Family’s terror as they are brake checked by driver at 70mph

A family was left upset when another car driving in front of them brake-checked them as they were travelling along at 70mph. The incident was caught on dashcam but because the family only contacted Leicestershire Police[1] a week later, the force is unable to take any action. Daniel Singh, from Arnold in Nottinghamshire, was travelling along the A46 in Leicestershire, overtaking a lorry when a silver Volkswagen Passat came up behind him.

The Passat moved forward as if it was going to squeeze between Mr Singh’s car and the central reservation, NottinghamshireLive reported.[2] After getting a safe distance past the lorry Mr Singh pulled back over to the left-hand lane to let the Passat overtake. The Passat driver passed him then pulled partly into his lane and braked sharply in front of him before speeding off, gesturing with his arm for Mr Singh, 28, to pull over, which he didn’t do.

When Mr Singh tried to report the incident to Leicestershire Police seven days later he was told via an auto-response on their website that they could not investigate because he had left it too long. He said: “I’m angry that people are out there causing havoc on our roads. “That person continuing to drive the way they did could cause someone – or multiple people – to lose their life one day.

The attitude I’m getting from the police at the moment is very poor, which is adding to my frustration because they’re neglecting their duty of care. It’s not very helpful. It’s absolutely shocking.”

The incident, which took place on the A46 near Melton[4] at around 12.30pm on Saturday, October 14, was captured on Mr Singh’s front and back dashcams, which he got from working for company Road Angel. Mr Singh said: “It’s a Godsend to have a dashcam. It’s invaluable when it comes to a situation like this when I need to prove an incident happened and provide a registration plate for the police or the insurance company.”

Mr Singh, who had his twin three-month-old children and wife in the car with him, says it was only his driving experience that meant he was calm enough to brake and not react to the situation. He believes another, less experienced driver may have swerved to avoid the Passat, leading to a crash. Mr Singh said: “I think they were just being very impatient.

Maybe he had a bad day, but there’s no real excuse. It was dangerous and reckless. They couldn’t have been in a hurry because they wasted time trying to brake-check me.

It’s petty and daft behaviour.” When Mr Singh tried to report the incident to Nottinghamshire Police six days later, he claims that their website told him that for the type of incident he was reporting, it must be reported in person or over the phone. He reported it in person on Saturday at a Nottinghamshire station and was told that he’d be called back by an officer who’d investigate.

But instead, he received a text from Leicestershire Police just hours later telling him the crime should be reported online. At that point, he went onto their website. But when submitted his report, a notice stipulated that the force could “not prosecute anyone involved” and that he “didn’t need to contact” them about the incident.

It said that the force could only serve a “Notice of Intended Prosecution” to the keeper or owner of a vehicle within 14 days of an alleged offence. It continues by saying that the report must be submitted within seven days of the alleged offence to “allow the force time to investigate”. A statement from Leicestershire Police said: “The online reporting process used by Leicestershire Police is a national system, and any road traffic incidents reported in this way need to meet the legal obligations within the Road Traffic Offenders Act legislation.

“When someone adds the date of the road traffic incident online, the system recognises whether it is within the legal timescales to allow further enquiries to be done leading to an investigation of an alleged offence.

“In this case the incident wasn’t reported within the timeframe to allow us to serve a Notice of Intended Prosecution on the registered keeper, therefore legally we were unable to proceed any further with it.”

References

1. ^ Leicestershire Police (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
2. ^ NottinghamshireLive reported. (www.nottinghampost.com)
3. ^ Busy Spinney Hills shopping street to be made one-way only in new traffic scheme (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
4. ^ Melton (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)