A motorist who was last week filmed by a cyclist delivering a foul-mouthed rant following a close pass before tripping over as he attempted to chase him on foot has received a police caution.
– Video: Close-passing, ultra-sweary driver takes a tumble after chasing and kicking out at cyclist
The 51-year-old motorist from Henley-on-Thames was cautioned by Thames Valley Police after he admitted committing a public order offence, assault, and making threats to commit criminal damage.
The incident in Reading culminated in the man crashing to the ground as he tried to pursue the bike rider after getting out of his car, to the evident glee of many of the 3 million-plus people who have viewed the footage on YouTube.
It also inspired this rather tongue-in-cheek analysis by Joel Golby on the website Vice.com.
52 thoughts on “Police caution for pratfall road-rage driver (+ video)”
It just gets betterer and
It just gets betterer and betterer.
Brilliant
Brilliant
Thats about $5,000 in youtube
Thats about $5,000 in youtube earnings, nice work!
It is very funny watching a
It is very funny watching a fat shouty man take a tumble. But, really? What is it with some of you cyclist with cameras want to chase after idiots driving badly to confront them and wind them up?
I actually think both were as bad as each other. It’s hardly any more dignified winding up someone and then legging it when you realise they’ve lost it and are about to lamp you. Stand there and trade a few. It’s not like you weren’t involved in creating the situation.
Only one of the two was
Only one of the two was violent.
The cyclist “legged it”, when the driver said he was going to take his camera.
perfect1964 wrote:It is very
Its one thing mouthing off to someone, but anybody that resorts to trying to smash someone’s face in is a fucking thug and deserves everything they get. I honestly think that ape of a driver has no place in society and if I was David Cameron I would ensure that he didn’t have one.
perfect1964 wrote: It’s not
A very valid point. Yes he passed close in the first instance, but it was a narrow street Andy he cyclist went too far. Should have called him a tower and moved on.
He gives us all a bad name winding the prat up.
Shipley wrote:perfect1964
It was a punishment pass. He chose to endanger the cyclist’s life because he felt that the cyclist had no right to take up so much room on the road.
Yeah, but the cyclist gives us all a bad name, uh-huh, bad cyclist – how dare you be indignant at having your life put at risk.
perfect1964 wrote:I actually
Well then it’s odd why they weren’t both “cautioned by Thames Valley Police after committing a public order offence, assault, and making threats to commit criminal damage”. Oh… no it’s not.
Arguably, the chap on the bike’s actions were not as ‘perfect’ as your username would have us believe yours would be, but he was not – by any stretch of the imagination – ‘as bad as the other’ guy. Please reread the list of cautions if in doubt.
No… he doesn’t do that either. The fact he propels himself on two wheels does not make him some sort of ‘blood brother’ whose actions you are unquestionably answerable for. He’s just a guy. Just like the guy in the car. Except – as stated – NOT like the guy in the car, on account of not “committing a public order offence, assault, and making threats to commit criminal damage”. In that way he’s quite different.
perfect1964 wrote:
I actually
And that tells us all we need to know about you.
Whoops…no, we now also know that you advocate attacking people physically as a way of settling a dispute. AND ON THE INTERNETS TOO! You must have to get special, reinforced underpants to stop that pair smashing your knees?
perfect1964 wrote:But,
I know, recording assaults and driving that endangers life and limb, handing it over to the police, what are we like? Life would be much better if there was no witnesses to crimes, just think how empty the courts and prisons would be.
perfect1964 wrote:confront
The cyclists said in a fairly calm voice “Too close, mate, you passed me way too close”. No shouting, no swearing. I can’t see that this is offensive or aggressive. If this winds up the driver enough to launch a barrage of shouting, swearing and physical violence, you really can’t blame the cyclist. Even during all the shouting, the cyclist never gets offensive, just quite assertive.
I’ve also sometimes stopped and told drivers “you were too close” – some actually have apologised. Most people are quite reasonable and often just don’t realise how it feels for a cyclist, so I think it is important to tell them if you have a chance (calmly, friendly, and no swearing or shouting!).
