A driver who launched a terrifying foul-mouthed tirade against an Eastbourne cyclist has been ordered to pay a total of £640 in fines and costs after the rider caught the incident on video.
Mark Baldwin, 60, climbed out of his Jaguar on March 10 this year to attack 38-year-ol cyclist Eddie Bell. Mr Bell used his phone to record the altercation in which Baldwin crammed 25 swear-words into 37 seconds of name-calling.
After the video appeared on YouTube, Baldwin voluntarily visited a police station, according to The Argus.
He appeared at Hastings’ Magistrate Court on August 19 and pleaded guilty to using threatening or abusive words or behaviour with intent to cause the victim to think violence would be used against him and was ordered to pay a £505 fine, £50 victim surcharge and £85 costs. According to Sussex police, an additional charge of assault was dismissed.
Mr Bell told The Argus: “I was quite happy with the amount of disruption, cost and worry this has caused him over the last six months.
“Hopefully he will think twice about his actions in future.”
If you need a memory refresher, here's the original video. As you might expect, it's very much Not Safe For Work unless your co-workers have the kind of broad minds about swearing normally only developed by those who work in sport publishing.
37 thoughts on “Video: Ultra-sweary driver fined for threatening rant at cyclist”
He hops now, does he? Must’ve
He hops now, does he? Must’ve been worse than first thought.
I think the answer to the
I think the answer to the chap’s question is “yes”.
Not quite sure how to take
Not quite sure how to take this.
1. He was found guility of acting like a dick in the street, which is good though we don’t know what he did that made the cyclist run his mouth off at him to get this reaction.
2. From what it sounds like the cyclist ran his mouth off at the original incident, and this is a prime example of if you’re going to mouth off at people then expect something back off them (no justification for what the driver did, especially the swing at 0:15s), no one likes getting told they’re in the wrong, and if the cyclist had done it in a less than savoury manner, like the driver. Stopping, and filming when he did so the cyclist knew exactly what he was getting into when stopping, why not just carry on and leave the stupid old git stood there looking like a twat!
glynr36 wrote: why not just
A possible outcome. As is being pursued by the bloke who’s just taken the trouble to stop and have a go at you.
bendertherobot wrote:glynr36
That is something you have to consider, especially in a remote isolated area rather than urban roads where you can get away.
However, something I always advise new cyclists, is the simple rule that if you are confronted by an angry motorist, never ever stop next to them. That includes pulling up right next to the drivers door.
You need enough distance to be out of reach, and to dismount and put the bike between you if they turn violent. You’re very vulnerable whilst you’re balancing on a stationary bike, where as a wheel in the face will make most people think twice.
bendertherobot wrote:As is
This. The guy was clearly so aggravated by the incident that had the cyclist just ridden past then I suspect he would’ve jumped back in the car and chased him down, with god-knows-what consequences. Probably safer for all concerned to have stopped and taken the verbal battering!
Problem with this video is that there was clearly some earlier altercation that resulted in the chap reacting like this, but that (perhaps conveniently) wasn’t recorded. The level of the reaction just makes me think that the cyclist must have done something to provoke it, which then makes the eventual outcome of all this seem a little disingenuous.
Not to condone the driver’s behaviour, or suggest that this is what actually happened *cough* but if I’ve ridden like a bit of a knob and another road user has brought that to my attention, then I certainly wouldn’t be doing or saying anything to provoke a further reaction. Christ, if people exist in such a hair-trigger state such as this bloke, then who knows what you might expect in return…
What an absolute charmer.
What an absolute charmer. Sadly, he seems to be so deeply angry with the world that a $6 million fine proably wouldn’t make any difference…
Words can not describe. What
Words can not describe. What a prat.
this f*cking article is
this f*cking article is proper c*nting b*stard ace news. Glad that this f*cker got such a f*cking great tw@ of a fine. The w*nker.
Get a helmet or bar cam.
Get a helmet or bar cam. They’re worth their cost.
The fact is that the video had him bang to rights. I expect once his wife saw it she pointed him at the cop shop.
He pleaded guilty as well. He didn’t try to make up some crazy justification for it about what happened before.
he shouldn’t have done it
he got caught on camera
he turned himself in
he pleaded guilty
Fair play to him
£500 fine is a decent result.
oozaveared wrote:Get a helmet
They are when just used ‘passively’ but there is a minority of YouTube warriors who seem to try and get a reaction from drivers, so they have something worthwhile to upload, that’s not just their commute/ride.
He’s a bit angry isn’t he!!
He’s a bit angry isn’t he!!
What is concerning is that a
What is concerning is that a casual tut or disapproving nod from within a car at someone in another car, *may* not get noticed! but when you are on a bike! it’s plain for all to see!
I could be a similar gesture from the cyclist may have set this driver off, Or could have been antagaonised by another cyclist before – who knows.
Stay safe all, and careful what do!
But no fine for being a crap
But no fine for being a crap stereotype? Had the magistrate never seen a Guy Ritchie movie?
