AIBU to be completely shaken up after this happened while I was driving with my 6yo?

[hoopladelicious]

I’m posting because I’m still really shaken by this and would appreciate some advice and support.

Yesterday evening I was driving home with my six-year-old daughter after taking her to a sports session 20 minutes away. I live in a small town and the sports location is rural. The session finished at around 7pm and it was dark outside.

On the country road home, I became aware of a vehicle following very closely behind me. Suddenly the vehicle then overtook me, stopped abruptly in the middle of the road and a large male got out on the dark road.

He approached my car shouting and swearing at me. He could clearly see that I had my six-year-old daughter in the car.

I was frightened and tried to get away from the situation.

I tried to overtake, and another vehicle behind the first one then overtook me and positioned itself in the right-hand lane, facing oncoming traffic.

At first I thought I might be able to follow this vehicle and get away from the first driver, but I then realised the second vehicle appeared to be involved too.
The first vehicle was blocking the left-hand side of the road and the second vehicle, a huge Hilux, was positioned on the right-hand side, facing the direction of oncoming traffic.

It was a narrow, dark, bendy country road. I couldn't get past them, and I didn't feel I could safely reverse my small car either. The larger vehicles could manoeuvre much more easily than I could.

At that point I was trapped with my little girl in a dark isolated country road with an angry man with an accomplice. There was no connection on my phone and i was shaking like a leaf.

The second driver wasn't the person who had been shouting at me, but the positioning of his Hilux meant I couldn't get past, and I had no idea what was happening or what their intentions were.

I put my hazard lights on, started sounding my horn and was screaming because I was so frightened.

The driver of the Hilux could see that I was distressed and that I had my child in the car.

I honestly thought I was being carjacked.

I was terrified that one of them might force me out of the car, that the situation could escalate, or that either me or my daughter could be harmed. I was also very worried about the Hilux being positioned facing oncoming traffic on a narrow bend at night and the potential for a collision.

Eventually, because other traffic was coming through, the vehicles moved and I was able to get away and continue towards home.

Afterwards, the Hilux continued to weave through traffic in a way that interfered with my journey and made me feel intimidated. I don't know what happened to the first vehicle at that point.

I got the car registration and reported it to the police. I'm not sure what they did was even a crime? I don't know what is going through peoples minds to do this to someone on a dark country road. Working in tandem? I can only imagine they are awful people.

AIBU to think this was extremely frightening and potentially very serious, or am I catastrophising what happened?

Has anyone experienced anything similar?

And is there anything else you think I should be doing now that I've reported it to the police?

Call 999 if this every happens again and shout to the people doing it the police are coming

Boxing vehicles in is not typical road-rage antics - it would be highly unusual for the driver following the tailgate to join in if they were unknown to each other.

In my experience, when the car in front is being tailgated (sometimes me), car number 3 in the chain usually backs off (sometimes me) away from the mess ahead of them being caused by the absolute numbskull in car 2 (very rarely me, but has happened in the past if I've been deliberately cut-up by a plastic gangster).

Based on the manner of their driving, these people almost certainly knew each other and you've been unlucky enough to share the same stretch of road, my guess is these two were en-route to something gang-related, hence their abnormal reactions, or a pair of wannabe helmets coked-up to the eyeballs - which seems to be an increasing feature of UK road users.

They've been dumb enough to make a scene and give you a reason to contact police with reg details

Follow up with the police and ask what has been done with these horrible “men” hope they have been arrested and charged!! They clearly know each other as that behaviour they did shows they were working together like a pack of wolves!

I would be contacting the police to see what they are doing about this. Two aggressive men threaten a lone woman and child at night, that is serious.

The other day I was on the school run with my baby in the back and some random bloke walked right in front of my car and started shouting and gesticulating at me. Not as scary as yours but still unsettling. Eventually he got out of the road and I just carried on. This was also in a peaceful rural area.
There really are some nutters out there.