Presumably he gets a caution
Presumably he gets a caution for ‘making threats to commit criminal damage’ for threatening to break the camera, the threats to kill, run over and beat up go unpunished though? Surprise surprise.
And, there we go again.
And, there we go again. Apparently his actions are giving me a bad name. I have no idea how this works. Van driver on phone, he’s an idiot. Pedestrian steps out, what a tool. Car speeding, naughty driver.
Cyclist goes through a light, mouths off, knocks a kid over on a pavement and he’s giving all of us a bad name. It’s amazing. And seems to be on the increase amongst cyclists.
Stop believing it. Stop saying it. It’s utterly bonkers. Utterly.
God it pisses me off that
God it pisses me off that anyone can think the cyclist was “as bad” as the scumbag driver. Maybe chasing after the car quite some distance (hard to tell as that bit was speeded up) was over the top, but given the godawful close pass I know I would have been fuming and would not have wanted to let the scumbag just drive off.
If the cyclist hadn’t followed the car and confronted the driver (quite reasonably considering the closeness of the pass) we would not have got the divine beauty of the scumbag hitting the deck and rolling over. I hope it really hurt, and goes on hurting, I hope it makes the fat bastard learn some humanity and humility and that can’t just drive around sticking two fingers up at everyone else.
If it makes just one driver give cyclists more room it will be a major step forward for us all.
Daveyraveygravey wrote:
If
If you think running after somebody, confronting them and winding them up until they get out of the car to give chase is going to make a driver be considerate or give cyclists more room then you’re crazy.
I may not subscribe to the ‘it gives all cyclists a bad name’ but it did absolutely nothing to further our cause or promote our safety. If anything, it did the opposite.
But I’m glad you enjoyed the clip. And let’s be honest, that was the whole point of putting it on youtube wasn’t it? To laugh at the guy hurting himself.
700c wrote:it did absolutely
I’ve got no idea how this was portrayed in the tabloids but the narrative is there of a close pass, a barney, idiotic buffoon rolling onto the pavement, and the police cautioning the idiot clown driver. I think that actually does help “us” in our ongoing climb into being seen as normal and having close passes seen as nutty outsider moves.
700c wrote:
If you think
Given that we’re talking about someone who had already passed dangerously close to a cyclist just because he was taking up ‘too much’ space on the road, I think we can assume that he’s already an absolute dickhead, rather than a considerate driver who would give cyclists room.
700c wrote:I may not
No, it didn’t. See the headline. No way would the boiling pot of rage have landed in trouble had he not chased after the rider. It reinforces the fact that cyclists do have a right to a lane and disseminates it to a wide audience. Helps a heck of a lot more than letting them go because you’ve gotten rule #5 down and you can handle punishment passes, so it’s more expedient for you to just bury your head in the sand. If you think cyclists should be willing to risk their lives at drivers’ convenience in exchange for the privilege of being allowed onto the roads, then I really think it’s you who isn’t “further[ing] our cause or promot[ing] our safety”.
On behalf of most of humanity, thanks! I on the other hand feel truly sad for those so humorless and uptight as to be unable to appreciate the sublime irony of a man ending up hurting himself while attempting to kick someone else off their bike.
Carton wrote: No way would
He could have filmed the close pass and left it at that, had a quick chat perhaps then go to police. A caution won’t mean much to this bloke but at least he got a talking to.
Fortunately, I don’t think that. And nowhere have I said that. Ever.
I do too. As I said in my earlier comments, the clip was funny and there was some natural justice to it. That it wouldn’t have come to this if the cyclist hadn’t kept discoursing with this idiot, seems to be lost on you.
God it pisses me off that
God it pisses me off that anyone can think the cyclist was “as bad” as the scumbag driver. Maybe chasing after the car quite some distance (hard to tell as that bit was speeded up) was over the top, but given the godawful close pass I know I would have been fuming and would not have wanted to let the scumbag just drive off.
