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Police caution for pratfall road-rage driver (+ video)

Motorist admits variety of offences after video posted to YouTube

A motorist who was last week filmed by a cyclist delivering a foul-mouthed rant following a close pass before tripping over as he attempted to chase him on foot has received a police caution.

– Video: Close-passing, ultra-sweary driver takes a tumble after chasing and kicking out at cyclist

The 51-year-old motorist from Henley-on-Thames was cautioned by Thames Valley Police after he admitted committing a public order offence, assault, and making threats to commit criminal damage.

The incident in Reading culminated in the man crashing to the ground as he tried to pursue the bike rider after getting out of his car, to the evident glee of many of the 3 million-plus people who have viewed the footage on YouTube.

It also inspired this rather tongue-in-cheek analysis by Joel Golby on the website Vice.com.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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52 comments

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BigAl99 | 8 years ago
1 like

This (and many videos we see like it) is pretty cringe worthy. Alright, we've all had instances where someone passed to close or wronged us in some other way. As a London commuter who does c. 70k/day, 3 days a week usually, I probably have at least once instance every day. You rear up and the adrenalin rises and you want to stick some f's into the idiot who has cut you up or blocked the cycle lane, etc, etc. Its easy to do - I get it. The thing is, we're all just trying to get home. Think about it. Few people do this stuff on purpose. So, as cyclists wanting to not get into a fight every day and maybe encourage a bit of civility and respect on the road - try this....count to 10 and say to your self - "we're all just trying to get home". I used to get stuck in at every opportunity and its not a great place to be. Try defusing it (and your own temper) and leave out the self righteous rants at drivers which are simply embarrassing when they are played back in the cold light of day. The end result with the guy going 'a over t' is great - I love it; what led to it was embarrassing. Hopefully a bit less over-reaction from cyclists will result in a bit more thought and respect from drivers.

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philly | 8 years ago
0 likes

Being a cynic I would say the cyclist saw a golden opportunity. Mr Angry is perfect camera fodder and makes great footage. So let's give him a poke, chase him down and really wind him up.
I'm not saying either side are right or wrong. They seem as bad as each other in different ways. The way the motorist reacted was bang out of line BUT was he provoked?
Welllll, yes he was to be fair.
The old boy wasn't too far off a heart attack whereas our cyclist is as fit as a butchers dog!
2 Cameras on his bike, to me is unusual. But does help with editing and obviously caught the best prat fall I've seen for a long time.
So, what is the motivation for filming this chap? For personal safety or for entertainment?
At the end of the day, our cyclist hit the jackpot and his film has gone viral: a dream, I'm sure, of any YouTuber...and with viral comes money. So far, this will have made a few thousand quid and I think this was ultimately the reasoning for chasing down Mr Angry.
Told you I was cynical  10

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Airzound | 8 years ago
0 likes

WE STILL DON'T HAVE A NAME FOR THIS IDIOT!

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Daveyraveygravey | 8 years ago
2 likes

If the cyclist hadn't gone after the driver, all we would have had is a close pass, which some would still think "wasn't that bad".

Because the cyclist went after the driver, we have a great video that has gone viral. The fact the driver faceplanted after trying to chase the cyclist has got people talking about the issue, people that don't normally notice cyclists or cyclists' issues.

This has to be a good thing. If it makes one driver concentrate just a little bit more, think just a little bit longer about how and where to pass a cyclist then the world has become a better place.

That driver isn't that unusual. I wonder what his passenger made of it all. I hope the driver suffers shame and embarrassment every time someone he knows says to him "Are you the guy in THAT video?" and I hope he sees the knowing look in people's eyes that don't know him. He should have his licence taken off him, he isn't safe to be allowed behind the wheel.

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rich_b | 8 years ago
3 likes

Could all the wanker trolls who keep saying that somehow the cyclist was at fault piss off to the Daily Mail fekin website. And btw the guy who captured this (and others like him) are doing us a great service by highlighting the shit we have to put up with, keep em coming.

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Scoob_84 | 8 years ago
2 likes

So is it true the driver broke his finger during that fall?  24

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barbarus | 8 years ago
1 like

Slightly off topic, but "Put your (optional) mouth shut!" has entered our household lexicon as comedy put down of the month.

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bornslippy | 8 years ago
1 like

Fascinating how this guy is being criticised by some cyclists for a justified (if somewhat risky) "Cook Report"-type confrontational discussion with an incompetent driver, who subsequently turned out to also be ignorant, aggressive and violent.

