To not have a clue what I did wrong?

[Stationclare]

Back story
Inexperienced driver, not massively confident, but getting there.
Journey to work is horrible. Inner city. Dodgy aggressive drivers.
There are a few routes that i can take but I take the shortest and most familiar. There is one part I hate.
Anyhow, I always stay in the left hand lane but at this one part there are sometimes parked cars so I move to right hand lane. This was the case today. I indicated and moved over.
Next thing I heard police sirens behind me. I thought shit.
Did I do a dodgy manoeuvre? I didnt see the police prior to this btw.
They then moved into the left lane next to me. The officer driving, mouthed at me " are you fucking stupid?".
Well I feel fucking stupid. Now im thinking was he trying to get past and i Didnt let him out and didn't pay attention as i was too busy trying to keep safe on that dodgy road.

*person in the thread

Need a diagram. It's too complicated to judge.

Op. Read the road ahead. Look into the distance as well as where you are. You would have seen that parked car way back and had more time to pull out safely.

On that stretch of the road im mostly aware of keeping to the left and not getting anywhere near the knobs racing on the left.

You need to be aware of everything going on around you, not just one particular bit. Inexperience isn’t an excuse for unsafe driving.

He shouldn’t have sworn, but he’s in a high stress situation (blue light driving having to anticipate your driving) so honestly - given it was your fault - why would you not just think, “my bad” and let it go?

Exactly! OP you scoffed other people for thinking they are perfect drivers, but you are basically saying the policeman deserves to be reported for not being perfect!
You behaved badly by doing something that could have caused an accident, he behaved badly by reacting angrily to it. There you go. Neither of you are perfect. Move on.
And really, I personally don't want police time wasted on investigating someone' s hurt feelings because an officer was a bit rude to them after they pulled a dodgy road manoeuvre.

Err, except I didn't pull a 'dodgy' manoevere.
I didn't move out of the police cars way as I wasnt sure what what expected of me.
Inexperienced driver and I didn't do what I was supposed to do but not dodgy manoevere.
Unless it was when I moved lanes initially. Don't think it was dodgy though.

But it's hard to remember every detail exactly and without watching it back.

You didn’t check your mirrors. Sounds dodgy (and incredibly dangerous) to me.

Is it possible that the car you pulled out to get round had actually stopped to let the police car go past, and you took the space meant for them?

It happens and it's an easy mistake to make. It sounds stressful but you got safely to work and there's no harm done - no vehicles damaged, nobody hurt. Don't beat yourself up or worry what you did wrong, just call it a learning experience.

Before you know it you'll be a confident driver in traffic. Just try to be as aware of what's happening behind as you are of what's in front by using your mirrors and listening for emergency vehicles.

Granny that is possible. Yes. Hadn't thought of that. But he was in the right hand lane and the police eventually went left so can't see why he wpuld have moved right to go left a short distance ahead.

And hearts
I did and do check mirrors.
I indicated right. Checked mirrors and then moved lanes.
Then I heard the sirens and the car was behind me. I initially thought the manoeuvre I did was wring somehow. Now piecing it together it was probably fine and the sirens etc meant shift back left asap.

Well, it clearly wasn't fine otherwise he wouldn’t have been annoyed with you.

If you didn’t see or hear the police car then no, you weren’t checking your mirrors in this instance.

@nickynacky
I believe the changing lanes wasn't dodgy.it was me n8r moving back left. But exactly a manoeuvre. Just be not moving or reacting correctly.not dangerous though.

You do sound a bit... delicate.

Get over it and get yourself some more lessons if you are still so inexperienced you feel unsafe driving to work.

And don't contact the police to complain about being spoken to harshly/sworn at. Because you might then find they say "Oh yeah, that must be the woman who was driving dangerously/without due care so let's do her for that at the same time."

I did check mirrors and he wasn't directly behind me at first or to my side. And there were certainly no sirens initially either.

Is it possible that the car you pulled out to get round had actually stopped to let the police car go past, and you took the space meant for them?

I have done that before. Completely by mistake, and I felt so embarrassed and ashamed...

I can believe you op.

I had a similar experience a few years ago. I was queuing in traffic on a hill. A police car drew up alongside side me and really aggressively told me to take my foot off the brake. I didn't have my foot on the foot brake as I was going up hill at the time. Can't remember now, but I either had the handbrake on or more probably had my foot on the clutch and accelerator. I was so flustered that I didn't dispute what he was saying.

Everything about his manner said that he was out to exercise a bit of that power he had and pick a fight. A bit of me thinks that I wasn't the driver he expected when he pulled up alongside either. It was a bit of a banger - an old orange Fiesta. I'm a middle aged, middle class women who was probably due a new car. I'm sure he expected a teenager who he could give a hard time to.

Turns out the brake light was stuck on the car. I wouldn't have minded if he had stopped me or even issued a fine, but he acted like an idiot being the big man and out to humiliate someone.

Most police officers are great, but a tiny percentage are nasty pieces of work.

I am not absolutely but delicate. Ha ha
I'm quite feisty
Thats why im bloody mad the policeman swore.
I'd have been happier if I'd have been pulled over. Id have apologised and then asked why he swore!!!
To be honest. That woukd happen if I walked into a station wouldn't it?
Then again, I'm happy to admit I made a mistake and accept my punishment for dangerous driving or whatever

Cars don’t appear out of nowhere, OP. If you didn’t see the police car then you weren’t checking your mirrors, you weren’t road aware and you were a danger to others on the road.

Why do you keep going on about how he should have pulled you over?

Why do you keep going on about the bloody police?
Just to clarify:
I did something to piss off the police to the point they got angry
Wasn't sure what?and if it was a manoevere then they would have stopped me. I'm sure.
Seems like they were driving to an emergency and I stupidly misread the situation and didn't move to where they wanted me to.

According to mumsnet i was dangerous.

I asked for advice. I've got it.
Pass Plus
Further lessons. Check mirrors more often.
Thanks
I'm not sure every driver who makes a mistake goes onto doing these things. But still.

He couldn’t stop. He was going to an emergency.

Thanks knitting
As I've said upthread I have no issue with the police.
Never had any involvement with them regards to being a driver or passenger

Occasionally police are at my place of work. Normally have a laugh and joke with them.
Was burgled once. Police were fab.
I'm a bit marked that people seem to think I'm making it up.
It's a bit of a shit story to make up. I'm a white middle class woman shouted at by a white policeman. But exactly newsworthy.

IMO, the most worrying thing is the title of your post - that you have no clue what you did wrong.

We can all make mistakes, snap decisions we later go back and regret, knee jerk reactions etc.

But as a driver you must be able to think back and understand what you did wrong.