I was threatened and racially abused. Nice (!)

[272BHP]

Sump said:

Why did you raise your arm? You got yourself involved..and him being close to you is an opinion. There is no weight here as there isn't a video so it's all very one sided.

I raise my arm all the time. if someone overtakes at a pinch point and gets too close for comfort then I raise my arm in exasperation (seems to happens at least once a week) what are we supposed to do? ring the bell?

[james_tigerwoods]

272BHP said:

Sump said:

Why did you raise your arm? You got yourself involved..and him being close to you is an opinion. There is no weight here as there isn't a video so it's all very one sided.

I raise my arm all the time. if someone overtakes at a pinch point and gets too close for comfort then I raise my arm in exasperation (seems to happens at least once a week) what are we supposed to do? ring the bell?

Exasperation - That's the word I was looking for, thank you

[Tribal Chestnut]

272BHP said:

I raise my arm all the time. if someone overtakes at a pinch point and gets too close for comfort then I raise my arm in exasperation (seems to happens at least once a week) what are we supposed to do? ring the bell?

No, turn the other cheek of course. Maybe apologise for offending him? Perhaps offer to commit a family suicide?

The bloke you quoted is a mild cretin.

[Terminator X]

Police? Civil matter :-/ Take out the racial element though and it probably happens a thousand times a day eg some people are morons, end of.

TX.

[james_tigerwoods]

Sump said:

Why did you raise your arm? You got yourself involved..and him being close to you is an opinion. There is no weight here as there isn't a video so it's all very one sided.

I missed the comment there about there being no video.

No, there wasn't - I was gently cycling through my local town with my family paying close attention to the highway code, making sure my 7 year old daughter was as safe as I could make her, ensuring that I placed my bike on the outside of hers, using the cycle lane whenever and wherever possible, watching every traffic light, making sure that instead of getting in the middle of the road to turn right we stopped to the left and looked for a clear spot, watching and listening for all and every car.

I am, as a rule, a careful cyclist. I will listen for hazards, I don't take unnecessary risks, I don't listen to music while cycling and I always give the car the respect a 1 / 2 ton vehicle deserves. I don't have to fight with traffic like it is done in London and MOST drivers in rural Lincolnshire are aware of the many hazards that Londoners won't face, like tractors, horses, cattle, combines, etc. Road rage towards cyclists is very rare and we share the road amicably. Usually.

You're right, it was an opinion but when there is a car/van parked where it was AND we were committed to passing between them to the point where we WERE between them, the car BEHIND should exercise care and attention when passing (had it been oncoming, we probably would have stopped, like we had on a few other occasions).

At any rate, the car WAS driving erratically, he DID speed through, he DID set off from stationary (at the start of the story) with much wheel spinning and revving - I am NOT sorry that I raised my hand in exasperation as that was all it was - there were no gestures, there was no Hawaiian good luck sign, no shouting, nothing to piss anyone off.

I AM sorry that the situation deteriorated to the state it got to, but that does NOT condone a man threatening my family with death and calling me a fking .

Sorry, rant over as I would be the first to admit if I'd provoked someone or caused the situation - I have done, unintentionally before and apologised, but in this case, I was with a family group - not a group of cyclists who can cause bother at times.

ETA:

Even without the race element, I would still have reported it - my father in law wanted to at any rate. My mother in law is still pretty upset and shaken by it as it's not the sort of thing you expect to happen where it did.

Edited by james_tigerwoods on Tuesday 5th May 22:21

[mrtwisty]

Provoke him by raising an arm? The scrote is very lucky that he did this to a civilised, controlled man. On another day, with slightly different circumstances, he may well have had said arm inserted into his person with great force.

Well done for doing what you did JTW. Many of us may have had the first instinct of confronting the scumbag and doing him some damage. The fact that you didn't escalate the situation, thereby keeping your family safe, shows what kind of character you are. I hope I act the same if this situation ever happens to me.

[Leptons]

james_tigerwoods said:

Given that it was a family ride out, we'd been extra careful - even to the point of walking across a inner dual carriageway instead of attempting to ride over it. A car had stopped for all 6 of us and let us over (there were bumps on the path and dropped curb at that point, but no marked crossing).

This was the only time in about 5 miles that we'd had any trouble and even then, I still don't think there was any provocation at all - We'd probably impeded his journey for about 15 seconds, if that, but he was clearly spoiling for a fight and I think if I'd said anything "wrong" there may have been one and anything like that is wrong, never mind in front of my kids.

That said, I hope he finds himself, upside down in his car, in a ditch, on fire, without an Ambwilans in sight.

Sorry

[Pferdestarke]

As far as James tells us, he reacted in a controlled and perfectly reasonable way given the risk the driver placed upon his family.

