Those of you who have been following this blog for a while may recall that I was assaulted on 12th December 2010 and that the following weekend the Thames Valley Police interviewed my assailant, one Timothy Denman of Charvil, and gave him a simple (police) caution for assault.
I have commenced proceedings for assault in the Slough County Court. Denman has now served a Defence which reads as follows:
"The Claimant is abusing his power and traping (sic) people that (sic) drive car's (sic) he was pushed due to provicatien (sic) and criminal damadge (sic) caused by his friend then used abusive langue (sic)."
I will let you know how matters progress.
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Good luck. Question for you in fact (hope it's not an abuse of this excellent blog to do so). I was cycling home two days ago, and had stopped at some red lights. I heard an altercation behind me, and looking round heard a black cab driver and a cyclist trading insults (clearly the cyclist was angry at something he had perceived the cab driver to do).
ReplyDeleteThere was a thumping sound, and the cyclist rode off through the red lights, I assume he hit the cab in some way. The cab driver then rode through the red lights, alongside the cyclist, and grabbed his jersey through the window while they were both moving. The cyclist got away, but the driver pulled in, presumably to calm down.
In that situation would you do anything? I didn't. I felt I would be unlikely to get any reward from speaking to the cab driver (wd've done so calmly, asking him what happened and what processes he would go through now - reporting etc). Should I have taken a photo of the cab? (Carry my mobile handy for situations where I might be involved).
Sounds like your up against a top legal team there Martin, careful now.
ReplyDeleteTheidiotandthedog, you may have heard the cyclist hitting the cab but you definitley saw the cab driver breaking the law, assault and dangerous driving possibly? I'd have taken the reg number and atleast considered reporting to the police.
No amount of provocation justifies assault (self-defence is of course different). If I had the assault on camera I would send it to the police. Otherwise if I had a chance I would offer my details to the cyclist as a witness. If neither of those applied then to be quite honest I rather doubt that I would think that the prospects of anything being done would justify the time/effort required to make a report. It should not be like that, but it is.
ReplyDeleteI think you were right not to approach the taxi driver, he is obviously a man with a poorly controlled temper.
Thank you both. Points taken and weighed. It's useful at least to have considered these things beforehand for me, as in the heat of the moment you can freeze, well I can anyway, and sometimes through inaction make what might be considered the wrong decision.
ReplyDeleteWhat does this plum think you have? Some kind of giant butterfly net? LOL!
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, hope all goes well. People like that probably constitute the 2% of road users that really worry us all. The 2% that really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a car.
Does the "I hit him 'cos someone else upset me" defence often work?
ReplyDeletecouldn't whoever told him how to spell 'claimant' looked over the rest of it as well?
ReplyDeleteCycling silk, I have only the hugest respect for your determination in pursuing these things. A driver who knocked me off in February 2009 got a simple police caution when he was clearly driving without anything like due care and attention. And the aggressive idiots who try to scare one off the road are a real and serious problem that the police ought to be addressing.
ReplyDeleteI've just posted something on the political roots of this approach, for anyone who's interested: http://invisiblevisibleman.blogspot.com/ All the very best with your case against this man.