Spat at by white van man in Vauxhall x area tonight

Off-topic
1

Chaps, I would appreciate some advice here.

Was riding under the bridge at Vauxhall X, where u just pass under the bridge and you can either go straight on to Kennington Lane in direction of Stockwell or as I did, turn right towards Clapham. There is a road which feeds into this road from your left (Harleyford Rd). Anyway, lights go green, one or two cars still jump the red at Harleyford rd which I allow for and I take off and along comes mr white van scum man in a “Morrison” (the contractors) van and straight through red light even after the first two. I swerve to the right to avoid him, straighten out and make eye contact and yell “what the hell are you doing?” to which he mouths something else, and I mouth back, and he then opens his window and spits all over me (alot of spit).

I was pretty shocked, gathered my thoughts and cooled down and followed the van all the way through to South Ken, until I saw a cop on a mbike. Told cop, he gave chase, pulled the guy over, spoke to him, and guy then drives off. Cop say’s he denies it and that I need a witness. I leave it but I know that i have this guy’s dryed spit on my visor and quite a lot on my waterproofs (no pun intended). He also had a passenger. Cop also commended me for keeping my cool.

Now I know there are alot of people here who would not have kept their cool and who would have punched his lights out or whatever, which of course i was burning to do, but 1. was wearing my glasses and 2 he had a geezer sat with him. And anger very quickly turned to just total dissapointment that there are people out there like that and who would do it in a branded work vehicle.

Anyway, I AM NOT going to let this one lie down and go away. By the way I stopped at Clapham police station on the way home to see what they say and it was closed! Flippin hell… opening hours are 8am to 6pm blah blah flipin hell blah

So chaps, what should I do?

I also have the registration number.

I will definitely report it to Morrison and will be going to straight to top, not to some supervisor.

Should i report to the police still and offer my jacket - im happy to sit in court all day if i have to. I’m sick of the revolting scumbags that give us english a bad name - its disgusting.

rant over, deep breath.

Many thanks.

James

2

get him sacked, make his life a misery

3

Mate that is one of the lowest things you can ever have done to you…certainly go for it and make the b’tards life a misery…someone spat in face many years ago and it something you never forget…

4

Pursue the case through the Police and his company.

I do believe that it is actually classed as an assault. I know if a Train Driver is spat at it is treated as an assault and pursued.

(I stand to be corrected if I am wrong).

5

report it to his company at least !

6

Like the others say, report him to the Police and the top man at Morrisons.

I’m pretty sure that the Police will have to look into it if you make a complaint.

Is there any CCTV which could have got it?

I hope that you get somewhere with it, but to be honest I doubt if anything will happen.

7

I’m certain it’s an assault.

Some London Bus companies provide for their drivers the means to collect spit if anyone does it to them so that it may be used to prosecute.

8

yukkk!.

certainly is; spitting is a form of assault.

if someone has a contagious disease and they spit at you there is a very small chance you could catch whatever they are /could be suffering from.

i’d rather someone punch me than spit in my face its a vile disgusting thing to do to someone.

assault/ battery. Possibly a Section 4 (fear or provocation of violence) but that’s less obvious.

jamesj, if it helps - an assault involves:

  1. An intentional, unlawful threat or “offer” to cause bodily injury to another by force;
  2. Under circumstances which create in the other person a well-founded fear of imminent peril;
  3. Where there exists the apparent present ability to carry out the act if not prevented.

Note that an assault can be completed even if there is no actual contact with the plaintiff, and even if the defendant had no actual ability to carry out the apparent threat. For example, a defendant who points a realistic toy gun at the plaintiff may be liable for assault, even though the defendant was fifty feet away from the plaintiff and had no actual ability to inflict harm from that distance.

& Battery…

A battery is the willful or intentional touching of a person against that person’s will by another person, or by an object or substance put in motion by that other person. Please note that an offensive touching can constitute a battery even if it does not cause injury, and could not reasonably be expected to cause injury. A defendant who emphatically pokes the plaintiff in the chest with his index finger to emphasize a point may be culpable for battery (although the damages award that results may well be nominal). A defendant who spits on a plaintiff, even though there is little chance that the spitting will cause any injury other than to the plaintiff’s dignity, has committed a battery.

take this up with the company rather than the police as soon as with the information you’ve got, & think of anything else which may help.

this would be more constructive.

keep us in touch.

best of luck!.

9

Definitely report him to his work. Take names of everyone you speak to and get their position within the company. The first person you speak to might try and cover it up. It’s probably actually better suited to a well worded letter. They are much harder to sweep under the carpet. Again, keep a copy yourself.

Keep us informed of how your progress, wont you.

10

Mate, forget going down the Police route. You will be wasting your time. You’ve seen for yourself how ineffective they can be. As for the evidence of his spit, just wash it off. Plod won’t bother trying to match DNA from it, or do anything else useful to help you further from here.

Concentrate your efforts on informing his employers. Thats all you can really do.

Good luck.

11

Cheers guys, appreciate the help and suggestions.

Will make formal complaint to the company and pursue with vigour and look forward to keeping you updated!

J

12

As I have said in other threads - drivers of liveried vehicles that do something dangerous or offensive in front of me get reported to their employers. The employer may ignore it, but most won’t. Even if they don’t take any immediate action, it will count towards totting up on their record and could affect their employment in all sorts of ways. He probably got shook up being stopped by the police. If his employer questons him about it as well you really will be starting to get to him!

I would report it as assault to the Police, it will at least count on their statistics. It may be worth contacting Lambeth, TFL and the Police for CCTV data. There are loads of cameras in the area.

13

As people have said contact his employer, recant the whole story, even getting the police involved also say that you and your family who have been long time customers are no longer going to shop there and that you are going to the press. You could also say that as spitting is classed as assault you are looking to pursue a civil prosecution.

Good luck hope you get retribution on the idiot.

14

Sorry to hear that, it’s a shame some people are such filthy c*unts. Can you post the reg number of the van. Some of my family are in construction and I believe that Morrisons are a contractor used regularly. If it’s the case consider him gone and I’m certain they’ll prosecute.

15

Unfortunately we can’t post the reg on the forum, if you want to pass that sort of info please use the PM.

It would be nice to hear that he did get prosecuted.

16

Why can’t he post the reg, freedom of information. The man is clearly a public menace so let it be a warning to others. I not being the Devil’s Advocate

17

If you don’t want to go down the police route (and you should, even though you may get no helpful response) I would suggest swabbing the spit off yourself. If Morrisons then need proof you can provide the swab (PM me if you want details of how to do it so that it would be a forensically acceptable sample) which they can get tested should they wish to prove it was an employee (if for example they can show who was supposed to be driving the particular van but he still denies the spitting).

BTW I’ve been spat at too and I hope the ******* gets sacked (at the very least)!

18

I’m a train driver, and if anyone spits at any employee on the underground, a swap is taken and sent for DNA analysis and the person is prosecuted. There must be somehwre on the net that can help if the police are unwilling to.

19

DNA analysis is available from various companies, but it’s expensive and as you don’t have a sample from the guy you will still need the police or his employer to get involved!

20

Can James clear up that it was a builder before no LB member ever shops in Morrisons again?