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Video: Aggressive driver kicks school run cyclist – but police can’t find driver

Victim who filmed assault in Liverpool frustrated at failure to bring aggressor to justice

Police ​have been unable to trace an aggressive driver who got out of his vehicle and kicked a cyclist returning home from the school run – despite the incident being caught on film by the victim, who has expressed their frustration at the failure to bring the man to justice.

Liverpool assault 02

The shocking incident took place in Woolton, Liverpool in March, with the cyclist subsequently submitting footage to Merseyside Police.

The cyclist was riding a triple tandem, clearly made to take small children, when the driver of a black Range Rover cut across them at a junction.

The motorist stopped a little further up the road, and the cyclist rode over – at which point the driver got out of the vehicle and ran across the road and kicked out.

“He kicked my camera and caught my hand at the same time, I dropped the bike and then the guy in the van came and he scurried back to his car,” the cyclist, who wishes to remain anonymous, told road.cc.

In a tweet posted in late May to their Twitter account, which is now protected, the cyclist said: “Police called today, officer apologised that they had the video but never got a notification from the portal to say so. Not sure if I believe that or not.

“Anyway he asked me what direction I would like to take this incident. Started talking about the guy writing me an apology.”

Asking their followers for advice, they said: “I feel I'm being coerced into a 'non punishment' and not sure if I like the thought of reading a crappy apology letter anyway. What should I do?

They added: “Also the officer said although it was road rage he was a pedestrian at the time... Is that how it works?”

Last week, the cyclist tweeted again to say that police had been unable to establish who the motorist was, with the company that had leased the vehicle not responding to a request to disclose the identity of the driver.

“Merseyside Police have given up looking for this guy despite having his vehicle registration and a very good picture of his face,” they tweeted. “What can I do now if anything?

Liverpool assault 01

“Disappointed to hear that the lease company failed to nominate who was driving and after 6 months it is too late to prosecute. Apparently the lease company will face a fine now but I won't hear the result of that.”

They added: “An ongoing consequence of this incident is a genuine fear of riding across this junction. Which is a real pain as its right next to my kids’ school. So we have to ride around and go in the longer way. I doubt the guy thinks much about it at all if ever.”

Reflecting on the police’s handling of the case, the cyclist told road.cc: “My tweets pretty much sum it up, but it was an initial oversight of not watching the video for two months until I contacted them to ask what is happening then a little scurrying of action then they ran the clock out waiting for a sub-leasing company to reply, which they never did.

“They never informed me it was a summary offence,” the cyclist added. “If I’d known this, I would have posted the video months ago.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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49 comments

Avatar
wtjs | 2 years ago
2 likes

The police will generally 'run down the clock' if they can when it's an offence they don't care about. The point about the police suggesting 'an apology' rings true- does it work for speeding? I am supposed to be seeing an officer this weekend- he has asked for the meeting but he has the complete evidence on video of the BMW driver threatening to 'fucking flatten' me and 'you will get knocked off', so what's it about? I have a suspicion it's going to be a 'he didn't mean it and apologises' talk. I am, of course, not interested in any apology from a monumentally insincere nutter aggressive BMW driver- but if the PC starts any of this 'evidential difficulties' tripe, I'll know they have planned to do nothing from the day of the offence almost 3 months ago!

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CXR94Di2 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Easy to find an insured driver. Pull registration, request driver details, which have photo ID. Police and DVLA

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jh2727 | 2 years ago
1 like

> police can’t find driver

I think "police fail to find driver" is more correct.

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EK Spinner replied to jh2727 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Or maybe police know exactly who driver is and wait until they have more serious charges to get him

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JLasTSR | 2 years ago
1 like

That is crazy, what is the matter with some people. 

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Rawstron1 | 2 years ago
3 likes

Obviously, the driver is in the wrong and can't be defended at all, but I wonder what on Earth the cyclist thought they would gain from following him and provoking an already angry driver. Nastiness and aggression from the driver but naïveté and lack of common sense from the cyclist. If you're chasing an aggressive driver is it now ok to ride on a pavement? 
 

 

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Hirsute replied to Rawstron1 | 2 years ago
7 likes

As there was a car parked on the pavement, he thought it was fair game to cycle!
He likely thought with the traffic, he was safe on the other side of the road and they could just shout at one another.
99% of the time it would have been ok.

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Captain Badger replied to Rawstron1 | 2 years ago
4 likes
Rawstron1 wrote:

Obviously, the driver is in the wrong.

TFTFY

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Biggus | 2 years ago
2 likes

Seems that all the Police are good for today is ignoring real crime because it is too much effort for them, penalising motorists for just going over the speed limit and raping and abusing women...

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bikeman01 | 2 years ago
7 likes

New Range Rover, jogging bottoms, low class... my guess a drug dealer. Known to the police no doubt, maybe even one of them. 

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lllnorrislll replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
7 likes

But a full profile photo, taken from a video screenshot does - see above.
It really wouldn't have taken much for the local police to put an appeal on their Twitter, as some one locally would know who he was.

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eburtthebike replied to bikeman01 | 2 years ago
2 likes

bikeman01 wrote:

New Range Rover, jogging bottoms, low class... my guess a drug dealer. Known to the police no doubt, maybe even one of them. 

I thought something similar, an informer perhaps?

