[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

[Hirsute]

Does this mean no action

Does this mean no action against you ?

The rest is just an excuse to do nothing.

[the little onion]

open_roads wrote:

So in short – the police as usual were a55hats.

 

Well, the bit of advice that swearing loudly in a public place isn’t a good idea was reasonable. I’ll take that on board. The rest was baffling and at times infuriating.

[open_roads]

So in short – the police as

So in short – the police as usual were a55hats.

[the little onion]

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking

quiff wrote:

I was referring to your point 2 – where they told you they’d NFA’d others for swearing during a pass.

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about – in other incidents where people involuntarily swear, they sometimes NFA it based purely on what they mutter. The example was someone exclaiming “F***er” during a close pass

[quiff]

I was referring to your point

I was referring to your point 2 – where they told you they’d NFA’d others for swearing during a pass.

[the little onion]

It was absolutely an indirect

It was absolutely an indirect, involuntary exclamation.

The fact that the exclamations came AFTER and as a DIRECT CONSEQUENCE of the close pass just made it absolutely mind-numbingly stupid.

institutionally anticyclist

[quiff]

So, so depressing. Thank you

So, so depressing. Thank you for reporting back though. I wonder what they NFAd – I’d hope that it was directed profanity (“you f***ing c***”) and not just an involuntary exclamation (“F***ing hell!”)  

[the little onion]

It was hard work, but I

It was hard work, but I managed it.

 

[brooksby]

I hope you waited until you

I hope you waited until you were out of the interview room – and the police station – before you started swearing again? 😉

[the little onion]

An update after my interview

An update after my interview

So, some points after my very disappointing interview.

1. The swearing public order offence thing wasn’t to do with what happens in the moment of the pass itself, it was me swearing in response to the driver swearing at me in the ‘afters’. Even though the driver instigated everything and was in a 2 tonne metal box, swearing at them could be seen as aggressive. So:

Lesson number 1 – After a close pass, keep your mouth shut and get out of there

2. Amazingly, the officers informed me that they have No Further Actioned close pass incidents purely on the basis that there was swearing DURING the close pass, with no ‘afters’.

Lesson number 2 – if you happen to mutter swearwords during a close pass, submit the video with the soundtrack deleted

3. The officers were perfectly happy to lecture me on my choice of road positioning, risk awareness, etc, which they were happy to tell me was based on what they would do in a car. It turns out that they hadn’t ridden a bike on the roads in decades, in part because it is too dangerous

Lesson number 3 – the police officer reviewing footage probably has no experience of riding a bike, and is basing their interpretation on their prejudices

There’s a few other things which I can’t face including, but which basically confirm my view that the police are less than useless and more than prejudiced when it comes to dealing with cycling issues. Of course, I’m sure that there are some dedicated, experienced, sympathetic officers, but I just didn’t meet any today.

[Benthic]

The complaint needs to be one

The complaint needs to be one of a crime, obvs.

[Benthic]

Secret_squirrel wrote:

What a stupid comment.  Its nothing of the sort.  Its the driver gaming the system to avoid points.

Incorrect.

[stonojnr]

Can’t they additionally do
Can’t they additionally do the driver for a public order offence as well then if they’re playing this game ?

[Secret_squirrel]

What a stupid comment.  Its

What a stupid comment.  Its nothing of the sort.  Its the driver gaming the system to avoid points.

[wtjs]

It’s some catch, that Catch
It’s some catch, that Catch 22: swear and the police go after you for a public order offence, don’t swear and you were obviously not ‘inconvenienced’ enough and it wasn’t a close enough pass

[Author]

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