May be worth getting some deep heat spray to leave in your car for if you get muscle strain at any point in the future, but be careful: I’ve heard it is painfully incapacitating if you accidentally spray it in someone’s eyes.

About 20 years ago I dropped my son off somewhere and I wasn't familiar with the area. I was driving down a very quiet road with a narrow section, where the sign said I had priority over oncoming traffic. A car started coming through and I stopped and glanced up at the sign to see if I'd misunderstood. The other car slammed the brakes on and stopped in front of me, facing me and a huge man got out. He was shouting and screaming that he'd kill me and smash my "shitty little car" up. I still have no idea what was wrong with him but I suspect he knew he was in the wrong and took exception to my looking at the sign. He was wearing a polo shirt with a company logo on, which I recognised. I told the police and they weren't interested in the slightest, so I rang the man's company and spoke to HR , described the man and told them what happened. I asked for the CEO's and MD's email addresses and followed up my phone call with emails. I didn't get anything but a courtesy reply but I hope the man was at least spoken to. He deserved some comeback for his disgusting actions.

Something like that did happen to me actually..but about 10 years ago ,and it was a lorry driver on a dark road ..no lights on the road ..I was driving behind him ..he stopped the lorry and started shouting that I had dazzled him and practically blinded him..
It was very scary..
I wonder if I had my main beam on by mistake..
He got out of the lorry and was shouting by my window..I remember saying I'm sorry,but not really understanding what I had done wrong at the time
I did manage to drive of ..
It is scary op ..I do sympathise

It definitely stays with you when something like this happens. I agree, some 'men' just enjoy scaring women. They have something wired wrong imo.

My one experience, and I can still see his horrible face.
I stopped at a supermarket quite late one night. The car park was empty; I parked right next to the trolley park. When I came out, it had started pouring down; the car park was still empty, apart from a 4x4 that had parked so close to my car I couldn't get in . I couldn't get in the passenger side either, because I was too close to the trolley park.
I started to walk back to the entrance, and this horrible fat bearded twat was standing in the doorway with a couple of things in a trolley, just watching me.
He started towards his car, I told him he had blocked me in. He ignored me, took his time loading his pathetic shopping, then sat in his car for a couple of minutes, eventually driving off. By this time I was soaked.
I drove off, he had stopped at the exit, and proceeded to closely follow me with his headlights full on.

I remember I was both annoyed and scared.
When I got to the road near my house, I circled the roundabout a couple of times, and he suddenly drove off.

I'm so sorry this must have been absolutely terrifying for you.
In future though even if you have no signal you should still be able to call 999 as they use all phone networks as its an SOS. Always try and call 999 if you ever feel in danger xx

I can't imagine why i didn't call 999, i'm really kicking myself - i think it was instinct not to phone while driving. I'm so glad i pulled myself together and got a photograph.

I'm so sorry that you had this terrifying experience, but am so glad that you and your daughter got away unharmed. You did really well to cope with it as you did, I think I'd freeze in fear.

Unfortunately I've read of this happening to lone women several times on quiet country roads in local Facebook groups, so sadly it's "a thing." It really is awful that we face these risks. It's made me think that I should probably go home the longer way after seeing my boyfriend, rather than the more direct way along a narrow country lane. A few times lately I've seen a car parked in a pull in place, which has made me feel a bit worried.

You said you didn’t have a signal

Many years ago I had something similar, luckily we were with a few friends. A car drove past us, then got into our lane and stopped, the driver hit the brakes and stopped. They didn't move, so we tried to overtake, but they changed the lane and stopped again, and continued to change lanes to block us for a few minutes, until one of us got out of the car to ostensibly show them we were filming them. Turns out it was a rented car, but we reported them to the police and they managed to find who had it on the day. It was still scary even though there were 3 of us!
I hope police will be helpful! Definitely unhinged behaviour on their behalf.

