akirk wrote:simply don't engage...
the most amusing I had was on a country lane near here - no room for two abreast - muddy grass either side, I was in my low-slung XJS, facing me was a stereotypical cotswold lady in her shiny range rover - would she put any wheels on the grass? no - I had my two left wheels on the muddy grass, but still couldn't get past - she tried to get me to reverse, so I simply put the handbrake on, picked up a book and enjoyed some wodehousian wit she eventually gave in and put some mud on her shiny paintwork!
I had a similar case fairly recently around 6pm in a residential street with cars parked up on the opposite side to me and a usable gap every third or fourth car. I'm at http://tinyurl.com/oej4vu4 just turned into Birch Road from Cranleigh Court Road, and met a boy-racer coming the other way who - unfortunately - was as stubborn at not giving way as I was at not being forced to reverse (my street is a similar setup, and I get fedup with others who don't give way when they should, and on this occasion was feeling particularly obstructive, if I'm honest).
Anyhow, after a minute or so I backed up by a car length or so, to be opposite a gap - so as he could pull into that space and "solve the problem". Not enough for him, he literally went nose-to-nose (probably inches apart) and with a few more vehicles turning in behind me, the easiest option to break the stalemate was for me to back virtually all the way to the junction so he could "push through". I heard a shout of "that wasn't so hard was it" out of his open window, but by this point I was utterly fuming so just wanted to put distance between us. No eye contact made, no verbal retaliation and "get out of there". Fortunately my destination was only a couple of hundred yards away, but I was absolutely fuming for a good 20minutes after.
On the one-hand, the best thing is of course to defuse situations like this - but I do not like letting bullies prosper or "get their own way" if putting up a little resistance is "safe"....