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news
Car and house keys.JPGCyclist who took driver’s keys from car ignition reveals what really happened
The cyclist who was the subject of a police appeal we reported on yesterday after taking the keys from the ignition of a car in Sussex has got in touch to clarify what really happened – including that he handed them into a police station immediately afterwards.
The incident happened on the afternoon of Saturday 17 July at the junction of Boundary Road and New Church Road in Portslade, between Hove and Shoreham-by-Sea, with police subsequently releasing a picture of the cyclist they wished to speak to in relation to it – the only problem being that he had already made himself known to them.
Local press outlets including the Argus covered the appeal earlier this week, with Sussex Police subsequently confirming that the cyclist, reportedly suspected of theft had come forward – although it transpires that he did so on the day of the incident itself, and Sussex Police have confirmed no action will be taken against him.
The rider, Alexander, told road.cc: “The case is closed because I didn’t commit theft, because I handed the keys into the police on the same day, and I gave them my details on the same day. So it's just a disconnect between the two departments.
“The police have updated that I haven't done any wrongdoing and that no action would be taken against me.”
Under the Theft Act 1968, “A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.”
However, as Alexander points out, “I haven't committed theft because I didn’t intend to permanently deprive him of any property, I took the keys straight to the police station."
As a side note, the fact he handed the keys straight into a police station, rather than throwing them down the nearest drain – tempting as some may find that in the circumstances – is an important one to make, given the legal definition of theft.
“I don't intend on making a habit of this,” Alexander continued. “The entire episode has not been fun in the slightest.”
In our report yesterday, we mentioned that what was not known was what might have preceded his decision to take the keys, something Alexander has now clarified.
“The reason I took his keys was that he buzzed me at 5cm, and when I asked whether he thought he could intimidate people on the road, he said ‘yes’. That's what tipped me over the edge,” he explained.
Alexander told us that he has recently returned from spending six months in The Netherlands – The Hague, to be precise – so unsurprisingly, the behaviour of some motorists here compared to their Dutch counterparts comes as something of a culture shock.
“I could ride from one side of the country to the other without thinking about this for a second and now I’m back in the UK this kind of driving is a regular occurrence and I hate it,” he added.
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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35 comments
I "hedged" a motorists keys a few years ago after losing my rag with him when he hit me with his mirror during an extremely close pass, but he'd already said in the ensuing argument that he was going to knock me off and "bollocks to the consequences". As far as I was concerned I acted out of fear for my life. Although visited by the Police no further action was taken.
Does not work too well with keyless ignition.
Wasn't it a taxi driver in this incident ?
What isn't mentioned in this article and seems to have been ignored in virtually all the comments is that someone can use reasonable force to defend their property ie: their car keys. While this may be OK if the driver is 80 (the person above hasn't clarified convieniently) I'd suggest that if we are talking about most other types of close pass for a significant majority of you this is a fight that you would likely lose.
I feel a bit weird - is this what empowerment feels like?
That's a good thing to know. As tempting as it might be to chuck a set of keys into a field, a theft charge is soemthing you don't want to have to face.
Is it considered theft, if you ram the keys up the driver's exhaust pipe?
I'll leave it to you, to decide if that's an euphemism or not 😃
There's a really really important note here. DONT do anything that can be construed as trying to permanently deprive the motorist of the keys, but otherwise they are fair game - though you may still get hassled for it.
Chuck them in an (open) bin. Take them to the cop shop. Cycle 300 yards down the road. Dont lob them over a hedge if you dont know whats on the otherside.
It could be construed as those. But if it was done upon the confession of the driver, in order to prevent a further breach of the peace, that would be a defence. As ever, robust evidence in the form of video might be useful. In any case, whether it constituted one of those offences would be for the prosecution to prove and would depend on the circumstances presented to the court.
Just because the police chose not to take action
As would the driver.
That's funny as when a driver is involved, you previously claimed several times, no crime was committed when the police did nothing.
Not very good at this trolling lark are you.
No you didn't say that.
More lies as usual.
