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news
Driver threatens to set dog on cyclist (Twitter: @jaj991)"I'll set my dog on you!": Driver dangerously passes cyclist, and then threatens to make his dog attack him
What would you do if a driver dangerously close-passed you and then threatened to have you mauled by his dog? Maybe just hope he actually doesn't do it and then report it to the police? Well, road.cc reader James did all of that, but the West Midlands Police weren't of much help to him in the aftermath...
The incident took place on 5 July in Coventry, with the cyclist sharing the footage on YouTube yesterday after the police force told him that no further action would be taken against the driver as they were unable to trace him due to an unregistered licence plate.
James was riding along Stoney Stanton Road when the driver overtook him while another car was approaching from the opposite direction, leaving the cyclist almost no room on the road — only for James to catch up with the driver and move ahead of him within half a minute as he waited at a traffic light.
He set off on his way once again, but around two minutes later, the driver who had been behind him all this time, tried to pass James once again at the next set of traffic lights, but had nowhere to go this time.
As the cyclist read out the licence plate of the car, the driver got out and said, "What're you looking at... I'll set my dog on you, you daft c***!", before proceeding to usher the dog a little bit out of the door and give the cyclist a glimpse of what seemed like either a Labrador or a Staffordshire Bull Terrier (or something in between).
Upon getting back home (fortunately without any brawls with a dog), James reported the incident via 101 and West Midlands Police assigned a police officer to the case.
He told road.cc that the police officer contacted him and informed that the driver was known to police and they were trying to get in contact with him with no success. However, when he reached out to the force a month later for an update, they told him that they still hadn't been able to make contact with the driver, but were going to attempt a few more times and then issue a warrant for his arrest.
"That was the last I heard until this week when an officer contacted me to tell me there'd be no further action on this because they had been unable to identify the driver," he said.
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James said: "I did ask why I'd previously been told the driver was known to them and he told me that the person identified as the driver was a 25-year-old male and really wasn't the driver - officer was unsure how this mistake had been made.
"The lack of a registered keeper is something I've seen several times now, I'm not sure how a vehicle comes to be unregistered but it's not that unusual."
He also added: "My first contact from WMP told me this was going to be charged as a public order offence. I suggested it would be best disposed of as a community resolution (assuming this was deemed suitable) and the officer agreed.
"While I would have gone to court, and have several times for other incidents, I didn't want to go to court for this tone because the magistrate/judge may just decide that the best course of action would be to put the dog down (unlikely but possible)."
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
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It already exists. ANPR. They're everywhere, on metal poles next to, or in the middle of roads. ANPR are also on traffic cars but not panda cars. If the police really, really need to trace a vehicle urgently, for example if the driver called someone a name online rather than committed a traffic offence, they can input the registration details and the network will tell them exactly which route the vehicle has taken. If the name calling was really really bad, for example calling a bearded trans woman a man, they could anticipate the direction of travel and lie in wait for them.
I jest, of course, just in case people pile on me. But this just about sums up the current standard of policing here in Lancashire. Knock someone off a bike in your Range Rover which is used daily and parks outside the owners house on a main A road and who's VED expired in December 2020, and the police are not interested. But call someone a name and the plod are all over you. At a recent pro Palestine march in Preston, amidst a sea of Palestinian flags there was a single Union Jack. The naughty racist person was dragged out by plod, yes, dragged out and told if he didn't put the flag away and go away, he would be arrested.
Policing in 2023.
I'm confused, aparently licence plates stops these kind of things
Sad commentary on the efficacy of the West Midlands Police. They've got a full frontal face shot of a big, fat guy threatening assault, and they can't identify him?
Dog looks a bit embarrassed.
Indeed. Please can they put the owner down rather than the dog?
Thought I was watching a hazard awareness video for the first part.
Yep, you occasionally get a numpty like this. I had one the other day, beeping at me and gesticulating for me to move left whilst I'm indicating to turn right at a roundabout.
As per usual, they're not even being slowed down by the bike, just spend less time waiting at the next set of lights.
The inital pass wasn't too close to the bike, more of an issue for the oncoming driver in the red car. But the pointless beeping and getting right up behind at the roundabout was inconsiderate and careless.
Seems like the driver got in the wrong lane at the roundabout just so he could intimidate the cyclist. Hope he meets someone with a bigger dog one day.
Registration plates. That'll solve everything and make dangerous road users accountable.
It also shows that ANPR isn't particularly widespread as someone is using an unregistered. and therefore unMOT'd and uninsured car on the road and is totally unphased at being caught. WIth the total number of points on offer on top of the threat of assault, you'd think this would be worth at least a punt on the local social media to identify the guy.
Exactly this, reported a close pass last month. The car (or at least the vehicle associated with the registration ) had no tax or MOT since 2017. How does that happen? I await to hear what TVP say about it.
If it hasn't had an MoT in that time then the owner won't have been able to get VED during that time.
Could have been being driven to/from an MoT, (unlikely, I know). Although, you'd hope that if doing that after 5 years without an MoT the driver would have even more reason to not drive like a dangerous idiot.
I await to hear what TVP say about it
My guess is that it's still nothing, if it's anything like Lancashire Constabulary. Their eyes glazed over as soon as they saw it was something to do with a cyclist and they were looking for an excuse, no matter how stupid, to do nothing. LC is probably way ahead of TVP: such annoying trivialities are immediately 'closed' by an un-named offier who 'didn't sign the log'. County Pride is at stake here! I am interested in whether Our Brave Lads remain England's Best at ignoring vehicles without MOT, insurance or VED for over 6 years. I have shown WU59 UMH below- what's your contestant?
"Unfazed".
The cameras are everywhere, but sometimes they are quite unobtrusive. The issue is that the police cannot be arsed to do their job, which if I remember correctly, is to uphold the Law.
The issue is that the police cannot be arsed to do their job
Unfair! They just haven't yet worked out how to use their ANPR cameras, or telephones, or the Internet, or what all those funny numbers and letters on vehicles are for.. BP- have you seen the new cameras on the tall yellow poles on the A6 and the Cockerham road near Lancaster? Do you know if they're ANPR?
They're average speed cameras.
Most cameras seen on the road network are not accessible to the police. Most of them read reg plates so that traffic flow can be measured and the roads authorities can deal with delays. They have no connection to the police national computer, MID etc and provide nothing to the police.
I am talking about the ANPR cameras, not the traffic flow cameras. ANPR are everywhere, trust me.
Uh, there's a cunning workaround for those pesky number plates!
It seems to be the current trend, particularly for those with supercars. They think that the front number plate spoils the look of the car and, because they can afford a Porsche/ Ferrari/ McLaren etc, think that they are above the Law.
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