'll tell you the driver's 'been spoken to'.

OK, now about 6 wks after the event and I've had a recent update.

Basically, the PC said he 'had difficulty finding the details of the driver from the database' and that the car was registered to a 'trade company' and didn't have any specifics....

I queried that if the number plate, car model etc were known, then surely all the information is on the database? (Sorry, I don't really know how all this works but assume if there were a big crash involving the vehicle, then all details would quickly be known.)

The PC then asked me to go into the station and hand over my dna so 'they could eliminate my dna which might have contaminated the evidence.' (Just after the incident, I had handed in the bottle as evidence.)

Naturally, I complained about the whole thing and was told I'd get an update soon.

However, I can see what's going on here. I'm very unlikely to get any sort of 'justice' or satisfactory closure. They haven't even spoken to the driver. As much as I hate to say it, maybe the smart move is just to forget the whole thing and move on.

Ask the PC for his name and for some 'on the record ' quotes for the Guardian article you're writing

(Or don't)

Unless you're rich and/or famous, probably best to move on

Sadly, you're unlikely to get the result you're after. But you did get a free bottle of water out of it.

If you really want to make a nuisance of yourself, you could make a data access request to see what's actually been done, and make a formal complaint. I did that last year when I was really unhappy with plod (not in connection with a cycling incident, but quite a worrying one involving a direct and apparently earnest threat) and had a phone call from a senior officer within 24 hours enquiring as to 'how we might resolve this at a lower level'. It ultimately go nowhere, but I suspect it made them look at the whole thing properly.

Thanks for advice. I'll certainly consider it.

I'm wondering if, post-lockdown, there's been a general increase in this type of behaviour because of more traffic on the roads and irate people.

In spite of being careful on the roads, there's always an X factor but that's the risk one takes I guess.

If he’d been caught on a speed camera then the company are legally bound to reveal the name of the driver. Shouldn’t be that hard for them to do in these circumstances.

To what extent did the situation "deteriorate"?

While I’ve not been the victim of any overt aggression like you have, the number of close passes has definitely increased. Rags like the Daily Hatemail spewing anti-cyclist bullshit doesn’t help, either.