Would you report this guy to the police?

[Thatsnotmynamee]

My friend was taking her child to school the other day on her bike. There's a bridge with lights just before the school, and she stopped there and a bloke in the van behind started shouting at her that she was endangering her child? He swore at her. She was shaken. After dropping her kid off she saw the guy standing outside school and for some reason went up to him and asked why he had sworn at her. He started talking loudly again, saying that he'd report her to social services. Bloke was a heating engineer employed by the school apparently. She's upset and incensed by the unfairness of being yelled and sworn at, especially in front of her child plus all the other parents and children at drop off, and wants to report him to the police. I'm obviously sorry she's upset and think he sounds awful, and but feel this might be a bit much... What do you reckon? I've changed details a bit btw.

Well if he was employed by the school or working there i would certainly report his behaviour to the school.

Last year I nearly got knocked over by a van driving into the car park of a local school. I had right of way as I was walking on the pavement but the van just started mounting the dropped kerb and tooted at me and shouted at me to watch where I was going. I sent an email to the head of the school. It was some contractor working at the school and they took the incident seriously and apologised to me and had words with the contractor.

So at the very least I would report it to the school.

Why did she stop on the bridge?

Was she on the road or the pavement?

A bit strange that he didn’t say what she had done.

‘You silly moo, you stopped suddenly and I nearly went in the back of you!’

That kind of thing.

Must be more to this? Was the child young and cycling on road instead of path?

He must have had good reason. If not, then she should just tell him that whatever they did was fine and that should be the end of it.

Doubt police would be interested and not sure why she would even go there.

I think some posters on here have never been a woman on a bike or out for a jog. Men really will shout dog's abuse for absolutely no reason other than, I guess, it's a power trip.

Why must there? Some people just really hate cyclists and some men also really hate women. I have been screamed and shouted at just for cycling along a road in broad daylight

Vans have blind spots. There are certain places that they can not see bto the side and behind.
The issue with people that cycle and don't drive is that they do not have to pass a driving test and are very unaware of how cars and vans use the road.
He shouldnt have shputed and sworn at her, but something must have shook him up. I imagine the very last thing he wants to happen is to kill a child on the road and end up in jail.
The amount of cyclists that die or are seriously injured each year is staggering, look at the stats for under 7s too. Its horrifying. I also think people that stick their child on a child seat and cycle along busy highways are insane and endangering the life of their child.
Look at the car seats for a car and all the laws surrounding that, but you can plonk your kid on the back of a bike in a flimsy plastic seat with nothing to protect them then compete on the road with huge lorries, buses and SUVs that can't even see your bike in their blindspots.

LOL. Does she seriously think the police are going to give a shit about two people having a brief shouting match on the pavement?

They only had a barney about road rules. It's not like he started swinging a machete about. Regardless of who was in the right/wrong about her cycling skills, it would be a massive fucking waste of police time if she did anything about it. Frankly, it would be be a massive fucking waste of her time if she gave it any more thought.

Red light I assume

Yup! I often had abuse hurled as me while running or cycling. For some reason some men think it is OK to pass comment - and it is always rude.

The good reason being that some men loving giving out abuse to female cyclists?

I used to cycle a lot (both taking kids to school and myself to work) but this was years ago and I would never do so now. The aggression towards cyclists has increased massively since my kids were small. I would not feel safe, either from abusive comments or someone getting angry and trying to run me off the road.
It’s terrifying.

She can't really complain about what he said at the school considering she went up to him.

She should have complained after the initial shouting, to the school, not the police.

Either way, it doesn't matter as she has spoken to him about it.

There was a red light on the bridge, that's why she stopped. She has a cargo bike, kid on the back. I do think it was really horrible for the bloke to be so aggressive and swearing in front of all the children at drop off. She says there's a lot of aggression from drivers when she cycles - we live in a city with loads of bikes.

Some really weird responses on this thread from.pp assuming that as a cyclist she automatically brought the abuse on herself by her behaviour.
And actually suggesting she should somehow just. accept being abused by this man

Hatred and abuse of cyclists is very real. Men being abusive to women is very real.

She should complain to the school about his behaviour and driving.
The police won't pay much attention but the hit to his future earnings will make him focus on not being such a bellend.

Apparently the school said 'sorry to hear you had an altercation' in reply to a complaint which has annoyed her 😶‍🌫️

Our police force (Sussex Police) has an online campaign to reduce anti-social driving called Operation Crackdown. See if your area has the same. It could be he is a serial offender and if enough victims report him, he will get a knock on the door. Women and children should not need to put up with this shit.

Some drivers lose it with cyclists for following the rules. E.g. slowing down to stop at a light they (the driver) were planning to zoom past.