To report this guy to the police

[bagpuss90]

Just been speaking to my mum , her and my dad are both in their 80s . Both enjoy walking nowhere too challenging. Anyway she told me they were out walking yesterday and accidentally wandered into someone’s land. Dads not great at reading maps. She told me the land owner was very verbally aggressive and threatening towards them. Told them if they didn’t turn back he’d he’d kick their arses off his land . Dad apparently tried to ask for directions and got sworn at. Told them if they did it again they’d wish to god they hadn’t. Mum was quite upset. Okay they shouldn’t have been there. But AIBU in thinking this is really no way to speak to an elderly couple and totally OTT ? Should I report him ?

That is so rude to say they have a persistent disregard for the law. They’ve never had so much as a parking ticket

Pretty baffling imo to call the police on someone for being a dickhead when no one actually got hurt and you're unlikely ever to even see each other again.

On the other hand, aggressive landowners like this one are POS so he prob deserves some hassle.

I'm sorry your parents went through that op, regardless of them wandering on someone's land... hardly the crime of the century. Threatening violence to a couple in their 80s is disgusting. My dad passed away at 77 and if anyone did that to him it would break my heart.

It was a house with a large piece of land

Somebody's garden then? No wonder the owner was rude.

Trespass is a civil matter, so police won’t do anything about. Landowner is a jerk and has behaved threateningly but it’ll be his word against ur parents.

hope ur parents are ok 😢 what an awful man

Strange thread.

If y

Mmmm

Whoops posted too soon.

The parents are fit and healthy enough to go walking. Have all their cognitive abilities. But also can’t decide for themselves wether the police should be called.

It appears they may have been in someone’s garden. The man shouldn’t have reacted aggressively. But that doesn’t mean he is hiding anything. He may just be a bit of dick. Or had a bad day. Not an excuse for being aggressive but not proof, he must be hiding something.

As for the poster suggesting you escalate it with threats and intimidation, I don’t even know what to say about that. How can op complain someone is being aggressive, then retaliate like that and escalate it into a huge issue. The Op returning with some people to intimidate him, isn’t going to look great if he calls the police. Not that I believe that poster would do this.

It's possible the landowner has been plagued with people traipsing all over his land and is just sick to death of it. Outdoor walking exploded during the pandemic and people were trespassing all over the place exploring areas they usually wouldn't. A lot of landowners saw a massive increase in trespass, littering and nuisance as a result. I do a lot of outside walking with ordnance survey maps and I have a good sense of direction, I've only had one incident with a landowner but he wasn't abusive about it and I just pretended I was lost and he pointed me to the public footpath but not all landowners are as friendly unfortunately. It a good opportunity for them to brush up on rights of way I suppose. There are some amazing resources where you can zoom in and all the bridleways and public rights of way are highlighted so you are less likely to get lost. Maybe suggest they see if they can get on with something like that?

footpathmap.co.uk/map/?zoom=11.55413488138525&lng=0.06109877634832132&lat=51.7317428843871

You have said twice that it wasn't a farm - most land in this country is farmed. I can't imagine what sort of land it was if it wasn't a farm - was it private parkland?

If your mum is anything like mine, she’ll dine out on this tale for weeks- each time adding some extra detail for dramatic effect. 😂

Im not saying your parents didn’t get a bit of a fright to be shouted off someone’s land but despite misconceptions about “the elderly” most are very resilient, worldly wise and able to make an independent decision themselves about reporting something to their local police station.
They haven’t reported it so perhaps they don’t see a need to involve the police.

I was told to "fuck off to my faaaaking London"!

Now that was criminal. Still not sure what was implied there but it can't be good judging by the tone. I think I'll need to travel to London to understand.

Decent people don't speak to anyone like that!

Unfortunately though your parents came across one of life's worst yesterday.

And as for no crime being committed - threatening to physically abuse someone would have the polices interest.

I'd forget him and move on tho. Not worth the hassle. Hope your parents are ok.

Lovely to see so many Mumsnetters happily condoning threats of violence. Super.

It sounds like the guy could do with some company anyway to develop his social skills 😆

The Get orrf my land brigade seem to predominate towards the west of England - it’s bizarre

Tons of land isn't farmland or parkland either.

Some farmers & workers don’t have the best people skills especially when what seems innocuous to outsiders is a big deal to them & ultimately their livelihoods (crops, lambing, livestock). Throw in territorial, stress induced or just downright rudeness & it’s pretty common IME! Not maligning all farmers or landowners but usually they really dislike anyone trespassing even if you’re not (in your opinion) causing any harm. But if others see walkers there it will invite others to follow suit etc & if they bring their dogs etc then a recipe for more hassle for them, potentially loss of livestock & or damage to land/crops. I suppose we would t walk into people’s places of work & drop litter, bring our friends & damage work relations!
It’s no different really. Would we be all that nice if people repeatedly did? Obviously rude aggressive behaviour is never ok but I guarantee your elderly parents will never go back will they? If he was very terribly nice about it pretty please maybe it would make it harder not to just that one time go back because the farmer did t seem to mind?

So it sounds like the property (normal house with sprawling land rather than a garden) has a right of way through it, and I imagine they're fed up with walkers diverting off the right of way, strolling up the drive, maybe sitting on their grass and all manner of other things.

There is a right of way that goes along the side of a property in the centre of our village. It's a convenient short cut to the park. She was out doing her garden one day and came over to tell us quite snippily that the right of way was on the grass NOT the gravel drive. She has placed planters all over the grass and most people think it's preferable to walk on a gravel drive rather than grass that looks like someone's garden. But that's what she wants.

A sign saying please walk on the grass would make it more clear.

I think walkers and people who maintain rights of way need to be more considerate of each other.

What is it then? Most land without buildings is farmland of some sort. Even moorland is farmed.