Hi there, i have a fairly unusual question. Me and my friends have
taken to screaming/yelling at passers by on the roadside from my
friends car. We don't shout anything offensive just the word PAL (from
the moving car) but very loud indeed. What i want to know is are we
breaking any UK laws? Could we be prosecuted for antisocial behaviour,
breach of the peace, driving without due care and attention or
anything else along those lines for doing it? Thanks very much.

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Clarification of Question by _joe_innocentpalcom-ga on 08 May 2005 04:20 PDT

Hi, thanks for all the answers so far, just to clarify the question -
I'm not desperate to get a definitive answer, more just a really
interesting answer with perhaps some opinion, anecdotal evidence and
anything that will make the answer a good read! thanks

What is unusual about your question is that you care to ask it.  A Plus Point.

I hope there is something against what you are doing because it can be
very disturbing in traffic  - as a driver, cyclist or pedestrian -  to
be surprised by an unexpected shout, and not just the persons you are
shouting at hear you.  And it would seem that that is the only reason
you do it, to surprise people and/or call attention to yourselves.

Is that why you do it, just to see the reactions of other people?  If
they do react, you have distracted their attention from what they are
doing, dangerous in traffic, simply rude in any other situation, like
needlessly interrupting persons in conversation.

Something does not have to be forbidden by law to be inappropriate,
and your asking this question suggests that you yourself feel that it
might be illegal, in other words, that you know that it is
inappropriate.

Another Plus Point for you.  You are right!  

You and your friends have done it now.  It's like a joke; anyone who
thought that it was funny the first time they heard you probably
thinks it's kind of (whatever word you would use for people who repeat
the same joke) the second time they heard you shouting.

Take care, drive safely!

I don't know about the UK, but in my area of the US, if someone went
around screaming at people in public places, I would expect that they
could be charged with "disturbing the peace." Making loud noises which
annoy or firighten people is illegal in many communities, including
mine.

Many years ago, my town had a controversial downtown street preacher
who liked to shout "WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY?" at passers-by.
This unusual method of evangelism won him several stints in jail for
disturbing the peace. I guess he took the phase "scare the hell out of
'em" literally.

Sorry about the typo in my comment above. "Firighten" should have been
"frighten." See what you made me do when you screamed. ;-)

Chris Evans in the old days of Greater London Radio (GLR) had a
Saturday morning show where he use to get people to phone up and then
shout 'Billy' from their cars at the top of their voices at strangers
in the street.  I don't recall anyone being prosecuted.

The most likely provision to be used against you is s59 of the Police
Reform Act 2002. This is viewable here:-

http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2002/20030--f.htm#59

It states that if "a constable in uniform has reasonable grounds for
believing that a motor vehicle is being used on any occasion in a
manner which ...  causing, or is likely to cause, alarm, distress or
annoyance to members of the public" then he can serve you with a
notice. If you're caught a second time, then the car is seized, and
you have to pay fairly hefty charges to get it back. They are set out
here:

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2002/20023049.htm

...and are "£105 in respect of the vehicle's removal...; and in
respect of retention, £12 for each period of 24 hours or a part
thereof during which the vehicle is in the custody of the authority"

So that shouting could prove a costly hobby. The police like these
notices very much, I know of two people who have been given them,
simply for minor things like revving their engines at pedestrian
crossings. There are most probably public order offences you're
committingas well, but I don't know - which is why this is posted as a
comment rather than an answer.

in short - No...
You leave yourelf open & liable to the following offences:
Driving without Due Care & Attention
Careless Driving
Breach of the Peace
S.5 Public Order
etc
etc
etc