The problem with blurring the distinction between what is and isn't (yet) a crime is where you draw the line, if you ignore the clear existing one, and, if pursued, it can inevitably only come down to the mainstreaming of thought crime.
Shoplifting is a crime, so if you go into Tesco on a Saturday afternoon, you could quite legitimately find hundreds of people who, by gathering goods that they haven't yet taken to the till, would not be able to deny that they had 'committed' what could potentially be the first step of a crime.
Somebody has several drinks at the pub at lunchtime and then walks home.... where they have a car on the drive that this person might soon be planning on driving.
No reasonable person wants to see people threatened and insulted for no reason other than their sex, race, orientation whatsoever, but if this is happening so frequently to an alarming level but which is not quite technically illegal, then the law must be amended through due process.
Many have rightly criticised the absurdity of no-platforming at universities, but it sounds like it's being rolled out to the general public - in South Yorkshire at least. Nobody has the right not to be offended, though, but there will always be some people who will take offence at anything - the vast majority of them activists seeking to draw attention to themselves and to make a point, however rational or ridiculous it might be. This could all be genuinely from a good, sincere place, but the place where it all ends up could well be horrifying.