To Wonder WHY When I Make a Complaint to the. Council, About a Street Trader - They Pass it on to the Police!!

[RockinHippy]

It's a breach of their street traders licence issue , albeit a health & safety issue too & okay I did get hurt as a result

but it wasn't assault - the lad was just bring a total ignorant numpty & then didn't see why I complained, cheeky sod told me "to calm down" after he had hit me & then carried on with pushing his high street cart as fast as he could down the street to pack up, putting others in danger too

I could have rang the police, but saw no point - he needs a reminder of the terms of his traders licence & a warning - WTF have they passed it onto the Police

AIBU to think this is ridiculous & passing the buck??

& if not, please explain why the system works in this way - surely the police have better things to do ??

[cricketballs]

What actually happened?

[RockinHippy]

I was walking on the pavement chatting with DD in town & one of the street traders that sells from a cart type thing suddenly took off pushing his stall straight at me .- it's very high, taller than he is, so he couldn't see where he was going, but he was still pushing it pretty fast

I had to push DD out if the way & my shopping trolley wheels jammed as I tried to push it too hard out if his way, meaning I couldn't move quick enough & he ran right into me - he hit my trolley hard, not me thankfully, but it jarred my arms, neck & back badly - ended up with a bad flare up of a herniated disc problem & neck pain for a few days

I shouted at him that he had just hit me & all he could say was "it's not my fault, I can't see over this" no apology, are you alright etc - I told him he shouldn't push it if he can't see, health & safety regs say he should pull it, I just got a very patronising "calm down, calm down" - I walked away to catch DD up - she was a bit shaken so had ran - looking back he was pushing the damned thing even faster - & other people were having to jump out of his way - they could have been blind, on crutches, pregnant, but he did not give a hoot

If he had hit DD he could have hurt her badly, she has EDS & minor accidents mean fractures etc - I am officially disabled too - hence why I use a push shopping trolley for balance etc

So like I say, yes an arse in breach of his traders licence, but not assault, so don't understand why they are passing it on to the police

[PorkPieandPickle]

Surely if he has collided with you and caused you injury then that is an assault of sorts? He has caused you harm.

What are the terms of his trading license that he has breached? Do the terms and conditions specify arrival and departure from the site?

From a health and safety point of view, he may need a spotter - i don't think that he should be pulling rather than pushing as that would be bad from a manual handling perspective.

In all honesty I think the council are the only ones that can explain why they have passed it on. Maybe they only enforce his license when he's on his pitch.

[AlpacaPicnic]

I would wonder if maybe that is not the first complaint they have had about that particular person, or maybe he is known for being violent or aggressive to council employees and that might be why it was referred on to the police.

I am a council employee and there are some individuals that are not allowed to talk to us, but can only communicate in writing due to previous threats made against staff.

[borisgudanov]

Perhaps the contraption is a vehicle, as a bicycle is. If so he could have committed an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1962 as amended (Driving Like a Twat).

[Tikimon]

Well, they have to in order to avoid liability. There needs to be an official report.

It's why you report an accident or dog bit to the police and make an official report. It's just to make sure that if something comes of this, they filed an official report and were cooperative, and so you can't claim a more severe injury than you initially said.

You may know you're not litigious, they do not.

[madamginger]

Por

[RockinHippy]

Thanks everyone

Pork DH reckons it's pull, not push for H&S & he has experience running places where they would be moving high stacked trolleys around - we also had an incident years ago with a supermarket where DD was knocked over & ended up with a black eye & the head office said the trolley should be pulled, not pushed - so I gathered it would be the same

Terms of licence would be - not to act in a way to cause potential harm to the public - forget the exact wording, but that was the gist of it when I checked i

Cripes that's scary Alpaca how on earth do people like that get traders licences - he looked more dopey & a bit too stoned laid back more than dangerous TBH

It's a cart, so I doubt it comes under a "vehicle"


Tiki now sadly, THAT makes a lot of sense - especially as our LA were sued & lost big time after a lady was killed by a LA vehicle acting in a similar way not so long back - shame as I only want the dopey, cocky did reminded there are rules & worried for others too - but that makes most sense thank you

[AlpacaPicnic]

Don't panic, 'twas only a speculation!

[RockinHippy]

I know that - lol, not panicking, he wasn't one of those sorts - I was just shocked that people line that get traders licenses & council employees then have to deal with the flack :)