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news
Essex van man v bikeVideo: attack on cyclist - Is this you? Essex Police want to hear from you
After a video of what appears to be a brutal attack on a cyclist by driver of a white van was repeatedly retweeted today, Essex Police would like to hear from the cyclist who shot the clip.
The video, posted to YouTube today by London YouTuber DrMorocho, shows the rider falling off after the van driver closes the gap between the vehicle and the kerb.
The driver then gets out of the van and attacks the rider.
DrMorocho told road.cc the video was originally posted with the handle Barry Jones. That account appears to have been deleted. The date stamp shows the incident as taking place on December 5 2014 at 11:34 am.
Essex Police say they were aware of the video and would like the victim to come forward.
When it was brought to their attention earlier today, Essex Police posted to Twitter:
We're aware of a You Tube video of a cyclist being assaulted + would advise the victim to contact police on 101 so it can be investigated
— Essex Police (@EssexPoliceUK) January 15, 2015
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- randonneur 34 min 52 sec ago
There is no defence in ramming someone off the road. The defender driver has taken a life.
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Yes! Nineteen Eighty-Four is where the police learn to construct their publicity releases and other statements: our thoughts and prayers are with.....
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That could be hundreds of addresses, though? In the linked story, Jim Waterson said he spent hours staking out one block......
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Go up or down hill.
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World Bollard Association™️ @worldbollardassoc.bsky.social It’s lift off for our Bluesky account! Welcome aboard. #WorldBollardAssociation🚀
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81 comments
I think what has happened is that with the growth of cycling in recent years large numbers of motorists have begun dressing up as cyclists and attempting to ride bicycles once in a while in order to pass themselves off as cyclists. Once these interlopers are in position they proceed to push ideas such as segregated paths with the pretext that they are safer. They may be so but the real motive is simply to oust cyclists from the roads.
FOC.
Compliments of.
I can't believe anyone is placing blame on the cyclist here. The van driver did a stupid overtake (the initial one) knowing full well he was going to stop and hold up the cyclist. In my view the cyclist is entitled to right that wrong. I agree it isn't the safest action but then sometimes I don't dismount at signs that say "cyclists dismount"
Essex police are probably looking for the cyclist to charge him with cycling on the pavement, hitting the van and "colliding" with the guys fists.
If there is any punishment to be handed out it should be done by the proper authorities. Not by an angry mob of knuckle-dragging cyclists.
Yeah, i agree - it *should*. But the pisser is that they're not doing anything - not even opening an investigation - unless the cyclist comes forward, which he obviously isn't going to do.
If the cyclist isn't coming forward and has decided to let it drop (although it's NOT clear that is actually the case) then there's no reason for the rabblement to reach for their pitchforks.
The driver's actions are clearly wrong and I believe it should be dealt with appropriately and with the right level of action. Attempting to get the driver sacked is way beyond that and doesn't serve anybody well - least of all the tax-payer who'll have to fork out the welfare. Most of the posters here are clearly out for revenge. Whatever is done to this drive won't act as a deterrent to anybody else. And attempting to deliberately damage the business, which may well have other innocent employees, is also an inappropriate response.
I disagree with most of your paragraph LinusLarrabee, if he gets sacked then his post will be filled with the next in line, who might well be coming off benefits, it all balances out; and if I were his employer I would prefer someone not proven to be a liability. As for it being a deterrent, if just one person who hears of his (hopeful) prosecution thinks twice before overtaking on zig-zags as he did, using the phone while driving or assaulting someone then that is a result. The Police should pick up the phone and invite this man into the station to ask him to explain his lack of adherence to the laws of the land. Well done to the victim for filming this, there is no shame in coming forward. The sooner that all drivers think there is a possibility they are being filmed on the road, the better.
Why is it excessive for a person who commits a criminal act in the course of their employment to lose that employment?
On it's own, I don't think it is excessive and I think we both agree that it's appropriate for the driver to be punished for his actions and that the punishment should reflect the seriousness of his crime. But just how many punishments do you think are appropriate? 1,2,3,4, unlimited? This is why we have a legal system - to stop the angry rabblement taking the law in to their own hands.
When combined with a potential arrest, imprisonment, fine, points on licence, telephone and email harassment, the embarrassment of having his face plastered all over the national press, potential bullying of his children, potentially losing his home when he can't make the mortgage payments, lost business to his employer and the knock-on effects of that - to name but a few, the punishment becomes excessive. I'm sure some moron will spout the "he should have thought about that before he committed his crime" line, but that's not how human brains work. He failed to contain his inner-chimp and now you people are doing the same in response to watching an online video. I'm sure there are people here on this website who'd advocate giving him a beating and would do it themselves if they met him - which makes them no better that he is. I realise that's not a popular view, but then not all cyclists are the knuckle-dragging moronic type that are easily lead by public opinion, so I don't really care to be honest.
