Weds 25th 9.30am, driver incident

Nathaniel Rosa

Spoken to a friend and he knew who I was talking about. He's called Bradley

The plate was indeed R666 FST, a silver ford focus st

Stotfold road, outside of the etonbury school

It's a 30mph road, it's only 20mph when lights illuminated (which I don't think they were?)

He was doing about 70 when he came past having overtook the car

And when he came back past us, Mick you thought he was doing a ton? I thought it looked like 70.

I'm reporting him now, it would be good if at least one other person does

Nathaniel Rosa

if anyone knows mickg's number, could you drop him a message just say there's a members only thread on the forum

Nathaniel Rosa

I just rang the police and reported it and they are going to look out for the car

PeterG

On a lighter note, that was me that said hello at the top of Everton hill, I'm not sure anyone recognised me in my mufti!

Wednesday run boys looked good

mickg

I'm reporting this nut job too. Yes we did recognise you Pete :-)

mickg

For some reason we have to go to the local station and make a statement. Cannot be done on phone for some reason.

geoffg

shows serious intent Mick rather than someone getting away easy by phoning and saying someone did something. They must get a lot of grudge phone calls from people trying to mess another persons life. Sounds a real nut job though

Nathaniel Rosa

What are we going to do then mick? When I called non emergenc they out me through to Bedfordshire emergency (because that school is covered by beds police) and from the way the lady on the phone said it they were treating it like a "we'll look out for him" rather than "ok that's reported"

mickg

The problem with these kind of incidents is proving it happened, it would be his word against ours unless we had an outside witness or a camera that filmed the whole incident. It really isn't worth pursuing. Though I am thinking of purchasing one of those bike cameras, without evidence it's pointless. He will soon get caught, let's just hope he doesn't kill someone in the process.

Jane

I think that's a terrible state of affairs. Local police should be ashamed if this really is all that they're capable of doing

Nathaniel Rosa

At least mick his Reg is now on their radar from the call I made. That can't be a bad thing if he gets pulled over in the future for something, he will have a "history"

Yeah Jane you're right.

What we have got going for us is 4 sensible members of the community able to give accounts vs that skinhead yob

If we had footage, the speed he was going (not to mention him trying to hit us) that is INSTANT confiscated license, such a shame noone had a camera

Stef

what exactly happened? dont need a detailed account, just brief description.

Nathaniel Rosa

we were cycling down stotfold rd having just crossed roundabout. 4 of us, riding filed out sensibly. ford focus comes screaming past (I wasn't paying much attention until it got close because I was looking down or something, too late for me to really work out what was happening till it was past us) and everyone is waving for it to slow down. 30-40 seconds later it comes past us at 70mph+ about 10" from us, slams on it's brakes, driver gets out and starts shouting at us asking why we were waving at him, we remained composed and just wanted him to go away

road was a 20/30

Stef

sorry you had to endure that kind of behaviour.
you did the right thing reporting it to the police, shame no one had a camera, even a still photo on a phone helps as means they can place the driver/car there,
has helped in previous incidents.
also well done reporting here, means otbers know to exercise caution if they encounter the same vehicle.
take care out there all.

mickg

Today I decided to make a formal complaint against our focus friend and went to Hitchin police station, I explained that I was a firefighter with 20 years blue light experience and a class 1 hgv driver and that I had been riding road bikes for 30 years so can look at things from all angles. I gave a full statement of the events on the day. Apparently there is quite a lot the police can do against such people. He can be charged for offenses against section 59 of the traffic act, he could have a note put on his license for insurers to see and he could be charged for aggressive behavior as he got out of his car and was violent/abusive.
All the details are with them now and they will look into this person and decide what action to take against him. Nathan, Bob and the other member who I don't know the name of may all need to give separate witness statements so I will be in touch when I know what is happening. The officer did say the traffic team who deal with this sort of thing do like to pursue and deal with these kinds of characters, so let's hope they do.

Theo-saurus

Thanks for doing that Mick, hopefully it will keep the roads safer.

Stef

Yes thanks Mick.

geoffg

well done Mick. Hope the others follow suit. These drivers need to be taught a lesson. There aren't many, but it only takes one to kill or maim and then the consequences don't bear thinking about.

Jane

Mick, you're a star. I feel safer just knowing that you've made what sounds like a very persuasive formal complaint

mickg

Thanks Jane, I can tolerate bad driving but this guy crossed the line and was outright dangerous and showed a total disregard for others safety and lives, I would really like to see him pay, I'm sick of these aggressive idiots on our roads. Anyway have a lovely peaceful weekend of riding.