To have phoned 101 police.

[MeDadMeDad]

My DH thinks I was wrong to phone 101 last night after a incident where my DD was crossing the road and was nearly gone into by one of these balaclava teens on a ebike.

MY DD said it was safe to cross the road, then next thing a lad on ebike comes speeding along on the wrong side of the road and nearly went into her. Dressessed all in black no lights, safety gear etc. A group of about 4 were on these bikes. The one that nearly went into DD said to to DD to WATCH IT, DD felt very intimidated. DD stared at this youth, he stopped his bike and was staring at her, obviously to frighten her.

Although DD says she didn't feel in immediate danger. She felt quite frightened by this interaction.

I have since phoned 101 to report incident, my partner Say's I am over reacting.

Aibu?

Not an overreaction but the police cant do anything if they don't know who they are.

If they happen to spot them when they're out and about they'll stop them, but they would've stopped them anyway without the report.

Hope your DD is ok, what a horrible thing to happen.

ETA: Fair enough to report though.

I'd say it's sensible to report. The police may add that road to their patrol route to keep an eye out for dangerous e bike riding there.

At the worse they just log it and nothing more is done.

I'm involved in Neighbourhood Watch and the police repeatedly ask for anything of concern to be reported on 101. If they don't know about it then they can't do anything. Lots of little bits of information can help build up a picture of where issues are.

Yours might be the only report but if say, 5 other people have reported similar issues in the same area then the police can see it's a regular problem.

101 is a fair response (999 wouldn’t have been justified) if she felt threatened then I believe that now constitutes an “assault” so definitely worth reporting!

Personally would not have reported this as I'm sure nothing can or will be done.

‘He looked at me’

Sensible to report as it could provide an additional piece of a jigsaw of information to the police (eg route taken, so they can secure CCTV images etc) if there were any other incidents last night involving people of a similar description.

As per PPs there is little the police can do with so little info and not wishing to diminish the experience but, really....assault?. You won't be able to brush past another shopper in Aldi soon without it being deemed to be assault. Truly diminishes the meaning of the term.

I personally wouldn’t have reported it, but i can’t see the harm in doing it.

brushing past somebody would be battery (unreasonable, though!)

PP isn’t wrong, assault has always been about the fear of violence, rather than actual contact.

They were both staring at each other.

No-one's getting an assault charge out of that.

I don't think it's an overreaction to report it - the police in our local area are really cracking down on illegal ebikes and scooters. It can help give the police an overall picture of what's happening in the area if people report.

I think its fine to report to 101 as they may have had multiple similar reports and then something can be done. If there are 4 lads in balaclavas riding around every night breaking traffic laws and potentially injuring pedestrians it won't be hard for the police to find out who they are

YANBU, the dangerous riding needs dealing with even without the intimidating behaviour.
Some posters seem to be overlooking the former.

Did the person you talked to act as though you’d overreacted, OP?

If someone was on a bike. Stopped it, turned and stared at you. We all know that it's done to intimidate. And if you dont know that, you don't live around where I do!

Nothing changes if people don't report things to the police.
Realistically nothing is likely to happen in this instance, but it could form part of a picture around antisocial behaviour in the area which could in turn lead to increased patrols inbthat area.

You did the right thing. The police can log the fact that there are balaclava clad youths racing around dangerously, and keep an eye out for them

@ErrolTheDragon No they were very understanding and also told me to contact the council and they may be able to put special measures in place.

Thanks all for responses. Nice to know the others would have called 101 too.

I called 101 when a woman who lives on my street verbally abused me. It was an intimidating and unprompted barrage of screaming and swearing, based solely on her mistaken belief that my dog was responsible for excessive barking. I simply wanted it logged in case she chose to escalate.

The woman I spoke to took it very seriously and told me they prefer that so-called 'small' incidents are reported as it helps to build up a picture of behaviour and can be useful in the future if the perpetrator is investigated for similar actions in the future.

After speaking with other neighbours, it turns out this woman is a bit of a street joke and well known for this type of thing. Several neighbours have also reported her for similar behaviour, so I guess the police have a good record in case it's ever needed.

Long story short - report.

Yanbu at all. Keep reporting.

Our local authority is now seizing and crushing illegal e-bikes and e-scooters and it is slowly starting to act as a deterrent for the feckless parents who let their ignorant children blast around on them.

I probably wouldn't have reported it but I don't think it's a bad idea. I am sure someone locally was spoken to after there were several reports of them riding round town on one recklessly.

I think most women, especially those of us who have been the recipient of a threatening male gaze, would be as glib as this poster.

Police not far from us were asking for reports. Turned out the guys on e bikes, dressed in black, no lights were involved in illegal drug distribution. Currently locked up pending a Court case.

Good - that’s what I thought you’d say. And that’s whose opinion matters in this, isn’t it?

It was probably a waste of time. I'm guessing you didn't even get a look of their faces as they wore balaclavas. I worked in a Spar shop and the amount of time they would steal stuff and the police took days to attend and when they did you never hear anything back.

I probably would have be scared they would vandalise my house if the police did show up and they knew I reported them. Some of these youths are horrible. You never know if they have knives either.