I am not entirely clear as to
I am not entirely clear as to why the additional charge of assault was dropped. From the video, Baldwin made a clear physical assault.
Did you call me a wanker, you
Did you call me a wanker, you cunt?
Classic.
Yeah, but you just called me a cunt, you wanker, let’s call it evens
This granpa is good.
Should
This granpa is good.
Should be channelled to a few on here.
=))
Two cyclist were killed and
Two cyclist were killed and the driver had to pay £120!
The law makes no sense what so ever ~X(
‘Two cyclist were killed and
‘Two cyclist were killed and the driver had to pay £120!’
and was jailed for 8 years, let’s not forget. Which is a pitifully small sentence, but let’s not pretend that it was just about the cash…
On a related note, does
On a related note, does anyone know how Mr Penishead is doing? Business going well?
That old dude got lucky
That old dude got lucky really… he’d have not smacked me like that and had such a tempered response.
I’d have been turning the camera off pronto…
There’s a lot of angry people
There’s a lot of angry people out there who will take no criticism whatsoever. I had an altercation with a short, baldy Phil Mitchell in an Astra last year. He was pulling out of a car park on the opposite side of the road to turn right as I came along. Rather than wait or flash me through he was across the centre white line and almost alongside me as I passed. I had right of way. He was being impatient so I shook my head at him.
Next thing he’s pulled alongside screaming abuse and threatening to get out and ‘kick my head in’. We were stopped by this time so I asked him if he was in such a hurry that he almost cut me up why had he now all the time in the world to hold me up ( and a queue of cars behind us) while he had a fit in front of me.
He came out with the classic. “I’m a f**king Cyclist too you f**king T**T!!”
I just shook my head again said “I’m leaving you now..” and cycled off. He was as good as gold coming past so he must have calmed down a little.
As someone said earlier had I been in a car and shaken my head nothing would have happened. It wasn’t even driver v motorist as he was a cyclist too. I assume he was having a bad day and wasn’t taking any advice from anyone.
I might also assume he was a nice guy most of the time but I doubt it. Seemed like a right little tosser to me.
MercuryOne wrote:There’s a
last 8 words sufficient to sum that up.
What a thoroughly nasty
What a thoroughly nasty individual. Clearly has mental health issues.
Quote: ……it’s very much
You’ve obviously never spent any time with the Armed Forces. 25 swear words in 37 seconds; Pah! Amateur.
So he got nothing for driving
So he got nothing for driving a Jag?
Seriously……….filming in
Seriously……….filming in portrait mode….WTF??
What a charmer !
What a charmer !
Hahaha what a plonker, got
Hahaha what a plonker, got exactly what he deserved. He will be very wary of confronting anyone just in case he will be recorded and subsequently charged 🙂
Could just be a Mr Nasty in
Could just be a Mr Nasty in action or perhaps there was a case for the cyclist having to retrieve his phone recording form his own rectum?
Only half a story there and many don’t take kindly to being called such names.
Beware the consequences of affronting strangers.
Eebijeebi wrote:Could just be
To me this sort of sums up the problem. The implication is that calling someone a w*nker is a disproportionate response to someone being careless with your life. And the implication of that is that your life is less important than the unimpeded progress of some massive bell-end in a big car.
Depressing stuff. Also, I agree with people above who reckon that this guy will be feeling massively hard done by. This is partly why I never bother remonstrating with people in the road- there is very little chance that they will go away thinking “Gosh, he was totally right- I really should think about how I drive and reconsider my huge sense of entitlement.” Far more likely they’ll go home ranting about bloody cyclists.
The old boy looks a bit
The old boy looks a bit confused to me, perhaps he can’t find his way back to the care home he lives in.
However nothing is gained by a cyclist giving a w4nker sign to a motorist, it only creates you grief at best and getting knocked off your bike at worst.
Probably wouldn’t have
Probably wouldn’t have happenned to me as I have learned to replace the wanker sign with a friendly smile. But if it had I would have just kicked him in the nuts, job done. Maybe I’m just old fashioned but I don’t feel the need for a helmet cam to film myself looking at a cyclometer.
drfabulous0 wrote:Probably
Haha brilliant! – Laughed out loud at that comment! Now that is a video many would enjoy watching.
Had a serious verbal
Had a serious verbal altercation similar to this but it happened so quick and out of the blue i never had time or thought to record it on phone.
I dread this sort of thing
I dread this sort of thing happening to me when I’m in road shoes. My SPD shoes, fine, but road shoes?
DrJDog wrote:I dread this
That’s always my thought, and that’s having spent years practising martial arts – in terms of physical defence it all comes to nought if you may as well be basically wearing ice skates.
Ultimately, it comes down to skills that are considerably more difficult to learn – not putting yourself in that position, never taking the bait to respond, keeping your ego out of the driving seat etc. Easy to talk about, much harder to practise when your adrenalin jumps!