A road.cc reviewer, Neil Gander, is appealing for information about the identity of a shepherd who threatened him and smashed his video camera. The man blamed him for his sheep running away, though the video evidence shows Neil had nothing to do with it.
“I had pulled over onto the verge as soon as I saw there were sheep and dogs on the road ahead”, explains Neil.
“They all came past, followed by a man on a quad bike. Once I thought the road was clear I set off again, but as I crested the hill I saw two men – one with a quad bike who was standing in the road ahead, and another on the fellside up to my left, who shouted 'fucking bike!' as though this explained everything.”.
Then the man standing in the road began swearing and shouting at Neil.
“I was really aggrieved as I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. He said, ‘It’s you freaks’ fault that them fuckers [the sheep] aren’t in there!’, pointing at the enclosure next to the farm buildings. Then he added, ‘Now fuck off or I’ll knock your teeth out for you’.
“I told him I wasn’t going to take this from him and warned him I had all this on video, at which point he tore the camera off its handlebar mount and smashed it in the road.”
The camera, a Techalogic DC-1 which Neil had been testing for road.cc, was wrecked but enough of the video file survived to show to the police.
Neil says, “The officer who came to see me agreed the man’s actions were completely unacceptable.”
However, when she went to the farm, the owner denied knowing the suspect.
“After this she told me that without a named suspect she would have to close the investigation. So I’ve had to go public to try to find the man myself,” explained Neil, who has posted still images of the man to Facebook try and identify him.
The incident happened at the village of Muggleswick in County Durham on 19 July.
Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Laura Hood of Durham Constabulary at Consett Police Station via 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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27 comments
Rural police go native?..
pretty sure that neighbouring farmers would recognise anyone in their farming community...could be mean and suggest the violent response suggests the guy is already known but it's only a cyclist and nobody got hurt..take that away and reasonable for police to spend how long? Less than hour asking other local farmers to identify
...small world
...way forward? Presume have a Police and Crime Commisioner ...start there on the inadequate effort...looking forward to the farmer who failed to identify his employee/ relative/mate being prosecuted for perverting the course of justice ...here is hoping
He looks a bit older in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QENzkzKshpQ
...but he's definitely a farmer, and he has got form!
What I really don't understand is that the sheep seem to have been coming towards the rider and the dogs and quad bike riders have failed to get them to turn left into the farm. So very difficult to see how Neil is anything to do with it. And the reaction from the other party is at least threatening behaviour, and the police have a duty to do more than a perfunctory investigation. The gent appears to have lost control of more than just some sheep and might be dangerous in other circumstances.
As regards points of view, I welcome a challenge to my assumptions and notice that many long-term contributors to these threads are quite willing to say when they think a cyclist has got it wrong. I also know that in an analysis of dodgy cycling moments, some of my stupidities would look pretty bad - in particular I apologise to the Audi driver who must've had a bit of a fright when I emerged from a side road last Wednesday not having checked carefully enough that the road was clear.
Sometimes, perhaps not often enough, I've also seen people here apologise for having got things wrong, put points over-assertively, and so on. So it's not really a closed bubble outrage group for a corral of defensive folks, but more (usually) a place for mature conversations, the giving of help and some razor sharp wit. We'd probably benefit from some agreement to disagree on a few topics, but by and large we are ok.
SocratiCyclist, you do not seem to be persuading many here to change their opinions. This may stem from an apparent reluctance to see anything from any other than a "motorist good, cyclist bad" viewpoint. I wondered when you began posting if your user name indicated that you would use the Socratic Method to make your points. Perhaps it would be more effective if you did.
Does anyone believe that the farmer was telling the truth when they said that they didn't know the identityof Mr Quad Bike?
Yep, he must be grateful that the cyclist caught the sheep rustlers and quad bike stealers on camera.
Leaving themselves open to prosecution surely ?