The overwhelming majority of responses on internet forums seem to have also demonstrated ignorance and stupidity.

Of course chasing the driver and confrontating them isn't going to "calm things down". But let's not forget that the cyclist didn't do anything wrong - even the technicality of cycling on the pavement to escape an assault wouldn't have got to court. He was indeed relatively polite to the driver. Not sure I would have managed to avoid using some anglo saxon words.

I seriously doubt that reporting the video of the punishment pass alone would have had any effect with the police. After twice reporting drivers that have had near misses or actually hit me I've been told by the police that they "will follow it up if anyone else reports anything about that driver".

Overall, I agree that we need more of these videos on social media, even with the oh-so-imperfect discussions which accompany them. It exposes the thuggish behaviour that is so common on roads. It seems no-one else is doing much to effectively get the message across. Anyone remember public information films?

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antonio | 8 years ago
0 likes

The man obviously made Bluto his role model as he hyper actively watched the Popeye cartoons.

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danthomascyclist | 8 years ago
2 likes

There are plenty of good motorists already filling the roads, which is why we need to get rid of the shit ones.

I can only laugh at the idiots claiming the cyclist has done something wrong. That driver is a total piece of shit; he appears to be one argument away from running someone over. The cyclist, as smug as he sounds, is entitled to question his actions and if the driver has to resort to violence then that's his problem.

I'm glad these motorists are being shown up for what they are. Jason Wells (4x4 restaurant man), breakfast lady, now this tool. If it wasn't for these self-righteous, smug cyclists these motorists would still be going about their business as dangerous drivers. I don't know any other activity where you can put someone's life at risk then when the victim questions it they get persecuted.

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Airzound | 8 years ago
0 likes

In accepting the caution the driver has admitted to the offences put to him, however most strangely, there aren't any driving offences amongst them. Bizarre

The caution will be on record for 5 years, but the social media footprint of this incident will last for ever. It is rather funny. Very schadenfreude.

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mrmo | 8 years ago
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All the driver had to say when the cyclist caught up was sorry. The cyclist IMO shouldn't have bothered chasing, it really doesn't achieve anything, but adrenaline makes you do stupid things.

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Large_Pista | 8 years ago
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Who has the time to argue like this? Nobody looks good in this situation, the driver or the cyclist.  20

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Metaphor | 8 years ago
0 likes

Now bring back hanging.

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hawkinspeter | 8 years ago
1 like

Excellent!

I disagree with people complaining about the cyclist's behaviour. Chasing after the motorist to vent his anger/fear/frustration with the "punishment pass" is a perfectly valid response. That the motorist responded with violence is entirely his own responsibility and not due to being wound up by the cyclist.

I hope we get more incidents like this as it may cause some drivers to think twice about pulling some dangerous maneouvre if they realise that "bloody cyclist" has a helmet cam. The more cyclists that wear and use helmet cams, the better. Even if they're considered self-righteous etc., the more that we can prevent dangerous driving, the better.

Conversely, I'm surprised that we don't see more dashboard cams around as motorists may want to present their own views.

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epcp20 | 8 years ago
0 likes

Put your f*****g mouth shut!

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CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
0 likes

What happened to Jason Wells (landrover rage), did he receive a caution?

Is he still in business ?

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KarlM77 replied to CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
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RPK | 8 years ago
0 likes

At 10 seconds in ^^^^^ you can catch the guy in full superman pose.

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Redvee | 8 years ago
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There's a few seconds of unseen video that has just released

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTT73RANOto  41

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bobcdc | 8 years ago
0 likes

I'm glad it turned out well in the end and good for a laugh. It could have been far worse - better to not confront an idiot or as little as possible. A 20 Stone idiot at that.

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barbarus | 8 years ago
0 likes

I truly understand the reason why the cyclist chases after the driver. I've done it myself. It's horrible being passed that close and after the initial shock one's first thoughts are usually "you need to know how angry I am and how dangerous that was".

However, it doesn't help. I try hard not to do this any more, it really doesn't make things better. It doesn't make the cyclist as bad as the driver.

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ChrisB200SX replied to barbarus | 8 years ago
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barbarus wrote:

I truly understand the reason why the cyclist chases after the driver. I've done it myself. It's horrible being passed that close and after the initial shock one's first thoughts are usually "you need to know how angry I am and how dangerous that was".

However, it doesn't help. I try hard not to do this any more, it really doesn't make things better. It doesn't make the cyclist as bad as the driver.