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quiff | 2 years ago
1 like

Anyone else think the van driver was a bit unhinged too?! Didn't seem to need much persuasion to drive hard down the wrong side of the road, skid to a halt and get involved.

Not that this has any bearing on the kicking, but I'm also struggling to get my head around the events leading up to it. I think the cyclist is complaining that the driver squeezes past to get onto the main road. Is that the start of the argument (in which case, what a spectacularly short fuse he's got), or was this a continuation of some previous incident [EDIT: still not ok]?        

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Jem PT replied to quiff | 2 years ago
0 likes

quiff wrote:

Anyone else think the van driver was a bit unhinged too?! Didn't seem to need much persuasion to drive hard down the wrong side of the road, skid to a halt and get involved.

Not that this has any bearing on the kicking, but I'm also struggling to get my head around the events leading up to it. I think the cyclist is complaining that the driver squeezes past to get onto the main road. Is that the start of the argument (in which case, what a spectacularly short fuse he's got), or was this a continuation of some previous incident [EDIT: still not ok]?        

 

I agree. But this happened in Liverpool ...

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nordog | 2 years ago
2 likes

Looking at that healthy and very fit young man, by the look of his neat hair cut he is either in the Army, Navy or the Airforce but more like as not the Police force, that is why the slow action took place and no charges. The Mersey Police should be investigated ASAP!

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lukei1 | 2 years ago
5 likes

So presumably this guy leases the RR through his own company so has no good reason to identify himself as the driver? Great work, police

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leaway2 | 2 years ago
5 likes

With his reg and clear picture, this is police can't be arsed. Note to villains, lease your getaway car and you'll be away scott free.

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wycombewheeler replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
3 likes

Nigel Garage wrote:

The car and driver apparently aren't in the UK. Unless you want them to invade Spain, there unfortunately isn't much they can do

Always the fault of those pesky europeans eh?

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chrisonabike replied to wycombewheeler | 2 years ago
2 likes

wycombewheeler wrote:

Nigel Garage wrote:

The car and driver apparently aren't in the UK. Unless you want them to invade Spain, there unfortunately isn't much they can do

Always the fault of those pesky europeans eh?

It's a good job we're now finally in control of our borders unlike the bad old days where we were literally under the thrall of the CJEU while being powerless to keep out rogues like this, stop them fleeing or chase them beyond the UK!

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Steve K replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
3 likes

Nigel Garage wrote:

The car and driver apparently aren't in the UK. Unless you want them to invade Spain, there unfortunately isn't much they can do

Sorry, am I missing something?  Where does it say that?

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Steve K replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
2 likes

Nigel Garage wrote:

There was a photo of the car in Marbella according to twitter - https://twitter.com/CyclingHull/status/1450926639064489985

Thanks - though if that's the only evidence of it being abroad, it doesn't mean it is now.

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Flintshire Boy replied to Steve K | 2 years ago
0 likes

No, but it's a start.

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bikeman01 replied to Steve K | 2 years ago
1 like

Steve K wrote:

Nigel Garage wrote:

There was a photo of the car in Marbella according to twitter - https://twitter.com/CyclingHull/status/1450926639064489985

Thanks - though if that's the only evidence of it being abroad, it doesn't mean it is now.

Even crims can go on holiday.

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Sriracha replied to leaway2 | 2 years ago
1 like

As Nigel points out the car seems to have been in Marbella since this incident. But with his reg and a decent mug shot available, it should have been easy to stop him at the ports. I don't suppose they issue a ports watch for every minor skirmish, but somehow I doubt this was his only offence.
https://www.autogespot.com/land-rover-range-rover-sport-svr-2018-2/2021/...

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Hirsute replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
0 likes

Where are you reading that ?

OK so it was there at some point but that isn't to say it is still there. Or am I missing something ?

 

Just a little runaround anyway.

opspeed
282 KM/H

Acceleration 0-100 KM/H
4.30 s

Power
575 hp

Torque
516 Nm @ 3500 RPM

Weight
2310 kg

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Sriracha replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

I'm just saying it would have been trivially easy to detain the guy, had they wanted to. Difficult to get through the ports without having your number plate scanned numerous times, etc.

And if he's not returned yet, well the opportunity is still there to pick him up on his return.

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Hirsute replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
0 likes

That just mentions it was seen on 16/09.

How is it known it is still there ?

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Sriracha replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

I didn't say he's still there. Only that the opportunity to apprehend him was. If he is still there, better still. He'll have to return, via a port, eventually, and the police are now without excuse.

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Hirsute replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
1 like

That makes sense - thanks (there were 2 ways to read your opening sentence)

It's just a little runaround anyhow

Topspeed     282 KM/H
Acceleration 0-100 KM/H     4.30 s
Power     575 hp
Torque     516 Nm @ 3500 RPM
Weight     2310 kg

Avatar
HLaB | 2 years ago
5 likes

It's hard to see on my tiny phone. But it looks like the cyclist simply took the shortcut out of the carpark/school and arrived at the junction a bit ahead of the 4x4driver but had to wait in line so the driver caught up. 😮 That was enough to infuriate them to threaten to kill someone. They were going nowhere even if the trike wasn't there, there's another massive 4x4 in front 😮 That then manifested in a physical assault, which could have been worse if the van driver wasn't there. The man is unhinged and needs locking up before it is worse 😮

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