"Oi love, you got a loicence to beep that horn?"

[G-MAN2004]

A leading police commissioner has revealed that hate crime regulations forced his officers to question an elderly woman for beeping her horn at another car.

Anthony Stansfeld, the police commissioner for Thames Valley, has called for a review of current rules after the elderly lady was quizzed under caution because the driver just happened to be black.

Speaking about the case, he said that the woman is a 'pillar of society' in his community and was left devastated after she had to be investigated on suspicion of a hate crime because she honked at the other car for 'taking ages' at the petrol station.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...hate-criminal-beeping-horn-slow-motorist.html

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...-beeping-a-horn-is-not-a-hate-crime-6lp9lfnpn

Ah, good old UK police never failing to amuse in recent times. They've become a joke, a meme... Will anyone ever take them seriously again?

 

[G-MAN2004]

That quotation is false per your Times link... it wasn't just because the driver happened to be black. It's because an accusation about a hate crime was made.

The reason is irrelevant. Beeping your horn at someone should never result in you being questioned by police.

 

[G-MAN2004]

What if the person in question said that they'd been racially abused, rather than merely tooted at? Presumably you don't know the specifics of the complaint made? If you do, care to tell us?

Then I imagine the commissioner would have said that. It's a pretty important detail to leave out.