Interesting incident on the commute today

[HovR]

They take impersonating Police Officers very seriously, if he was a fake and you happened to be vulnerable & he took a shine to you, are you going to object too much if handcuffed and put into a car?

Yes. If he'd tried something like this (especially for the non-incident that he was complaining about) I'd have been cycling away and calling 999 to express my concerns over a fake officer. Once someone has got out of their car (and you keep at a reasonable distance) it's dead easy to just cycle away in the opposite direction leaving them standing in the middle of the road with their car facing the wrong way. Take a few corners and you're out of the situation.

If I'd had more identifying information then I'd have loved to report it, but as it happened I had none, and I also had somewhere to be. Not much that can be done unfortunately.

 

[Andy_R]

Hmm, was he a real policeman? I used to have a pretend police badge when I was about 5... Although it wouldn't surprise me to hear a policeman acting like this, many are great but I often see police ignore pavement cycling, RLJ'ers - not sure the point of legislation that's not upheld, just takes up space on the books...

Maybe you're not supposed to ride 2 abreast but if there's nothing else around, what's the problem. However, the bit about cycling as close to the pavement as possible is incorrect and actually a pretty stupid thing to do anyway.

Rule 66 of the highway code is an advisory, not mandatory, and it only suggests thatr you should not ride more than 2 abreast

 

[jarlrmai]

I'll swap them a mandatory 66 for a mandatory rule 163

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Yes. If he'd tried something like this (especially for the non-incident that he was complaining about) I'd have been cycling away and calling 999 to express my concerns over a fake officer. Once someone has got out of their car (and you keep at a reasonable distance) it's dead easy to just cycle away in the opposite direction leaving them standing in the middle of the road with their car facing the wrong way. Take a few corners and you're out of the situation.

If I'd had more identifying information then I'd have loved to report it, but as it happened I had none, and I also had somewhere to be. Not much that can be done unfortunately.

I think you emphasised the wrong bit. My analogy was not you, assuming you're not vulnerable and a soft target for an oddball with a pretend ID badge, but why the police take people pretending to be in positions of authority seriously.

Hard to think of that in the spur of the moment,but I'd still suggest you give 101 a call and report what info you can. How do you know there's not a whole list of similar complaints that you may help add to or improve upon. Time, location, MO, words used may all add a bit to the jigsaw, don't think of him in isolation just to you.

 

[HovR]

I think you emphasised the wrong bit.

Fair enough, my mistake. I see what you were getting at now.

 

[Canrider]

Surely you've got at least a notion of the make/model/colour and the reg of the car, no? Particularly since he 'stopped' you and had a little shout and yell.. I still think it's worth reporting if you've got any information, as this kind of messing about apparently isn't appreciated.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Have you clocked my edited bit, I can be a bit oblique sometimes and forget people can't read my mind.

 

[HovR]

Just seen your edit. I might give 101 a call and report what I can when I find time (quite busy at the moment). I don't have many details, only car make model and rough age, and a rough description of the person. I don't normally report incidents as it can sometimes feel like it's more hassle than it's worth, but I guess the circumstances of this are slightly different.