@somanychristmaslights

There is not phone signal in that area of the countryside. People have since pointed out that 999 is different.

That’s absolutely terrifying.

Not RTFT but in those circumstances, @hoopladelicious, i would have called the police while it was happening to report their behaviour which was extremely dangerous and sinister. Putting people in fear of violence is actually assault and is a crime, as is driving dangerously. Years ago, i read an account by a woman who had pulled into a layby behind a car full of men who were weaving about in front of her. They also pulled in ahead of her and then marched over to her car. One of them then noticed she had a baby in the back and called time on whatever vicious, nasty thing they were planning to do. Reading that account made me think a bit about what I would do in those circumstances.

Please, please lock your car as soon as you get in, we all should be doing this as a matter of routine. If emergency services ever needed to get in they would find a way, just please do all you can to be safe.

Christ that sounds terrifying. Sorry you had to go through that OP.

What car do you drive? As some cars are more likely to be stolen for parts. (Ford Fiesta, Fiat 500, Abarths are typically stolen in my area).

If they weren’t trying to car-jack, all I can think of is that you were driving too slowly on the roads (for their liking) and they were getting impatient which set off unacceptable road rage. They should have just overtook and drove on.

Thank goodness you’re OK, @hoopladelicious, and you did protect your little girl, so don’t feel bad about that. There are so many crazy men driving round on hair-triggers.

Some years ago I was taking my very frail 90+ year-old mum home from a hospital appointment when some twat got enraged that I'd got ahead of him at a bit of road where 2 lanes tapered into one - he aggressively swooped in front of my car and braked very hard so I had to stop suddenly.

My heart was pounding when out of absolutely nowhere another car zoomed round us both, stopped slantways to his, and two plainclothes police got out, cheerily waved us onwards and then turned their attention to him. They must have been lurking, or maybe even following him. It could have gone so badly but instead it was like something out of a TV drama.

Do you know why people have done this from the other posts you have read? I’m struggling to understand what is going on? I’m probably being naive.

Hi OP, I got chills reading your post. My gut instinct is it had nothing to do with anything you did, road rage or dickish intimidation - they were clearly working in tandem so this was premeditated. Sounds so sinister that they intentionally boxed you in with the intention of isolating you, you mention that the second car also pulled back to block your exit when you tried to reverse? I think it absolutely has the markers of premeditated, pre-planned violent abduction/ assault and they were seeking a victim. Sounds like they only stopped because others cars came along? It sounds like they wanted to force you and your daughter out of the car and I don’t even want to imagine what their intentions were.
Even the location sounds like it was deliberately chosen for being dark, narrow so they could do the box manoeuvre, country road so no cameras etc.

I am thinking about when it took Labour MP Jess Phillips over 4 minutes to read aloud the names of the 118 women and girls killed by men in the UK, in her victim tribute speech in March 2021 (in the wake of Sarah Everard). This was just a day after human remains were discovered in the search for her.

Honestly, if this had happened to me I would be escalating it with the police and detail absolutely everything you can remember about the cars and the men, their appearance, what they were wearing, everything.
Explain how shaken you are, how terrifying it was, how aggressive the men were. That you had your little girl in the car. As shaken as you are OP please don’t let this rest until you know the police are taking it seriously and will investigate.
I’m so sorry this happened to you and your daughter

Yes, i think it was pre planned. It’s the only stretch of that country road where you can park in the right lane and see the oncoming traffic. Any other part of that road is blind turns. They chose that exact spot carefully.

B@stards!

No wonder you are shaken up, that sounds terrifying. Don't kick yourself, you protected your daughter and you are both safe.

Its a big reminder to everyone to lock their car doors the second they are in the car, if they dont lock automatically. I know someone can still break into a car but it does give some protection. Its the first thing I do when I step foot in my car.

Well done for getting a photo, did the police say if they were coming to chat to you etc?

So sorry this happened to you x