Birmingham Commuter Threatened With Gun

22 May 2015, 16:21 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Police are looking for a man who threatened a woman with a handgun on the commute to work in Birmingham.

The 43-year old victim was approached when she was travelling along Jaffray Crescent, Erdington, at around 8.30am on Friday 15 May when a car driving in the opposite direction refused to give way and drove around parked cars.

The driver of the other car, which was blue in colour possibly a midnight/dark blue Vauxhall Astra, gestured for the woman to reverse but she was blocked in by cars behind her.

At that, the man got out of his car and shouted abuse at the woman, demanding that she moved out of his way. She again gestured that she was stuck and pointed to a gap where he could pull into - but the offending driver took exception to this and reached back into his car and produced a black handgun.

In fear for her safety the woman put her car into reverse and began to move, with the other cars behind her also quickly moving out of the way.

DC Shahren Akhtar, from the Chelmsley Wood violent crime team of Force CID, is leading the inquiry. She said: "It seems the level of intimidation and the production of a weapon was completely disproportionate to the circumstances of what happened last Friday morning.

"The woman was in a no-win situation with a car directly behind her, but the other driver simply refused to move into a gap to let her pass.

"He then went as far as to get out of his car with a gun to make his point.

"Thankfully no shots were fired and no one was harmed, however the woman was terribly distressed by what happened."

The offender is described as a black man, around 6ft tall, of medium build, in his 20s, wearing a dark top and he was in a mid-blue car.

DC Akhtar added: "We want to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time or who knows who the man might be to contact us as soon as possible."