If the roles were reversed - what would the hot-headed driver have said/done to James if he had placed his children at risk?

Keep pushing James.

[TheChampers]

james_tigerwoods said:

272BHP said:

Sump said:

Why did you raise your arm? You got yourself involved..and him being close to you is an opinion. There is no weight here as there isn't a video so it's all very one sided.

I raise my arm all the time. if someone overtakes at a pinch point and gets too close for comfort then I raise my arm in exasperation (seems to happens at least once a week) what are we supposed to do? ring the bell?

Exasperation - That's the word I was looking for, thank you

An arm was raised? As someone else said, what a perfectly normal non-aggresive response indicating well, exasperation.

JT, you responded maturely and, given the accompaniment of your family, especially your young children, entirely appropriately

I hope the stbag gets done, proper!

[TDL933]

When I saw the Thread heading I thought maybe, despite the Hen Fish's denials, you had visited Scotland.
Seriously, totally inexcusable and I hope the full rigour of the law is applied no matter the race, colour or religious persuasion of the perpetrator

[james_tigerwoods]

I have made my statement, but I think it will be pursued as a race crime as my in laws are worried that they will be traced given that they live close to the area - so they don't want to take the threatening behaviour part forward.

What has pissed me off more than anything now is that my daughter's new Kurio Tablet, which was in the glovebox of my car, has been stolen - my iPod was taken too, but she is going to be completely distraught when she finds out and things being as they are at the moment, I can't afford to replace it.

bks. What a week.

[kiseca]

Rough week dude. I feel for you. If you daughter is imaginative she might worry that it was the same person, she might take it personally. Or she might not. I dunno. But probably best to spend a bit of time thinking up a good response if she brings an idea like that up.

[nick heppinstall]

Any chance you can claim in your insurance ?

[james_tigerwoods]

She thinks about things like this and was, for some reason, worrying that someone might break in to the house and steal her stuff a while back.

I've not told her yet - I'll try to replace it as it's currently confiscated.

[TheJimi]

James, just echoing what everyone else has said, I really feel for you.

Even now, at the age of 36, I still find it really hard to get my head around why people can be so nasty for no reason. People do suck at times

Just a thought, but stick up your PayPal address if you have one. Your daughter will have a new tablet in no time. Don't think of it as charity, rather think of it as a little positve karma to redress the balance of things

[stuartmmcfc]

TheJimi said:

Just a thought, but stick up your PayPal address if you have one. Your daughter will have a new tablet in no time. Don't think of it as charity, rather think of it as a little positve karma to redress the balance of things

Good idea.

[TheJimi]

stuartmmcfc said:

TheJimi said:

Just a thought, but stick up your PayPal address if you have one. Your daughter will have a new tablet in no time. Don't think of it as charity, rather think of it as a little positve karma to redress the balance of things

Good idea.

'course it's a good idea, I'm full of 'em

[james_tigerwoods]

I'm not angling for any kind of freebies, it is kind of you to offer, but I can provide my Paypal account details on request.

I've still not told her and I don't think I ever will - I will say that "Daddy broke it" and let her be angry at me. If I say "it broke", she'll ask too many question, whereas she'll just shout at me and be cross with me. It makes more sense that way - believe me...

I'll post an update about the police statement later.

[james_tigerwoods]

Thanks again for your words of kindness everyone.

The update:

I was at the station for ages - about an hour and a half giving a statement. I'm not sure it'll go anywhere, but we'll see.

My father in law gave a statement, but the officer wasn't sure the threatening behaviour part will go anywhere - Also, he and especially the mother in law were worried about reprisals if they pursued this so it looks like he won't go through with submitting his statement formally. The case that seems to be of higher priority is the race angle which, I'll be honest while vile, wasn't the thing that pissed me off the most.Her dad is willing to support me with the racial part. The aggravated part was the whole bloody point of it!

The racist abuse is nothing in the grand scheme of things - the threat to my daughter and family is everything. It may be my word against his, but there were four of us and I am willing to pursue this as far as I can - even if it's the race angle that underpins the whole thing.

If it is required, my partner will give a statement about the threats - she didn't hear the racist abuse though but my FIL did.

He could easily have done this to someone younger and less mature who might have responded badly and this guy could have gone for him - I believe, firmly, that he would have.

My FIL gave a statement to a different officer to me, so I will wait until tomorrow to chase it to see what action may be taken - I gave as full and complete account as I could and I hope that that will result in something.

I went in with a full typed up transcript of the events which helped a little - If anyone is bored enough, I can share that so you can weigh up the events for yourself

[Pferdestarke]

Not much happening here James. I'll have a read.