You clearly fail to understand what theft construes. But I suppose trolling gives you something to do albeit transparent as always.
Nige should at least try to be consistent.
With their many usernames and everything...
If he turns up at the police station and hands the keys over with a statement about why he has them, there is no lack of evidence about what he did, so no problem prosecuting if an offence was commited.
As to talk about hijack, really just stay off the drugs they are bad for you. Just think about ozzy osbourne whenever you are tempted.
Especially as it is "taking of the vehicle with force or threat of force". Vehicle was not moved one inch by the cyclist. I've not seen a spate of hijacking crimes levelled at people who steal fuel or wheels from cars.
Still, as with car drivers who have suffered multiple bans for bad behaviours, they decide the action is nothing they have done wrong so just go back to their same behaviour again and again and state the world is against them.
Apparently, the best way is to get your mate to tap on the passenger window, so that the driver leans over, giving you a clear field to grab the keys. Not that I would ever condone, encourage, or permit such behaviour myself. Much.
Congratulations to Alexander, and a lesson to us all in remaining calm and still taking effective action. I've no doubt that the usual suspects in the media will be screaming blue murder and demanding his head on a platter, but I was thinking more in terms of a statue of a cyclist holding some keys, entitled "Justice".
Nicely done Alexander.
About 30 years ago whilst out on a group ride I took a drivers keys. After some pretty ignorant driving and blasting of horn we spotted the car parked up and so decided to discuss this with them. It all started quite calmly but the drivers wife (presumably) in the passenger street became quite rude and the red mist just came up and I grabbed the keys and we rode away.
I was going to lob them in a field but one of the lads decided to take them back, perhaps as well or I may still be on the most wanted list.
Fuck's sake. You can be nearly killed by bad driving multiple times on a ride and the police don't give a flying toss, but if the car driver's keys are nicked there's a full manhunt for the suspect.
The police are institutionally incompetent. (and I'd have casually lobbed them over the nearest hedge).
So does this mean we can all take a moton's keys and instead of hoiking them into the nearest field, we can just hand them in to the police station with recourse?
This could be a new hobby!
Well good luck finding your nearest police station open to the public for you to hand over the keys. Maybe that will be the new hobby like geocaching, just trying to find them.
How about posting them? 2nd class should get them there in a day or two.
I think Hermes should be adequate....
Given their reputation for losing parcels, that might count as theft in the eyes of the court.
No because <patience> throwing them in a ditch leads to prosecution </patience>
Lol, that took me a few moments, but well worth teh wait!
Well good luck finding your nearest police station open to the public for you to hand over the keys
You would have to go 10 miles to find one open around here. We have a police station in Garstang, but it's been closed since 2012. There is a phone on the wall, though, for really severe offences that require immediate police attention. I have been the subject of that police attention: on the afternoon of New Year's Eve, while it was still light, a motorist used that phone to report me for filming cars offending. The Filth didn't quite blue light it, but they were there within a couple of minutes (station was only just up the road). Officer comes over, I said I was filming, officer went away. Interestingly, when I was hit by a car coming down the wrong side of the road, I was offered an appointment to speak to an officer in about 5 days initially. I did get a visit the following day after moaning about it.
Conclusion: next time you want to speak to a police officer, start filming then call them and report yourself.
next time you want to speak to a police officer, start filming then call them and report yourself
I think you can do it by smearing yourself all over the tarmac, but if you're unconscious or dead they get the last laugh by playing the trump card: insufficient evidence.
Ah Garstang. I rode through there today (well, past it down the A6). Was close passes twice in the space of 500 metres, the second cretin left hooked me immediately at the crossroads 🙄
https://road.cc/content/news/196247-police-hunt-phantom-key-snatcher-bol...
unfortunately events don’t always favour the cyclist, as an earlier case shows
Well, you can't be convicted of theft, since that would require dishonesty and intention to permanently deprive. You could honestly take them (thinking they were yours) or dishonestly take them but intend them to be returned to the owner; either way, not theft.
Whether or not there's a different offence, however, is another matter. You could be wilfully obstructing free passage along a highway, for instance.
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