If the cyclist hadn’t followed the car and confronted the driver (quite reasonably considering the closeness of the pass) we would not have got the divine beauty of the scumbag hitting the deck and rolling over. I hope it really hurt, and goes on hurting, I hope it makes the fat bastard learn some humanity and humility and that can’t just drive around sticking two fingers up at everyone else.
If it makes just one driver give cyclists more room it will be a major step forward for us all.
He was clearly winding him
He was clearly winding him up. He ran after him with a camera and continued to argue the point. He wasn’t in any way trying to diffuse the situation. Yes the driver was a tw@t and also a moron if he truly believed the sh1t he was coming out with – but imagine if you went through life arguing and confronting every individual who wronged you like that recording their every response?! you’d come a cropper sooner or later..
The fact that it was the idiot driver who came a cropper certainly had some natural justice to it – but it needn’t have come to that and wouldn’t have done if the cyclist left it after saying his piece.
funny clip though.
700c wrote:Yes the driver was
But that’s a straw man argument. You could say any action is wrong by pointing out it would be bad to do that action constantly, all the time, every day of your life. So what?
Human beings, being what they are, occasionally decide not to meekly let things pass as they have done a hundred times before.
On balance, that’s probably a good thing, as it helps keep the anti-social in check.
Imagine if people went through life never arguing and confronting any individual who wronged them. They’d probably not get treated very well.
We probably evolved the tendency to do that for a reason. We also probably evolved so we don’t do it every time.
I’m no doctor, but that bloke
I’m no doctor, but that bloke looks like a heart attack waiting to happen. Maybe this will be a wakeup call, although somehow I doubt it.
Bloody cyclist!! What sort of
Bloody cyclist!! What sort of idiot thinks he should be able to stand up for himself when his safety is put at risk by a driver? Better to run away and hide never using your bike again just in case you piss off a driver by taking up space on the road!
I think that driver is owed an apology, it was bad enough forcing that poor man to threaten the cyclist, not letting him assault the rider by riding away was awful! Then the worst of all not riding away slowly enough to let the driver kick him resulting in a fall is tantamount to ABH!
Shame on you cyclist!
8}
For you, 700c – Beefy
For you, 700c –
Daveyraveygravey wrote:For
— Beefy
Are you joking? I love the way people like to characterise arguments and polarise the debate like this – it happens all the time on here..
..as though because I have a different perspective I must hate all cyclists or something!
Oh hang on, I forgot cyclists and motorists are at war, silly me!
I clearly acknowledged the idiocy of the guy, but perhaps you ignored that part of my comments. I was merely pointing out that escalating the conflict didn’t help us. It just gave us a laugh, which could have ended so differently.
He could have gone to the police with the footage of the close pass and left it at that, but no, he had to keep the debate going with this moron didn’t he.
and no, the confrontation wouldn’t help educate this driver, because he’s a prick.
and yes, I’ve gone after drivers before, said my piece and left it there, but I don’t think winding people up like that is particularly sensible and you should know when to cut your losses.
I truly understand the reason
I truly understand the reason why the cyclist chases after the driver. I’ve done it myself. It’s horrible being passed that close and after the initial shock one’s first thoughts are usually “you need to know how angry I am and how dangerous that was”.
However, it doesn’t help. I try hard not to do this any more, it really doesn’t make things better. It doesn’t make the cyclist as bad as the driver.
barbarus wrote:I truly
Not telling drivers they have performed a dangerous overtake/whatever won’t help improve anyone’s driving!
I usually go with:
“are you aware of how dangerous that was?”
Although, sometimes I’m still shaking with adrenaline after the scare and it’s difficult to sound calm and collected, aswell as being a little out of breath from cycling at reasonable effort. Sometimes this may mean I sound angry, sometimes I might still be angry, but I don’t want to get get the message of anger across, just that they need to learn how dangerous what the driver did was.