Neil, hope you're okay. What a complete cock womble. This is anti cycle hatred, there's no rational reason for that response. I believe this is one more example of a growing trend. A friend and I were out on a ride yesterday and ended up getting close passed, brake checked and threatened with violence for being 2 abreast (we weren't, not that that matters). This was by a gentleman with his wife and kids in the car. Apparently we were arrogant and needed to show respect. Sorry Neil, I've kind of hijacked your story, but my point is that a minority of drivers feel emboldened to make these kinds of threats, and carry them out. Lack of action by the police is shameful and will only exacerbate an existing problem.
Similar experience on a club ride a few weeks ago. Cruising along the sea front in search of a suitable coffee stop, lost of pedestrians about as there was a food fair on so rilling through at a sensible speed and avoiding the shared use path that was packed. A car behind took exception getting close behind then overtook by going the wrong side of the traffic bollard cutting in on a club member forcing him against the curb. He was the subjected to a barage of bad language and spat on by the woman in the passenger seat, punched and knocked over by the driver. Then a young lad passing by joined in on the drivers side because we looked "silly in our club kit". We the constant stirring by journalists it seems to be getting increasingly harder to get fair treatment. If a pedestrians steps out infront of a cyclist without looking it us the cyclists fault for riding at a speed they couldn't stop at (though of course at the same time they should be on the road because they don't go fast enough), if a pedestrian steps out infront of a car is the pedestrians fault for not looking or taking into account the speed of the vehicle even if the car is over the speed limit.
Some if the open viteol online or in newspapers would be pulled if you changed the term cyclist to a specific religion, gender or ethnicity, but wishing death and harm snd creating gross generalisation to someone based on their mode of transport is fine. Certainly find it funny many of those stating that All Lives Matter don't seem to include cyclists.
why was the chap in the car two abreast then? why is he allowed to sit side by side, but cyclists arent?
I was too busy fcuking and cnuting to ask...
If the Police Officer has said she's closing the investigation you should make an official complaint and keep doing so 'till they investigate properly.
I'm confused. I feel I have been watching a scene from The Day Today.
You are letting the news get away...
Since when do you have to know the name of someone for the police to continue an investigation.
Surely part of the investigation would be to try and find out the name?
Oddly the subtitles on the YouTube clip was set to Portugese and I couldn't seem to change it. Made it even more surreal.
So its the cyclists fault that the sheep ran away before he even reached them? Hmm... Sheep that can see the future, eh? Bit scary.
I'm more and more coming round to Nick Freeman's identity tabard idea and making them mandatory for farmers.
Knowing this area because of cycle racing. Tour of the Res happens just down the road, that's right before Muggleswick parish hall. I'd suggest emailing them, they'll know who's working in the area. It isn't a highly populated place. Same with the church ministry. Good luck
http://www.countydurhamfamilies.info/kb5/durham/fsd/organisation.page?id...
https://www.muggleswickparish.org.uk/contact-us/
That's a great help Kkam84. I will get in contact.
Regards
Neil
So if he'd filmed a murder with a clear view of the murderer, the Police would instantly close the case due to the lack of a named suspect?
"Someone shot the Prime Minister, but he wasn't wearing a name badge so we are closing the case"
Looks like the same guy who smashed a certain Bentley wing mirror.
All joking aside, this is getting ridiculous. Not only do cyclists cause all the congestion and pollution, we frighten the sheep. This has to stop, and we need the police and courts to step up their actions against people who attack us.
This must have been quite frightening Neil, and I'm glad you survived to tell the tale. Perhaps you could have called the police once you'd ridden a few hundred metres down the road.
Thanks for your kind words. I thought it would be no problem finding the guy since I knew where he was working so phoned it in as a 101. I had a wretched sleepless night due to a massive adrenaline surge . Then I had another when the police told me they were closing the investigation.
I know what you mean, the body/mind response can be quite overwhelming. Hope you're feeling better soon, and the police do their job, the guy is caught and is prosecuted.
When will attacking a cyclist be recognised as a hate crime?!
Until well start properly campaigning on that point out won't happen, and even then will take years
Intruder kills sheep by driving over them in Dorset field
https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18670851.intruder-kills-sheep-dri...
Interesting, so local MP goes to the newspapers about some sheep being injured by a car driver.
I wonder if he's ever done similar when people are injured or killed by car drivers in his constituency?