Snarling driver filmed spitting foul abuse at woman who honked at him is ordered to take anger management course
A SNARLING driver caught on camera spitting vile abuse at a female motorist has been ordered to take an anger management course.
Peter Abbott branded Samantha Isaacs a “f***ing tart” and a “slag” after she beeped him when he cut her off at a Tesco petrol station.
Terrified Samantha, who runs a TV production company and has worked with the Prince of Wales and Alan Titchmarsh, managed to capture the shocking exchange on camera.
Abbott could be seen hammering on her windscreen in footage which has since gone viral.
The 60-year-old has avoided jail after being convicted of using threatening words or behaviour to cause alarm, distress or fear of violence.
He was instead handed a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months and disqualified him from driving for 18 months.
Abbott was also ordered to carry out 20 rehabilitation days, complete an anger management course and pay £300 compensation to Samantha and £300 court costs.
In a victim impact statement Samantha said: “I don’t trust any motorist now, I feel my confidence in driving has taken a huge knock.
“I am now turning away work that is further afield. I keep my doors always locked, I never drive unless I really must, I am so angry the man has taken my job pleasure away from me, I am angry that I am scared all the time when I drive.”
Poole Magistrates’ Court heard the road rage attack took place on August 25 last year as Samantha left the petrol garage.
Abbott then pulled in front of the mum-of-three – causing her to slam on the brakes.
She told the court: “I beeped my horn as if to say ‘look out’ type of thing. He turned round in the car and started gesticulating, then he got out of the car and started shouting at me.
“He said what did I think I was doing and started hitting my car and calling me a lot of names like f***ing slag and whore.
“He was banging with both his fists on the windscreen and my door. I was frightened so I started videoing it.
“I wanted to show him I was recording everything to make him stop. I had locked my doors, I wasn’t getting out of my car.
“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 felt unsafe.”
Abbott and Samantha then left the petrol garage but she noticed he was following her so she called the police.
Speaking about the long-term impact of the attack, she said she now makes sure her doors are locked when in the car alone.
Samantha added: “I work in television, predominantly in London, and my daughter has had to take on more of my work because I don’t want to drive.
“Everyone seems to be so aggressive on the roads these days, I don’t want to be put in this position again.”
Abbott claimed “it’s not against the law to be angry” in his own evidence.
The raging driver also tried to pin the blame on Samantha – claiming she was the one who displayed road rage by beeping at him.
Raging driver's brazen excuses
Abbott told the court that he accepted he needed to seek anger management counselling as he had become “isolated” in recent years.
He said: “I have been isolated for quite a long while, this is mainly due to the nature of my work, I am a translator, I spend days and weeks holed up in my apartment in front of the computer.
“So progressively over the 12 years I have been back in the UK I have noticed my relationships with people have diminished to the point where I didn’t have any contact with friends or family.
“I have always expressed regret and remorse for my part in the incident and fully hold my hands up to that and realise it was wrong and I am prepared to accept the consequences of that behaviour.”
He added: “I believed there was enough space so I pulled out. I looked at her in my rear view mirror, she was flashing her lights and sounding her horn and making a rude gesture at me.
“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.
“The reason why the incident didn’t just stop there is that I didn’t see any distress whatsoever. What I saw was her laughing at me and filming me after I asked her to stop. It was not a nervous laugh, it was a goading laugh.
“Anger is not a rational function. I regret my behaviour but there’s a number of statements I contest.”
But Judge Orla Austin said she found Samantha to be an “entirely credible witness” as she found Abbott guilty.
Sentencing today, she added: “Ms Isaacs was a lone female in her car, this was a sustained incident, your level of anger and aggression was extremely high, the language you used was extremely offensive and you put her in significant fear with an ongoing effect on her life.
“Bystanders intervened, such was the level of your aggression.”