Sadly, the response is usually some pathetic excuse, rather than a simple apology and acceptance that they had put my life at risk, or even accepting that I perceived they presented a danger to me.
Sadly, the majority of the responses I’ve seen to this video on facebook are (presumably drivers/non-cyclists) having a go at the cyclist and exclaiming the cyclist was at least half to blame 🙁
ChrisB200SX wrote:
I usually
I wouldn’t even waste my breathe with that. Normal response in London seems to be “You wot? Fack off!”
ChrisB200SX wrote:
I usually
I wouldn’t even waste my breathe with that. Normal response in London seems to be “You wot? Fack off!”
I’m glad it turned out well
I’m glad it turned out well in the end and good for a laugh. It could have been far worse – better to not confront an idiot or as little as possible. A 20 Stone idiot at that.
There’s a few seconds of
There’s a few seconds of unseen video that has just released
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTT73RANOto =D>
At 10 seconds in ^^^^^ you
At 10 seconds in ^^^^^ you can catch the guy in full superman pose.
What happened to Jason Wells
What happened to Jason Wells (landrover rage), did he receive a caution?
Is he still in business ?
Fined £90 under a public
Fined £90 under a public order offence.
http://road.cc/content/news/152934-video-road-rage-meltdown-driver-who-threatened-kill-cyclist-fined-public-order
As for his business,
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d3913616-Reviews-Brew-London_England.html#REVIEWS
Put your f*****g mouth shut!
Put your f*****g mouth shut!
Excellent!
I disagree with
Excellent!
I disagree with people complaining about the cyclist’s behaviour. Chasing after the motorist to vent his anger/fear/frustration with the “punishment pass” is a perfectly valid response. That the motorist responded with violence is entirely his own responsibility and not due to being wound up by the cyclist.
I hope we get more incidents like this as it may cause some drivers to think twice about pulling some dangerous maneouvre if they realise that “bloody cyclist” has a helmet cam. The more cyclists that wear and use helmet cams, the better. Even if they’re considered self-righteous etc., the more that we can prevent dangerous driving, the better.
Conversely, I’m surprised that we don’t see more dashboard cams around as motorists may want to present their own views.
Now bring back hanging.
Now bring back hanging.
Who has the time to argue
Who has the time to argue like this? Nobody looks good in this situation, the driver or the cyclist. :”(
All the driver had to say
All the driver had to say when the cyclist caught up was sorry. The cyclist IMO shouldn’t have bothered chasing, it really doesn’t achieve anything, but adrenaline makes you do stupid things.
In accepting the caution the
In accepting the caution the driver has admitted to the offences put to him, however most strangely, there aren’t any driving offences amongst them. Bizarre
The caution will be on record for 5 years, but the social media footprint of this incident will last for ever. It is rather funny. Very schadenfreude.
There are plenty of good
There are plenty of good motorists already filling the roads, which is why we need to get rid of the shit ones.
I can only laugh at the idiots claiming the cyclist has done something wrong. That driver is a total piece of shit; he appears to be one argument away from running someone over. The cyclist, as smug as he sounds, is entitled to question his actions and if the driver has to resort to violence then that’s his problem.
I’m glad these motorists are being shown up for what they are. Jason Wells (4×4 restaurant man), breakfast lady, now this tool. If it wasn’t for these self-righteous, smug cyclists these motorists would still be going about their business as dangerous drivers. I don’t know any other activity where you can put someone’s life at risk then when the victim questions it they get persecuted.
The man obviously made Bluto
The man obviously made Bluto his role model as he hyper actively watched the Popeye cartoons.
Fascinating how this guy is
Fascinating how this guy is being criticised by some cyclists for a justified (if somewhat risky) “Cook Report”-type confrontational discussion with an incompetent driver, who subsequently turned out to also be ignorant, aggressive and violent.
The overwhelming majority of responses on internet forums seem to have also demonstrated ignorance and stupidity.
