Woman will get on the spot revenge on catcalling van driver – and now they face big high quality

Teacher Aneesa Dawn, 25, got her own revenge after a van driver started blaring his horn whilst she was waiting to cross a busy road.

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A woman took revenge on catcallers by reporting their untaxed van to the DVLA – and they could now be fined £1,000.

Teacher Aneesa Dawn, 25, was waiting to cross a busy road when she heard a van driver blaring his horn.

She thought it was due to a traffic problem but was shocked when she realised he was targeting her and her younger sister. The man in a white van was beeping at her repeatedly, before opening his window, leaned out of his van and shouted at her.

He shouted: “Hi love I’ve been beeping at you you sausage”.

Despite the distress and embarrassment of being harassed on a busy Cardiff street, Aneesa took her phone out and started filming it as evidence.

The supply teacher decided to put the van’s number plate through an online checker to verify whether the vehicle was taxed.

When it showed the vehicle was untaxed, she reported it to the DVLA.

Aneesa, who moved to Cardiff three years ago from London, Ontario, Canada, said the beeping “lasted minutes”.

She continued: “We were confused and we looked at each other and saw that they were beeping at us like nine times.

“When he noticed that I was filming he opened his side door and started yelling – that freaked me out.

“He had no shame. It was daylight and there was people around – it was just embarrassing.

“They just did not care of what anyone thought, they just wanted to intimidate and humiliate us.

“They kept staying there in the green light and drivers were beeping at them to go but they just stayed there.

“It just shows it does not need to be nighttime, it can be a busy day with people around and pedestrians to catcall women.”

Aneesa posted a video, including the footage of the man shouting at her and screenshots detailing her revenge, on her Tiktok and Instagram accounts.

The video, titled “Got harassed in Cardiff but karma had my back”, has reached over 10M views on Instagram and nearly 1M on TikTok.

She thought that by sharing the video people will help identify them.

“An overwhelming amount of women have shared their same experiences,” Aneesa added.

“It’s been really great to create a platform to speak about catcalling – it’s such a normalised situation and I’m shining a light on why it’s not ok.”

But the video also prompted negative comments which made Aneesa afraid to walk the streets of Cardiff.

She explained: “I was scared of walking around Cardiff in case he spotted me again.

“Even though I had video proof I started questioning myself – it’s the exact reason why woman don’t seek out help in these situations.”

It is a criminal offence in the UK to harass somebody on the street because of their sex.

Aneesa filed a police report to South Wales Police following the incident while she was crossing the busy three-lane Newport Road on April 15.

She was with her 23-year-old sister who was visiting her in Wales’ capital.

She said: “I was on ‘big sister mode’ having someone you love with you just changes it.

“I was so frustrated – this was one of my sister’s first times in Cardiff.”

While she wasn’t able to capture one of the men pointing his middle finger at her sister, she did manage to record the driver opening the door and shouting at them.

She said: “We just wanted to walk to the train station and to have everyone on the street looking at us it was humiliating.

“We just felt the sense of anger at the thought of why do people think they have the right to do that.

“We were quite shaken up we just keep talking about it on the way to the train and on the train.”

She added: “I submitted the report to the police and I just felt like we were able to take the power back.”

The fact the men had done it from an untaxed vehicle was “the cherry on the top” of what had been a traumatic situation, Aneesa added.

Using an untaxed vehicle on a public road could result in a £30 fine, plus one and a half times the outstanding vehicle tax, according to the DVLA.

If that isn’t paid criminal proceedings can follow, which could be £1,000.

But consequently, Aneesa’s sister cancelled her a solo trip to Edinburgh as she was fearing for her safety.

Aneesa tells that this is not the first time unwanted attention has turned nasty and she’s been sworn at, often by men being egged on by friends.

She said: “I’ve had men calling me worse names and two other men yelling at me and my friend. I’ve had men in vans beeping and waving.

“This was different, not as horrible as I’ve had, as in that it was more prolonged.

“We just ended up being lucky that we turned on the camera when we did.

“I never expected to get the reach it has, but now that it has I’m not surprised because a lot of women resonate with this experience.”

South Wales Police said: “Everyone deserves to be and feel safe and enjoy our public spaces, fear free.

“Catcalling is now a specific criminal offence and it is up to individuals to reflect on and address their own behaviours or they do face being prosecuted.

“We urge anyone who experiences harassment or intimidation to report any concerns to the police so we can put an end to this behaviour.”

The DVLA said it could not comment on individual cases but its online checker confirmed the van being driven is currently untaxed.