A road rage driver who went viral for screaming abuse at a woman after she beeped at him for cutting her up is facing jail.
Peter Abbott got out of his car and approached terrified Samantha Isaacs’s vehicle on August 25 last year following the minor incident outside a Tesco petrol station in Bournemouth, Dorset, just before lunchtime.
Mrs Isaacs, who runs a TV production company and has worked with Prince William and Alan Titchmarsh, locked her doors and began filming irate Abbott.
The 60-year-old of Bournemouth banged on her windscreen with his fists before unleashing the foul-mouthed tirade.
He shouted at her, “Can you f**king see me you f**king tart?” He then called her a ‘sl**’ and a ‘wh***’ and put his head up against the windscreen.
Another motorist went to intervene and called Abbott a bully. The Good Samaritan told him, “What is wrong with you, it’s a woman on her own,” to which Abbott replied, “She’s a f**king bloody annoying woman.”
The footage was shown at Poole Magistrates’ Court in Dorset where Abbott went on trial for using threatening words or behaviour to cause alarm, distress or fear of violence.
He denied the offence, saying “it’s not against the law to be angry” but was found guilty of the offence.
Sentencing was adjourned for reports but a district judge warned Abbott that he may go to jail as it was the “most serious” of this type of offence.
Mrs Isaacs, who is aged in her late fifties, said afterwards: “He’s a horrible man and a bully. I didn’t want it to go this far, I just don’t want him to do it to anyone else.”
She explained how Abbott pulled out in front of the mother of three and she honked her horn, prompting Abbott to make rude gestures at her before stopping his Toyota car and getting out.
“He was banging with both his fists on the windscreen and my door,” she told the court, “I was frightened so I started videoing it.
“I didn’t think he was going to kill me or anything but this was escalating and I wanted to have it on camera. I would have thought after it being such a long time ago I would be okay, but it’s still not very nice to watch [the video].”
Mrs Isaacs said she felt “unsafe” and the incident has left her checking she’s locked her doors and using a dashcam.
The court heard Abbott was identified as the registered keeper of the Toyota involved in the road rage and was interviewed by police in October.
He claimed he was in fact the victim of road rage as Mrs Isaacs had sounded her horn several times, flashed her lights at him and made a rude gesture.
He told the court: “The origin of this incident was the behaviour of the witness. Despite what she has said on oath in this court, she didn’t just sound her horn once, she sounded it several times and flashed her lights, which I deem road rage.
“Rightly or wrongly I am the type of person if someone behaves like that to me I will want to say something, I will call them out on it. I will do it with anyone, whatever gender, size or age they are.
“I do not like people filming other people without their permission, I think it’s a violation of their privacy.”
He added: “Anger is not a rational function. I regret my behaviour but there’s a number of statements I contest.”
Judge Orla Austin said she found Mrs Isaacs an “entirely credible witness” and found Abbott guilty.
She said: “It is very clear to me from the footage that he was banging on her car. The level of anger was extremely high.
“I don’t believe you, I find you did all those things and were entirely threatening. The anger was out of all proportion to the incident.
“Your intention was to cause her harassment, alarm and distress. She was on her own, you repeatedly targeted her, it was sustained abuse and had a significant effect on her.”
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
