What happens after police report

[Pheidippides]

Whilst cycling to work yesterday, I had an altercation with a motorist. I verbally objected to some aggressive driving (just told him to pay attention and grow up - no swearing) and he absolutely lost it - chased me down the road swearing and cursing and then deliberately drove into me, making contact but failing to knock me off, after this failure he tried again but I braked, swerved and stayed upright eventually retreating on to the pavement.

At this point a cyclist following stopped and offered the car reg number and to act as a witness.

I went onto the met police website and registered the incident under a Traffic Incident.

Now, I know that this could be construed as attempted murder in extremis, but to register as a "traffic incident" seems to trivialise it a little. I had to specify which crimes I thought had been committed, to which I responded failing to stop, speeding, cycling near Miss, aggressive driving and a few others

This thug was so angry at 8:00 AM to try and do this to me, what is he capable of doing in the future unless he is given a lesson of some sort that this behaviour is just plain unacceptable?

My question is, what happens next?

Do I have any redress or option to pursue if the police fail to act?

Regards

Pheid

[didds]

Have either of you Go Pro camera footage (ie you and the other cyclist).
?

didds

[Maroochydore]

Basically nothing. You may get issued a Crime Number which you can refer to if anything else happens with the alleged perpetrator.

Apart from that they won't follow it up unless they already have complaints concerning the car's registration number in which case they may go and have 'a word' with the owner and/or place a flag against it on the PNC.

[tango2082]

Evening,

He's committed the offence of dangerous driving by the sound of it - using a motor vehicle to try and injure a person is dangerous driving. However the decision to charge dangerous driving usually lies with the CPS, not the Police and they require quite a high threshold of evidence - CCTV or dashcam footage, multiple independent witnesses or something like that. The Police should interview the driver and get his account as well as speaking to the witness you have given details of, however dangerous driving is often downgraded to something like driving without due care and attention or similar, as it's a much easier offence to prove.

However don't expect the process to be quick - Police resources mean they cannot prioritise investigations like this (The rights and wrongs of that can be discussed elsewhere!) However if you haven't heard anything in a reasonable period of time then call 101 and quote your crime reference number, asking to speak to the Office in charge of the investigation, you can then enquire as to the status of the investigation!

Regards
Tango

[tango2082]

Evening,

He's committed the offence of dangerous driving by the sound of it - using a motor vehicle to try and injure a person is dangerous driving. However the decision to charge dangerous driving usually lies with the CPS, not the Police and they require quite a high threshold of evidence - CCTV or dashcam footage, multiple independent witnesses or something like that. The Police should interview the driver and get his account as well as speaking to the witness you have given details of, however dangerous driving is often downgraded to something like driving without due care and attention or similar, as it's a much easier offence to prove.

However don't expect the process to be quick - Police resources mean they cannot prioritise investigations like this (The rights and wrongs of that can be discussed elsewhere!) However if you haven't heard anything in a reasonable period of time then call 101 and quote your crime reference number, asking to speak to the Office in charge of the investigation, you can then enquire as to the status of the investigation!

Regards
Tango

[DiamondEcho]

He's committed the offence of dangerous driving by the sound of it

Sounds to me like 'he's alleged to have committed the offence', but there is no evidence. So I can't see there is anything to go on.

[patrickmacqueen]

Sounds to me like 'he's alleged to have committed the offence', but there is no evidence. So I can't see there is anything to go on.

There is evidence available, in the form of potential statements from Pheid and the other cyclist.

[baldchap]

My own experience regarding an accident caused by dangerous driving is that the assigned police officer will be difficult to contact and/or on holiday. Case eventually gets to court after about 8 months at which point it will be dismissed for exceeding the 6 month limit.

Now that their client has not been prosecuted, the insurer try to deny that their client was at fault and push for 50/50.

I wish you the very best of luck.

[Clitheroekid]

Do I have any redress or option to pursue if the police fail to act?

Yes - at least in theory.

You could issue a private prosecution in the criminal courts - http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/fact_sheets/ ... secutions/ Assuming the CPS don't intervene the process is fairly similar to a prosecution by the state, and if successful the driver would be convicted and sentenced in the usual way.

However, this route is not really one for the enthusiastic amateur.

A much more realistic option would be to sue him for damages in the civil courts. It sounds to me that he has committed the tort of trespass to the person, which in practical terms breaks down into assault and battery. Assault is the threat of violence and battery is when physical contact is made - http://www.inbrief.co.uk/offences/trespass-to-person/

You would be expected to give him a chance to settle your claim first and if you wanted to pursue such a claim you (or a solicitor acting on your behalf) should firstly write to him setting out your claim and inviting his comments within a specified time period, usually 21 days.

If, as is likely, he ignores you the next step would be to issue a claim against him in the County Court. You could use moneyclaim online - https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome - though you should obtain some proper legal advice as to how to formulate your claim.

It's difficult to say what level of damages you could reasonably expect, as claims like this are extremely rare. However, I would have thought a couple of thousand quid would not be out of the question.

This is the theory. Whether it would actually be a good idea to sue him is, of course, a very different matter.

[Pheidippides]

UPDATE

I had a phone call from the Met today. Given the circumstances of the incident THEY want to reclassify it as a crime and not a Traffic Incident, so that is good, I think.

The officer/handler mentioned Road Rage and said that she would try and get the details "transferred across"

Part of me feels a little guilty in the context of much larger problems for the Met, but I am very pleased that it is being taken seriously

Regards

Pheid