Driving my 12yr old lad to sports camp this morning in my 1.0lt Polo in a 40mph zone when I look in my mirror all I can see is the grill of a blue Renault van. It is so close that I can see neither his number plate or his windscreen and every time I change gear I can see his bonnet dip from braking as he is so close!

After half a mile of this I decide to slow down - i didn't hit the brake but just feathered the throttle slightly until I got down to 30mph. Van still not trying to overtake (nothing in the opposite carriageway). After another 1/4 mile of this I decide the best thing is to slow down even further and let the lunatic go past me. No joy. Instead he continue right on the bumper hitting his own brakes every so often. This goes on for another half a mile so I decide to stop completely but the idiot is so close that he can't manouvre around me and other cars behind him have blocked him from reversing.

I decided to get out of the car and have a word with the t****r, and politely (Honestly!) said "If you really want to get up my a**e why don't you just ask for my number?" He looked a bit gobsmacked so I walked calmly back to my car and drove off with him keeping a discreet distance.

Did I do wrong? Should I have just carried on driving? I was more worried simply because I had my young lad in the car.

 

You did the right thing 100%......

 

You did okay buddy, dont worry about it.

Some tw@ts will never learn

 

Your approach is fine until a 7' gorilla gets out with a crow bar or a knife (or even a 4' imp with a knife !).

Remember Kenneth Knoye (spelling ?) who got out and knifed a lad to death in a similar situation.

You never quite know what you will be up against, probably better to indicate left and pull over, or turn off. But then again in the real world, most of us would do what you did.

 

Suspect you mean 7' rather than 7"... or have you watched "This is - Spinal Tap" recently?

J.

 

Ooops, quick edit required

you know what I mean !!!!

 

Always check teh driver out in the mirror first!!!

You did teh right thing mate - end of the day if you would have had to brake he would have gone into the back of you - good man.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me on Broadway in Oldham last week - feckin' a***hole!!!

 

I normally hover the brake pedal and accelerate at the same time, generally they get so confused that a car with its brake lights on is accelerating away they back off and stay there!!

 

you did the right thing mate, and IMO I would rather take the chance that he's a 7' 350 pound monster, than take the chance with your child in the car

 

Ha Ha Ha .... yes, you did right ......... BUT ......

It could so easily have gone horribly wrong - when you stopped and got out you could have been walking towards 3 Pkiey lads with a van load of tree cuttings!! OR, a 20 stone monster or a small nutter with a gun!!

Pete

 

well done.. this sort of thing happens to me every time i get in the car.even when im still in the garage gimps!!!!! our roads are full of them

 

Totally agree with what you did!
Similar thing happened to me driving through Caerphilly at 6.10 in the morning. Tailgated by a moron in a burgundy Fiesta M reg old shaped seen better days.
Followed all through town so close could not see his lights at all in rear view.
Drove through town at a sedate 30, till I got to national limit at bottom of mountain and floored it. Surprise surprise lost him.
Eased off at top, why waste liquid gold?
Got to other side of mountain and he caught me up and tailgated again going 50.
Tried slowing down would not pass. Got to newsagent and he followed me in started giving me grief and called me a "prat in a prezza". I asked was it good driving sense to tailgate at speed. Didn't sink in though. Some thick gits on the road .

 

Thanks for the support.

In defence of my actions I wasn't thinking about the size of the guy in the van but just about my kid. But you were all right to remind me of the risks!

The real eye-opener for me was that the driver looked at me as if I was in the wrong! But it reminds me of a time a few years back when I was in the scoob on a country road going resonably quickly when a saw a motorbike hurtling up behind me. I was coming up to a 90 degree bend and the biker obviously fancied getting in front of me before the bend and I was left to stand on the brakes to avoid wiping him out! A few miles further on I saw the same biker parked up at the side of the road and I pulled up next to him ready to give him a real roasting and he leaned over to the car and said " I really am very sorry, I didn't realise how quickly you were going and I was in the wrong. I apologise." I was so taken aback by his answer that I just said "That's OK" and drove off. It was only afterwards that I realised how his answer had diffused the situation. If only morons like the van driver had the same approach then we wouldn't have the confrontations in the road.

 

thats what rear fog lights are for.

 

No, I think you did the wrong thing.

You calmly walked away..... you should have nutted the tw&t !!!!

Rob

 

If he had, he'd have probably told the bloke to "lick the glove"

But what if it was a 7" bloke with a 7' Crow bar!?!?!
A friend with an Evo had a window sticker which read:

Please feel free to tailgate: you hit me and it's coming out of your insurance!!

Ns04