‘No, of course not. I didn’t stop. I thought I should get away from there. Listen, Officer, I’m not the one who should be gathering evidence, that’s your job. Now, I want this man locked up before he causes a serious accident.’

The police officer put her notebook away. ‘There should be CCTV in the car park to confirm your account, and your description of your attacker.’

‘Is that really necessary?’ Anne asked. ‘Surely you can take my husband’s word for what happened. He’s a councillor.’

‘The leader of the council,’ David added loudly.

The constable appeared to be on the point of responding but she said nothing, and merely lowered her head. David could almost hear her thinking that being a politician was no guarantee of honesty. Meanwhile he was growing increasingly tetchy.

‘So,’ he barked, ‘what exactly are you going to do about this? I want to be kept fully informed of your actions.’

‘Of course, sir,’ the officer replied. ‘I assure you we take complaints like this very seriously, and we will do everything in our power to assist in resolving this conflict.’

‘Conflict? What conflict? I made it perfectly clear that this was an unprovoked attack. Now, what are you, personally, going to do about it, right now?’ he insisted.

‘Leave it with me, sir,’ the constable replied evenly. ‘I’ll make a report and make sure you are kept informed.’

With that, she turned to leave.

‘Is that it?’ Anne blurted out. ‘Someone’s threatening to kill my husband and you’re going to write a report about it?’

‘That man nearly killed me today,’ David said, his face now bright red. ‘As for resolving the conflict, don’t you understand, this was a completely one-sided attack on an innocent victim? I’d take care how you represent it in your report, Officer. Members of the public are entitled to drive around the streets unmolested. It’s your job to protect the public from violent hooligans.’

‘What would you like us to do?’ the policewoman asked quietly. ‘I assure you, sir, we’ll do our utmost to track down whoever did this. It shouldn’t be difficult, given your very detailed description of him. And once you have identified him, we’ll have words with him and make sure he leaves you alone in future.’

‘That man sent me a death threat and then tried to cause an accident which could easily have been fatal. I want him charged with attempted murder and, in the meantime, you need to give me police protection. I won’t settle for anything less.’

‘You do know my husband’s the leader of the council?’ Anne said.

‘We will speak to your attacker as soon as we have evidence that indicates who was involved.’