A walker said he jumped out of the way in alarm as three people on a motorbike passed him on the Bristol and Bath Railway Path - and one of them flipped a middle finger as he snapped a quick photo.
The busy route is used by cyclists and pedestrians, but Rob Bryher said despite the image, police policy is not to investigate as he is unable to supply footage. He said the process of online submission of road-related incidents requires footage of before and after an incident, not only evidence of the actual incident.
The former Green councillor and urban and transport planner said he was walking along the path last week, when suddenly the bikers came zooming past him. He said: “Ironically I was returning from a community meeting with police when this happened.
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“I was walking along and there were three lads on a motorbike. They weren’t going that fast but as they came past, they sped up. One of them had a helmet on, but I don’t think the other two were wearing them.
“I yelled at them, but I didn’t notice one of them had given me the finger until I saw the photo. It all lasted about 10 seconds,” he said. The original image shared with Bristol Live does show the person's hand gesture and full number plate.
He added that as the schools were coming out at that time, he feels it was lucky that no one was injured. He reported it to Avon and Somerset Police via their online reporting for road related incidents, but was unable to upload the photo.
He received a reply which listed six criteria that have to be fulfilled in order for police to take an incident further. This included whether the person submitting the incident was “willing/able to provide footage of the whole journey (i.e. before and after the incident took place, as well as the actual incident)?”
Mr Bryher said as the incident had only lasted seconds, he was only able to take a quick photo and he did not have the required footage. He said there was nowhere on the contact form to upload a photo, and he approached his local beat team.
He took to Twitter to share the photo and a screen shot of the police criteria, asking: "Because I've only got a photo and not footage, you can't do anything about three people on a motorbike speeding along the Bristol & Bath Railway Path giving me the finger, @ASPolice? You can see the number plate in the photo. Please investigate!"
When approached by Bristol Live to clarify the policy and respond to his concerns, a spokesperson for the force said late yesterday that the incident was being investigated and that they had received the photo from Mr Bryher, who also confirmed he had been contacted by police. He confirmed he had received a text asking him to submit the photo, which he has done.
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