London cyclists - which station to report incidents to?

[joolsybools]

Hiya,

I've just had a run in with a rather nasty piece of work who tried to knock me off my bike. It happened in Paddington (Westminster) but I live in Kilburn (Brent). Any thoughts as to whether its best to report it to a station in Westminster or will Kilburn do?

 

[Jake]

could not say, but hope your ok matey

 

[Tynan]

any police station would do I'd have thought, a crime is a crime, they'll pass to another station as appropriate

do they still have the City Police?

 

[Bollo]

Its worth doing a search on here for previous reporting experiences. There's a fair bit of advice around. Also there are one or two plod (Cubist, Vikeonabike?) on here who might have some words of advice.

Now the health warning. By the fact of you posting I'm assuming you're not dead and posting through a medium. This is the usual minimum standard of incident that will get the average poleese to pick up his or her notebook and do anything.

Report the incident, but set your expectations lower than Cadel Evan's dog for anything to come of it.

 

[joolsybools]

Am fine thanks all and don't expect they will do anything, I would however like the reg noted in case of future incidents. Been to station and picked up form which will complete and return. Honestly folks, I'm really not expecting them to do anything!

 

[Bollo]

Am fine thanks all and don't expect they will do anything, I would however like the reg noted in case of future incidents. Been to station and picked up form which will complete and return. Honestly folks, I'm really not expecting them to do anything!

You never know your luck. Despite the odds, I hope something comes of it.

 

[jezhiggins]

You can report it where ever you like, but it'll get passed to the station covering where the incident occurred. You might get lucky.

(On the other hand, you might get your statement taken by a very positive young copper from the station up the road, triathlete as it turned out, only for the investigating officer on the other side of the city to say that your description of the car doesn't match the registration number you gave. In the meantime you yourself have, by spending 10 minutes googling, managed to find two separate adverts, one offering the number plate for sale, the other trying to sell the car. The car matches your description almost exactly. From these adverts you come up with a name, phone number, and probable address of the car owner and thus number 1 suspect for forcing you off the road, damaging your bike, and trying to run you over. You put all that in a letter to the investigating officer, but receive no reply. Not that I'm bitter or anything.)

 

[Joseph]

In future, phone 999 as soon as possible. After all, your life was being put at risk.

If the driver has left (OP wasn't entirely clear, but it sounded so), it seems like the risk of injury/damage has passed, and it should be reported via a mechanism other than 999.

Here's some advice from http://www.herts.police.uk/report/when_999.htm :

IN AN EMERGENCY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CALL 999

This service is available when you require an immediate response to a situation. ​

Examples of this include:​

• there is a risk of injury​
• there is a risk of serious damage to property​
• you suspect a crime is in progress​
• it is a serious incident which needs immediate police attendance​

If you call 999 other than in an emergency, you may prevent another caller with a real emergency from receiving urgent police assistance.