Swindon Rammer Final Update

[BSRU]

Just had a visit from the Police, the original officer who came out when it happened who closed the original incident without talking to the witness or reviewing the video.

Apparently it's all my own fault and I'm lucky the driver was so calm.

Apparently I was riding too far from the kerb, the officer had shown it to collegues who agreed with him. When I mentioned being in primary to prevent a close pass due a park car on the right, he was clueless and reiterated being 5 or 6 feet from the kerb.

Next he stated that the driver alleged I had gestured and sworn at him and this seem to be justification for the drivers actions. I should count myself lucky I am not being charged with a public order offence.

The driving standard displayed by the driver did not fall below the required standard to warrant a prosecution.

I was lucky the driver did not assault me.

Having a YouTube channel means I spend my time riding around Swindon deliberately trying to annoy drivers in order to upload videos.

As you can imagine not very impressed.

 

[HLaB]

 

[BentMikey]

B0ll0x mate, sorry to hear that. It's hard when you come up against such bigotry.

 

[punkedmonkey]

That's a pretty poor response - was he a traffic cop? Suggest you investigate http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/en/Pages/how_complaint.aspx

 

[BSRU]

That's a pretty poor response - was he a traffic cop? Suggest you investigate http://www.ipcc.gov...._complaint.aspx

Not a traffic cop.

 

[gb155]

Just had a visit from the Police, the original officer who came out when it happened who closed the original incident without talking to the witness or reviewing the video.

Apparently it's all my own fault and I'm lucky the driver was so calm.

Apparently I was riding too far from the kerb, the officer had shown it to collegues who agreed with him. When I mentioned being in primary to prevent a close pass due a park car on the right, he was clueless and reiterated being 5 or 6 feet from the kerb.

Next he stated that the driver alleged I had gestured and sworn at him and this seem to be justification for the drivers actions. I should count myself lucky I am not being charged with a public order offence.

The driving standard displayed by the driver did not fall below the required standard to warrant a prosecution.

I was lucky the driver did not assault me.

Having a YouTube channel means I spend my time riding around Swindon deliberately trying to annoy drivers in order to upload videos.

As you can imagine not very impressed.

One word .....wow ( and not a good wow either )

 

[punkedmonkey]

Not a traffic cop.

Probably explains a lot... I'm quite disgusted/astounded by that officer's attitude and response to your incident.

 

[moralcrusader]

That's outrageous. And astonishing. And several other lengthy words that all mean JUST PLAIN WRONG.

 

[stowie]

So here is what might have happened. Driver has given sob story to the police concerning how this incident has been ruining his life, he might lose his job, you are hounding him on YouTube etc. Police look on the video having absolutely no idea about cycling and decided that it is a fuss over nothing, poor man might lose his job and has decided to put an end to it by pointing out your "flaws".

Even if you were too far out (which you weren't - the van should have waited to clear the parked car) then it doesn't excuse the driver ramming you with his van. And neither would it be excused if you made a rude sign to him. What next? Next time a pedestrian annoys me in a car can I nudge them out of the way?!

This smacks of police not really being arsed to followed it up and thinking that putting some blame on you will get you to back down from the complaint and save them a whole load of leg work (plus save the driver's job).

It is entirely up to you, but I would imagine getting superior officers involved, making a complaint and getting the video circulated on the net as widely as possible may alter their stance on this. Whether you made a gesture or not is entirely your word against his. What isn't in doubt is that he reversed, hit your bike, got out of the van and confronted you.

If the police believe that this standard of driving doesn't warrant at least a "chat" then I despair. We should be protected by the police not threatened by them as well.

 

[Andy_R]

I would take this further as the officer is obviously a complete twonk. The DfT's own nationally agreed standards for road positioning state that "where the road is too narrow and two way traffic would make it dangerous to be overtaken by a following vehicle they may chose to ride in the primary position."

The officer involved obviously does not have a clue, as do his colleagues (if he actually talked to anyone else that is). He is also blatantly ignoring the video evidence that the driver deliberately drove into the back of you when you were stationary in a bus stop.

As for the public order offence, it would be his word against yours if you had to defend yourself in court, but it would be your video evidence against him if he was in court.

Just another case of a lzy tw@t not wanting to go through the "rigmarole" of doing the job they are paid to do.

Personally, I would contact my local paper - especially if it was a "Daily Wail" type. For once their rabid spoutings would be of use in a "Police don't give a sh*t" type headline.

 

[Melonfish]

Small acronym for you. IPCC
contact them and see how you should proceed with this, present your evidence to them and the responses from the police (request them in writing)

 

[mcshroom]

This sort of response seems to be worryingly common. I would go to the IPCC - in fact I would have asked the policeman there and then if I could have the statement he was making to me in writing.

If you can get a contact email/address for the Chief Constable, it may be worth sending him a copy of the same letter you send to the IPCC as well.

 

[ohnovino]

Another wow.

I'd contact The Cycling Silk, he's had some success in getting police to see the error of their ways and actually charge dodgy drivers.

 

[citybabe]

That's an awful response. Just goes to show that the police can't be bothered

 

[dawesome]

This sort of response seems to be worryingly common. I would go to the IPCC - in fact I would have asked the policeman there and then if I could have the statement he was making to me in writing.

If you can get a contact email/address for the Chief Constable, it may be worth sending him a copy of the same letter you send to the IPCC as well.

Yes to this, and getting the media involved. From his posts on PeePiPoo or whatever the driver's plainly dishonest.