Punishments in such circumstances will always be plural. Why? Because there will be both civil and criminal consequences.
You agree that it's quite proper that an assault in the course of one's employment will see that employment terminated. You seem to struggle with the plularity of punishment. But, of course, there must be. If he's charged, and convicted, then clearly he must be punished. It's likely that there will be multiple punishments in relation to each charge. One of those may be a driving ban. If he's not already been sacked because of his behaviour (it's clearly gross misconduct) then that's simply going to add to his issues. If he owns this company, then he may be lucky. If he's an employee it's highly unlikely an employer would put up with this.
The rest? The loss of wages, mortgage etc. Those are consequences which flow naturally from such a punishment. There's nothing really unusual about that.
Do I advocate burning his house down? Of course not. Bullying his kids. Well, no.
Do I agree that after due process, if he's convicted, losing his job and a conviction is proportionate. Yes.
Now, if that makes me a moron, if that makes me you people, fine.
the bike undertakes whilst the van is crawling, totally legit. The van driver then hits the cyclist on purpose, there is space for him to pull out and past him safely if he wanted to.
If this guy has done that to me I would have decked him in SELF DEFENCE.
Why haven't the police arrested the driver and side kick? It's not as if they don't have enough evidence ………..
Offences this thug have has committed - assault, threatening behaviour, pubic order offences, breach of the peace, driving whilst using his mobile phone, dangerous driving. The footage is pretty damning.
What are the police waiting for? They should have already arrested him on suspicion of so many offences. Or are the cops where this happened anti-cycling as well?
Even easier to identify if he is a sole trader with his name plastered on the van
.
Somebody is not happy to have this online, video has already been flagged. Try this new link instead http://youtu.be/zjmf-fjrnAw
Classic angry little man syndrome. I didn't know they stacked shit that high in Essex.
I can belive people on a cyclin site are blaming the cyclist! I dispair at times. I won't lower my self to calling names though, seems a tasteless development growing on road cc.
I have mailed the gardening company I hope every reader of this story sends at leat one email with the link to video. I think this lovely man should lose his job and license
I've just emailed the company, as I hope everyone else has.
I'm curious to know what the cyclist had on the back of his bike. The photos on the Mail website show a huge white thing about 2 feet wide on his rack.
I see that Taylor Landscaping doesn't appear on Trustatrader.com any more, obviously not a man that can be trusted. Imagine if he had a spade in his hand when he got angry. Anyone know where CM11 1NH is?
This is now going to be on local BBC Essex tomorrow morning and has already made the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2912039/Shocking-moment-cyclist-...).
Aarrgghh.. #donotreadthecomments
Not that it's really the point but was the driver or the rider who was on the phone? The Mail says the latter but we've all assumed it's the former. I can't tell from the vid.
I did think the 1st truck was a bit close. The van even looked to have given him a decent amount of space to begin with. It just all went a bit south immediately afterwards.
I hope the cyclist is OK after this really and that it doesn't put him off getting in the saddle again, I'd definitely think twice the next time I went to get on the bike if this had happened to me.
garyk86 wrote:
"Upon contact, instead of pointing out the error of the cyclists [sic] ways (riding up the inside of a moving vehicle)..."
Actually, although the cyclist shouldn't have made this manoeuvre in this situation, it is legal to ride up the inside of a vehicle to filter traffic at low speeds. As the speed was low, it would be hard to argue that this wasn't filtering. Nevertheless, it was unnecessary and dangerous.
If the police are going to book the driver for assault, they will also most likely book him for the "ramming" as well. Once a clear criminal offence has been committed, it becomes easier to add offences as the driver will already be appearing before a judge. Note: traffic offences that are not fixed penalty notices are criminal offences.
The rubbish truck passed pretty close too. The rider was not taking the lane, which might have avoided risky passes. The rider's behaviour at the junction wasn't great, but that didn't justify the driver's reaction. Assault plus using a phone while driving won't help the driver's career prospects.
I would have called the police at the scene
I would have called the police at the scene
@ratattatt
bombard the firm with emails, promote the incident on social media to alert potential customers of the conduct of the firm employees, get in touch with a local newspaper....there's always a news story out there
employee should be very easy to I.D. once the employer is contacted
Taylor landscaping 01268710922or 07939640764 give them a ring and ask about the thug in van NC56FMP or email them on taylorlandscaping [at] me.com
Agreed, we need to make a stand on this. Its becoming the norm for people to think they own the roads.
So much for the Wiggo effect, in my Town (Worthing), its become ridiculous with the way we`re treated.
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