Of course chasing the driver and confrontating them isn’t going to “calm things down”. But let’s not forget that the cyclist didn’t do anything wrong – even the technicality of cycling on the pavement to escape an assault wouldn’t have got to court. He was indeed relatively polite to the driver. Not sure I would have managed to avoid using some anglo saxon words.
I seriously doubt that reporting the video of the punishment pass alone would have had any effect with the police. After twice reporting drivers that have had near misses or actually hit me I’ve been told by the police that they “will follow it up if anyone else reports anything about that driver”.
Overall, I agree that we need more of these videos on social media, even with the oh-so-imperfect discussions which accompany them. It exposes the thuggish behaviour that is so common on roads. It seems no-one else is doing much to effectively get the message across. Anyone remember public information films?
Slightly off topic, but “Put
Slightly off topic, but “Put your (optional) mouth shut!” has entered our household lexicon as comedy put down of the month.
So is it true the driver
So is it true the driver broke his finger during that fall? =))
Could all the wanker trolls
Could all the wanker trolls who keep saying that somehow the cyclist was at fault piss off to the Daily Mail fekin website. And btw the guy who captured this (and others like him) are doing us a great service by highlighting the shit we have to put up with, keep em coming.
If the cyclist hadn’t gone
If the cyclist hadn’t gone after the driver, all we would have had is a close pass, which some would still think “wasn’t that bad”.
Because the cyclist went after the driver, we have a great video that has gone viral. The fact the driver faceplanted after trying to chase the cyclist has got people talking about the issue, people that don’t normally notice cyclists or cyclists’ issues.
This has to be a good thing. If it makes one driver concentrate just a little bit more, think just a little bit longer about how and where to pass a cyclist then the world has become a better place.
That driver isn’t that unusual. I wonder what his passenger made of it all. I hope the driver suffers shame and embarrassment every time someone he knows says to him “Are you the guy in THAT video?” and I hope he sees the knowing look in people’s eyes that don’t know him. He should have his licence taken off him, he isn’t safe to be allowed behind the wheel.
WE STILL DON’T HAVE A NAME
WE STILL DON’T HAVE A NAME FOR THIS IDIOT!
Being a cynic I would say the
Being a cynic I would say the cyclist saw a golden opportunity. Mr Angry is perfect camera fodder and makes great footage. So let’s give him a poke, chase him down and really wind him up.
I’m not saying either side are right or wrong. They seem as bad as each other in different ways. The way the motorist reacted was bang out of line BUT was he provoked?
Welllll, yes he was to be fair.
The old boy wasn’t too far off a heart attack whereas our cyclist is as fit as a butchers dog!
2 Cameras on his bike, to me is unusual. But does help with editing and obviously caught the best prat fall I’ve seen for a long time.
So, what is the motivation for filming this chap? For personal safety or for entertainment?
At the end of the day, our cyclist hit the jackpot and his film has gone viral: a dream, I’m sure, of any YouTuber…and with viral comes money. So far, this will have made a few thousand quid and I think this was ultimately the reasoning for chasing down Mr Angry.
Told you I was cynical 😛
This (and many videos we see
This (and many videos we see like it) is pretty cringe worthy. Alright, we’ve all had instances where someone passed to close or wronged us in some other way. As a London commuter who does c. 70k/day, 3 days a week usually, I probably have at least once instance every day. You rear up and the adrenalin rises and you want to stick some f’s into the idiot who has cut you up or blocked the cycle lane, etc, etc. Its easy to do – I get it. The thing is, we’re all just trying to get home. Think about it. Few people do this stuff on purpose. So, as cyclists wanting to not get into a fight every day and maybe encourage a bit of civility and respect on the road – try this….count to 10 and say to your self – “we’re all just trying to get home”. I used to get stuck in at every opportunity and its not a great place to be. Try defusing it (and your own temper) and leave out the self righteous rants at drivers which are simply embarrassing when they are played back in the cold light of day. The end result with the guy going ‘a over t’ is great – I love it; what led to it was embarrassing. Hopefully a bit less over-reaction from cyclists will result in a bit more thought and respect from drivers.