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news
Fairmile Road, Christchurch (Google Maps) Pensioner cyclist “punched in face” by lorry driver after dangerous overtake which forced him onto pavement says investigation was dropped because police “are not interested”
An elderly cyclist who was allegedly punched and kicked by a lorry driver, during a confrontation sparked by a close pass which forced the 77-year-old onto the pavement, has claimed that the police later dropped their investigation into the incident because they “are not interested”, after the motorist turned up voluntarily to be interviewed by police – only to find that no officers were available to take a statement.
William Smith was riding his bike on Fairmile Road in the Dorset town of Christchurch in the autumn of 2022 when he was overtaken at close proximity by a lorry driver, a manoeuvre which forced him to mount the pavement in defence, a “fairly common occurrence” in the area, according to the cyclist.
Smith then confronted the driver about the close pass in a nearby shop, and says the motorist responded to his “polite” warning by assaulting him, claiming he was “punched in the face” and left bloodied and bruised in the attack.
However, the subsequent police investigation into the incident – which Dorset Police downgraded from actual bodily harm to common assault – was eventually dropped over six months later, after officers failed to take a statement when the driver appeared for a voluntary interview, prompting Smith to launch a scathing critique of the force’s attitudes towards cyclists and dangerous drivers.
Fairmile Road, Christchurch (Google Street View)
“I was cycling in Fairmile Road past the hospital when a lorry driver came so close that I had to go onto the pavement, a fairly common occurrence there,” the 77-year-old told the Daily Echo, explaining the incident from two years ago.
“He parked up and went inside one of the shops there to buy some cigarettes, and I saw he had parked up so went over. I wasn’t obnoxious, I didn’t swear, but said calmly that he needed to be more careful when passing in his lorry.
“He then punched me in the face, I fell to the ground and then he kicked up. I had blood on my arms and the next morning the bruising came.”
Smith said that people working nearby reported the incident to the police, with the 77-year-old also filing his own report later that evening.
“They said they were investigating it, but after six months I learned [the police] sent a letter to the driver requesting he came into the police station for an interview, but was told that he didn’t show up,” the cyclist continued.
“I eventually found out from a senior officer that he did show up, but nobody was available to interview him, so he left.
“The police have told me that because it has been downgraded from actual bodily harm to common assault, the case had been dropped as it had also passed a six months’ time to investigate. But it was ABH, there was blood.
“I complained about this, spoke to a sergeant but he said the lorry driver came in and nobody was available to interview him.”
Smith has since lodged a formal complaint with Dorset Police concerning their handling of the incident, which the force says is currently “being reviewed”.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time while the full circumstances are being looked into,” a spokesperson added.
The 77-year-old has also complained to the office of Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner, David Sidwick.
“We can confirm a review into a complaint is currently in progress,” a spokesperson for the office said in a statement. “We are unable to comment further until this is completed. The complainant has been recently updated as to this status of this review.”
This latest example of frustration from cyclists towards the lack of response from local police concerning dangerous and intimidatory behaviour from motorists comes just two months after a cycling club ride leader stressed the importance of cyclists running cameras on the road after being told that police were unable to investigate a series of “intimidating” incidents involving the same driver across multiple days in the same small Wiltshire village.
Sean Price, a lifetime member of Westbury Wheelers Cycling Club, told road.cc that the club’s rides have been targeted numerous times by the driver, who has passed the group too closely and shouted abuse on more than one occasion.
While police were investigating under two crime reference numbers, Sean said the initial incident “was not fully investigated due to lack of video evidence”, having only managed to capture a close pass that police deemed not serious enough to issue a fixed penalty notice for.
Sean added that he was told that police instead intended to offer the driver the choice of attending an awareness course.
“The incidents are intimidating and causing stress and alarm to our members,” he said. “Some have not ridden as a result and we as a club are avoiding that village until police action has been taken.”
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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31 comments
Not news at all. Police in the UK contribute towards aggressive and dangerous driving around cyclists just as they are complicit in the ~£100m a year cycle theft bonanza that feeds organised crime. It's not a priority.
Almost all policing is part of the toxic highway culture that cameras don't fix.
