[the little onion]

So here’s an odd one. Just posting it here for any advice, though as a CyclingUK member, I’ll also contact them to hear their view.

 

I was close passed in a really bad way a while back – basically, nearly squeezed between a barrier and a badly driven car. During the process, I “dropped the f-bomb” four times. I submitted the footage to the police, including an apologetic note for my language in the footage. The police are taking it further with the driver, apparently, but the driver has now complained that I was using foul and abusive language, and thus a public order offence. I’m now going to be interviewed under caution for a public order offence!

 

I’ve sent some footage to the police before which has included some fruity language, but never had anything like this before. Frankly, the whole thing is embarrasing that this has been taken this far. Surely there is no public interest in pursuing someone who lets their language standards dropped when narrowly escaping a serious road incident?

 

Any thoughts or advice welcome.

Topic

[HoarseMann]

wow – what an absolute farce the scumbag police put you through
no wonder they are always claiming to lack resources when they’re wasting money and time like this

[andystow]

I’m glad it’s over for you.

[the little onion]

Right then, finally after 19 months we have a resolution.

I was charged under the Public Order Act for using foul and abusive language. Eventually, after a LOT of time, money and effort, and above all stress and sleepless nights, I was in court for about 2 minutes. The witness didn’t show up, so the case was thrown out. My innocence is maintained.

However, I remain utterly, utterly furious with West Yorkshire Police. And to a lesser extent with the CPS. The officer’s witness statement, and that of the supposed victim, were full of lies. Not just things that were down to opinion or any kind of subjective judgement, but things relating to the chronology of incidents on the video, the number of incidents I submitted in which I swore. And not even little things – for example, the officer claimed in his witness statement that I had submitted at least 27 videos in which I swore, but this is simply untrue. There was this one, and two other ones where I was close passed and involuntarily swore.

Part of me was looking forward to seeing the police officer ripped to shreds in court over their false statements.

If the police hadn’t flat-out lied, or if the CPS done their job properly, this whole farce wouldn’t have happened.

I strongly believe that West Yorkshire Police are institutionally anti-cyclist.

[dabba]

I was hit and knocked off my
I was hit and knocked off my bike last December in Australia. In the driver’s report to the insurer he was upset that I’d sworn at him a lot. My camera only picked up that I called him a “fucking bastard” and a “fucking useless cunt” who didn’t “deserve to have a licence”. The cop who charged him would have heard it on my video of the prang, but it obviously didn’t worry him. The only thing that stopped me from doing anything else to the driver was the broken ankle and elbow! I’ve never been so angry in my life before! He was charged with negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm.

[bikes]

Where is the road.cc article
Where is the road.cc article about this with the go fund me link to pay for a solicitor? I know nothing about this kind of thing, but I assume the court date is a threat rather than something that will go ahead in reality.

[Al Mossah]

That is pathetic. I usually
That is pathetic. I usually ride at the outside of our cycle lanes. They are only around a metre wide, and every few metres half of it is taken up by a grate. So rather than weave in and out I maintain a line approx 80cm from the kerb.

It doesn’t matter where you are on the road, the driver has no right to close-pass you. And there’s nothing to say you have to be in the middle of the lane.

If I were in charge I’d either get rid of these cycle lanes, or treble the width, forcing drivers to wait until there was no incoming traffic .

[wtjs]

I nominally have a court date

I nominally have a court date. Sigh…. so it might well go all the way

And yet: Mr Anderson, in the same topic as I mention in my post a few below, drew attention to the fact that Cycling Mikey’s reports are now being binned a la Lancashire Constabulary routine behaviour, except that the Met. just write ‘unable to process’ as an excuse. Lancashire just refuses to respond at all. If you watch CM’s video you will see and hear swearing which the Met. wasn’t interested in. I know from my own experience that Lancashire Constabulary just had ‘words of advice’ for a BMW driver who threatened to ‘fucking flatten’ me and to knock me off my bike. Swearing by motorists is excused routinely by the expletive-deleted police, and yet we see TLO’s case. B******s!

[Al Mossah]

I was chatting to a police
I was chatting to a police traffic officer about use of bad language in such incidents. He told me of an occasion he was on the motorway when a car overtook him at VERY high speed. His f-laden expletive was recorded by the onboard camera and used in evidence against the speeding motorist. The logic was that the behaviour was so bad that it caused an experienced traffic policeman to swear. So he said that there was no need for me to dial down the language in extreme circumstances.

[the little onion]

Yeah, I’ve gone over these,

Yeah, I’ve gone over these, and fair to say that I’m now inclined to agree with HoldingOn. There are plenty of instances, including this one, which aren’t actually on the spreadsheet. So either the data has been accidentally misrecorded on the spreadsheet, or there is something very, very dodgy going on……

[wtjs]

I don’t know about other

I don’t know about other forces, but West Yorkshire actually publish quarterly stats on submissions to their video portal

HoldingOn in here says that he has tried hard but has been unable to identify his submissions/ offences against him, from the spreadsheet. These spreadsheets bear little relation to the truth/ what actually happens to offenders- which is mostly nothing at all

[Rendel Harris]

Well I wrote to them on

Well I wrote to them on Tuesday afternoon pointing out that BC was quite obviously the user previously banned under many guises and by last night all their posts and replies to them had been deleted so…

[Hirsute]

“As I said elsewhere but I

“As I said elsewhere but I think it will have now been deleted as it was a response to the troll”

Hang on, are you saying your writing to the mods has sucessfully removed a PBU and all their posts and replies ? If so, good work !

[andystow]

hawkinspeter wrote:

Hirsute wrote:

Hahah no – I’m now wondering if it was in Fake Heroes about Douglas Bader. It was ! Allegedly to a bunch of school girls.

Here’s Stan Boardman doing a long version of the joke on Des O’Connor Show – got him a ban from ITV and more or less ended his career:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8Yf5B6GbYk

Well, at least he wasn’t arrested for a public order offence.

[Bungle_52]

the little onion wrote:

I nominally have a court date. Sigh…. so it might well go all the way.

I will keep people updated.

Thanks for the update and good luck. Don’t forget that our justice system isn’t about right and wrong. I assume that CUK have given you an idea about what questions you will be asked and how to answer them. Make sure you are well prepared.

[hawkinspeter]

Hirsute wrote:

Hahah no – I’m now wondering if it was in Fake Heroes about Douglas Bader. It was ! Allegedly to a bunch of school girls.

Here’s Stan Boardman doing a long version of the joke on Des O’Connor Show – got him a ban from ITV and more or less ended his career:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8Yf5B6GbYk

[Author]

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