Not telling drivers they have performed a dangerous overtake/whatever won't help improve anyone's driving!

I usually go with:

"are you aware of how dangerous that was?"

Although, sometimes I'm still shaking with adrenaline after the scare and it's difficult to sound calm and collected, aswell as being a little out of breath from cycling at reasonable effort. Sometimes this may mean I sound angry, sometimes I might still be angry, but I don't want to get get the message of anger across, just that they need to learn how dangerous what the driver did was.

Sadly, the response is usually some pathetic excuse, rather than a simple apology and acceptance that they had put my life at risk, or even accepting that I perceived they presented a danger to me.

Sadly, the majority of the responses I've seen to this video on facebook are (presumably drivers/non-cyclists) having a go at the cyclist and exclaiming the cyclist was at least half to blame  2

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davenportmb replied to ChrisB200SX | 8 years ago
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ChrisB200SX wrote:

I usually go with:

"are you aware of how dangerous that was?"

I wouldn't even waste my breathe with that. Normal response in London seems to be "You wot? Fack off!"

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davenportmb replied to ChrisB200SX | 8 years ago
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ChrisB200SX wrote:

I usually go with:

"are you aware of how dangerous that was?"

I wouldn't even waste my breathe with that. Normal response in London seems to be "You wot? Fack off!"

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Beefy | 8 years ago
0 likes

Bloody cyclist!! What sort of idiot thinks he should be able to stand up for himself when his safety is put at risk by a driver? Better to run away and hide never using your bike again just in case you piss off a driver by taking up space on the road!

I think that driver is owed an apology, it was bad enough forcing that poor man to threaten the cyclist, not letting him assault the rider by riding away was awful! Then the worst of all not riding away slowly enough to let the driver kick him resulting in a fall is tantamount to ABH!

Shame on you cyclist!
 35

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Daveyraveygravey replied to Beefy | 8 years ago
0 likes

For you, 700c -

Beefy wrote:

Bloody cyclist!! What sort of idiot thinks he should be able to stand up for himself when his safety is put at risk by a driver? Better to run away and hide never using your bike again just in case you piss off a driver by taking up space on the road!

I think that driver is owed an apology, it was bad enough forcing that poor man to threaten the cyclist, not letting him assault the rider by riding away was awful! Then the worst of all not riding away slowly enough to let the driver kick him resulting in a fall is tantamount to ABH!

Shame on you cyclist!
 35

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700c replied to Daveyraveygravey | 8 years ago
0 likes
Daveyraveygravey wrote:

For you, 700c -

Beefy wrote:

Bloody cyclist!! What sort of idiot thinks he should be able to stand up for himself when his safety is put at risk by a driver? Better to run away and hide never using your bike again just in case you piss off a driver by taking up space on the road!

I think that driver is owed an apology, it was bad enough forcing that poor man to threaten the cyclist, not letting him assault the rider by riding away was awful! Then the worst of all not riding away slowly enough to let the driver kick him resulting in a fall is tantamount to ABH!

Shame on you cyclist!
 35

Are you joking? I love the way people like to characterise arguments and polarise the debate like this - it happens all the time on here..

..as though because I have a different perspective I must hate all cyclists or something!

Oh hang on, I forgot cyclists and motorists are at war, silly me!

I clearly acknowledged the idiocy of the guy, but perhaps you ignored that part of my comments. I was merely pointing out that escalating the conflict didn't help us. It just gave us a laugh, which could have ended so differently.

He could have gone to the police with the footage of the close pass and left it at that, but no, he had to keep the debate going with this moron didn't he.

and no, the confrontation wouldn't help educate this driver, because he's a prick.

and yes, I've gone after drivers before, said my piece and left it there, but I don't think winding people up like that is particularly sensible and you should know when to cut your losses.

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edster99 | 8 years ago
0 likes

I'm no doctor, but that bloke looks like a heart attack waiting to happen. Maybe this will be a wakeup call, although somehow I doubt it.

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700c | 8 years ago
0 likes

He was clearly winding him up. He ran after him with a camera and continued to argue the point. He wasn't in any way trying to diffuse the situation. Yes the driver was a tw@t and also a moron if he truly believed the sh1t he was coming out with - but imagine if you went through life arguing and confronting every individual who wronged you like that recording their every response?! you'd come a cropper sooner or later..

The fact that it was the idiot driver who came a cropper certainly had some natural justice to it - but it needn't have come to that and wouldn't have done if the cyclist left it after saying his piece.

funny clip though.

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