It appears from the article that the offender punched an elderly pedestrian in a shop, unless he actually rode his bike into the shop..
There must be some period of time that being a cyclist or driver carries over. As the disagreement was specifically about traffic courtesy, then I reckon their previous mode of transport is still relevant.
Because the previous interaction was irrelevant.
Or do you think the assailant has a predilection to punch 77 year olds?
Are you suffering from pre senile dementia? Because that makes more sense than you are a former police officer.
Unfortunately the quality of his usual postings, displaying arrogance, stupidity, ignorance of the law and a deep irrational hatred of cyclists, are consonant with a number (though by no means all) of police officers I have encountered over the years. He is pretty special even by that standard mind you, one wonders what the circumstances of his leaving the force and emigrating to Australia really were...
Maybe they should take a vowel of silence?
Yes, but why spoil a good pun?
"I'm a keen cyclist."
"Are you sitting on a bike right now? No? Then you're not a cyclist."
Honestly, the quality of your trolling, which was pisspoor to start with, has fallen even lower recently. Time to lay off the grog, grOg.
That's a disgraceful lack of care by the police.
I wonder what the police response would have been if a cyclist attacked a 77 year old driver.
And while the police continue to turn a blind eye to actual crime they are once again turning their attention to "non crime hate incidents" / "hurty words" offences.
As with most of the public services a root and branch reform starting with the wallies at the top is several decades overdue.
Now come on chaps, let's look at the wider picture here. The assault was not life- threatening and in any case it was only an old person on the receiving end. And, given the choice of investigating a large lorry driver or a teenager making genderphobic comments on Instagram, what's a copper to do?
From bitter experience, the purpose of the police complaints procedure is to make the police look good.
I strongly, strongly advise anyone who does make a complaint to the police to take full notes of any meeting or conversation with the officer investigating the complaint, and send them immediately after the conversation to that officer, to show they were contemporaneous. Or even better, record the conversation.
I strongly advise anyone who does make a complaint to the police to take full notes of any meeting or conversation with the officer investigating the complaint, and send them immediately after the conversation to that officer
An alternative view, which I hold, is that business should be conducted with the police only in writing. Do not give them your phone number, and only engage in personal meetings if you absolutely have to. They regularly deploy their battery of dodges, and these are more obvious when written down- you also can't trust the police to give truthful and accurate accounts of phone calls and meetings
Who punches a 77 year old? Sort of thing that could end in a fatality when they later die in hospital from injuries and complications.
The police do nothing. They are useless.
Wow. Has threatening behaviour been decriminalised then? That's ridiculous.
The problem is. The driver didnt post it on his social media so its been branded as a non-offence and give the lowest priority of things to be dealt with in the grand scheme of things.
Had he said it on twatter. Then they would have released a real hardened criminal from jail to make room for him.
There's a broken social contract here between the Police and cyclists.
We don't carry weapons of self defence and they take care of protecting us from violent individuals.
if drivers are using their cars as weapons and targeting cyclists then the Police need to start, you know, policing that. It's supposed to be there one job.
One wonders if there were more organised protests when the police fail to deal with stuff like this would politicians make it a priority and fund it?
They'd arrest the protesters
Only if the protesters were being silly. Peacefully protesting isn't a crime.
Ah bless, you actually believe that?
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/just-stop-oil-protesters-jailed-blocking-m25-roger-hallam-b1171547.html
I think you'd be surprised
That's pretty special, entirely up to you of course but I would make an official complaint about that. PC Willats appears to be entirely ignorant of the law and believes that a threat to kill is only indictable if...what? If they did then follow through and attempt to kill you? By what should now be known as the Willats standard, presumably if the assailant had produced a knife and held it to your throat but not actually stabbed you and then driven away that also would have rendered the threat "empty".
What a surprise.
I was forced off my bike by a guy who proceeded to take a hammer out of his car boot and hit me with it.
I had photohraphs and witnesses.
Were the Met interested? Were they f**k!
Surprise surprise.
As the little onion puts it below.
Would the outcome have been the same if the cycist had been a police officer?
institutionally anti-cyclist
So the police will investigate the police to see if their mates screwed up. Yepp, totally reassuring and it works for me...
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