Royal Derby Hospital nurse ‘feared for life’ during man’s road rage in middle of A50

A Royal Derby Hospital nurse ^[1] was left traumatised after a man terrorised her in a fit of road rage on the A50 in Derbyshire.^[2] Helen Tidey was travelling back from Hilton at about 11.10am on Father's Day (Sunday, June 18)^[3] and had just exited the Sudbury roundabout in the right-hand lane, to overtake lorries, when a silver estate pulled up dangerously close behind her.

She admitted taking her foot off the accelerator in protest at the driver, saying that she "absolutely hates" tailgating and "doesn't know why people think it's OK to do that". The man slammed on his brakes, which Helen, 33, of Uttoxeter, said he "wouldn't have had to do" if he wasn't so close to her.

In a dramatic sequence of events, the man pulled in front of Helen after she'd moved into the left-hand lane, stopped, got out of his car, approached her window, took her keys out of the ignition and drove off - leaving her stuck in a live lane. It was only the intervention of two passers-by that meant Helen and her children weren't completely stranded.

She said: "I was upset, crying, shaking. Very distressed. I didn't know what to do. I was left in a very vulnerable place on the A50. This man was very threatening and aggressive towards me. I was terrified for our lives. It could've ended so much worse. We could've had a lorry plough into the back of us or anything."

Having indicated and moved back into the left-hand lane to let the man pass, Helen says he instead began to veer into her and drove "as if he was going to hit the side" of her car. He then pulled in front of her and slowed down to stop as traffic swerved to overtake them.

The man then got out of his car and approached Helen's Nissan X-Trail. She attempted to drive off but he put his hand on her bonnet to stop her.

She said: "To begin with I was thinking 'what is he doing?' I was frightened when he got out. I didn't need it. I had my babies in the car. I shouted at him and told him to leave me alone. Then he came up to the driver's side door, opened it and started shouting at me and telling me that his dog was in the car. I genuinely thought he was going to hit me. That's how he came across. All the traffic could see this happening. It was causing a complete backlog."

The "very angry" man reached for Helen's keys before snatching them out of her ignition. A struggle ensued, with Helen saying that he "ripped" them out of her hand, bending her fingers and damaging some of her keyrings in the process. He slammed her door shut and walked away.

Helen, who works as a nurse, says the next thing she saw was him driving off. She assumed he had taken her keys with him. Luckily, 40 seconds or so later, a pair of women in a car pulled over to offer help. Helen says she was a "hysterical mess" at this point, believing she was stranded.

The women helped Helen get her children out of the car to get them out of danger and signalled traffic to go around the car. The three of them then noticed Helen's keys, identifiable by a bright green keyring, in the bushes on the verge by the trees at the side of the road.

Helen said: "If they hadn't stopped, I'd never have known he'd chucked my keys. I thought he'd gone off with them."

In her state, Helen didn't manage to get the car's registration plate. Her husband arrived not long later and they went for a Father's Day meal, which Helen described as "not very enjoyable", stating she "didn't eat much" in the wake of the scary experience.

She said: "I just burst into tears when I got home. I was quite shaken for the rest of the day. It was not a nice experience. I just worry he could do this again. I wonder if my husband was with me whether he would've even done it. I don't think he would have. I think he saw me as a vulnerable woman on my own and took advantage of that."

Helen later filed a police report but was emailed back to say the case would be closed, which upset her due to the knowledge that many of the dozens of cars which drove past at the time likely caught the incident on dashcams. After Derbyshire Live contacted the force, officers have since released an appeal, asking for anyone with information or dashcam footage to contact them via their website,^[5] Facebook,^[6] Twitter ^[7] or by calling 101, quoting the reference number 23000373697.

The appeal describes the man as being in his late 30s or early 40s, white and around 5ft 9ins tall. He had mousy brown, rugged-looking hair and a short beard. He was wearing sunglasses and a navy-blue top, and had a white and ginger Akita dog in the back of his car.

A spokesperson for Derbyshire police said: "We apologise that the victim in this incident has not received the service that they expected. Following a review of the incident a press appeal has been released and the victim has been contacted to speak to her about her concerns and ascertain further details."

Get Derbyshire stories sent to your email inbox every day. Sign up to our newsletter here.^[8]

References

^{^} Royal Derby Hospital nurse (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^{^} A50 in Derbyshire. (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^{^} Father's Day (Sunday, June 18) (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^{^} Building at golf course and hotel complex destroyed in huge fire (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^{^} their website, (www.derbyshire.police.uk)
^{^} Facebook, (www.facebook.com)
^{^} Twitter (twitter.com)
^{^} Sign up to our newsletter here (data.reachplc.com)