SHOCKING video shows the vile moment an enraged motorists spat at a cyclist who confronted him for using his mobile at the wheel.
Driver Omar Hanif was recently convicted of assault and fined £450 following the incident in Edinburgh.
And cyclist Steven McPherson received a caution for threatening or abusive behaviour for slapping the mobile out of Hanif’s hand, an action he admitted was “stupid”.
At the start of the clip, Hanif, seen driving a silver Toyota Yaris, stops in the left lane of the junction, with the car almost completely inside the box area for cyclists.
McPherson knocks on the driver’s window and points to the mobile phone which Hanif can be seen holding to his ear.
Putting down the window, Hanif can be heard saying “f**k off my f**king window” before McPherson smacks the phone out of his hand replying “get off your f**king phone.”
Clearly annoyed, Hanf replies “are you f**king daft? You wee pr**k” before pushing the car door open with his leg.
During the shouting match Hanif is seen spitting at McPherson which can be seen landing on the camera.
McPherons, seen holding onto the driver’s door trying to get off his bike, shouts “get off your f**king phone” again as the enraged driver goes up to his face replying “you daft, you want a slap? You want a f**king slap? What the f**k is that? F*****g prick.”
Looking directly at the camera, he calls Steven a “pr**k” again and another term in a different language before getting back in the car.
As Hanif gets back in the car, the cyclist can be heard replying “going to the f**king police now.”
With Hanif responding: “I’m going as well, f**king slapped my window you wee pr**k. F**king faggot, you are. You’re lucky, I’ll punch your c**t in man”
Driving alongside McPherson, the motorist continues: “Look, go to the police station, you hit my window, I want damages man.”
As the lights change to green, McPherson replies to the driver: “You can go and f**k yourself how about that” with Hanif signing off: “I’ll f**k your mum.”
Hanif appeared before Edinburgh Sheriff Court on October 25 where he admitted the assault charge. McPherson had already accepted a Section 38 caution for threatening or abusive behaviour.
Speaking about the clip today, McPherson said: “Initially, I went to speak to the driver to tell him he’s not supposed to stop in the bike box, and then I realised he was on his phone.
“When I knocked on the window, I was met with a torrent of abuse, and I stupidly went to slap the phone out of his hand.
“He then spat in my face – visible on the camera lens hence the assault charge. He also threw an aerosol can or something out of his window at me, although it missed me.
Commenting on the sentence handed to Hanif, he admitted: “I would have preferred he had received a £200 fine and 6 points for driving while using a mobile phone – which would probably have cost him more in the long run.”
A spokesman for road safety campaign website, SWD Media, who obtained the footage, said: “While the cyclist could have handled this in a totally different way, there is no excuse whatsoever for the road rage and torrent of abuse coming from the driver, who was in the wrong for being in the cycle box and on his phone.
“To spit on somebody is one of the most disgusting things any human can do. As for the abusive language it is nothing short of homophobic abuse and should have been treated as such.
“To give the cyclist a caution was on the face of it the right call but the driver got off lightly with a £450 fine.”
