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  • Had a bit of a run in yesterday, and thought I would seek the advice of the collective wisdom on here before deciding how to take things further...

    So I was on the street riding up to my house in Bermondsey after a long day at work. It was approx 6.45, so dusky light, but i had a helmet light, light on my bag strap, and was riding a fluoro orange bike. There were cars parked on either side of the road, meaning that the space wasn't wide enough for 2 cars to pass, but enough space for a car and a bike going in opposite directions.

    As I rode down the road (which has speedbumps), a tow-truck from a company based close to my house pulled out and revved its engine then accelerated quickly down the road, actively moving across so that it was directly in my path (there was still plenty of space on his side of the road) and on a collision course with me. When I realised that the guy wasn't moving back across I stopped asap (i ride with front and back brakes, before anyone says anything) and literally pressed myself against the parked cars. As the truck hurtled past I shouted after it 'are you trying to fcuking run me over'. This made the driver pull an emergency stop, jump out of the truck with the engine still running, and approach me shouting obscenities, claiming that if he wanted to run me over i'd be dead by now, and that he would make sure he hit me next time.

    The guy was enormous and I quickly made the decision to get the fcuk out of there. parked up my bike at my house (literally metres down the road) and made the decision to go the the depot he had just left to talk to their foreman. The guys in the office were apologetic enough, and told me they would 'tear strips off him' for what he did. As we were talking, the same driver had parked up his truck, and then approached me shouting if i wanted some more, that i was lying about the whole thing, that he would run me over next time he saw me etc etc.

    The guys in the office pulled him to one side and I left the depot with the foreman. He was very apologetic again, and we shook hands on the fact that his company didn't stand by the actions of the driver.

    What I don't know now is what I should do to take it forward. Maybe the driver had a bad day, and reacted badly to my shouting as he went past? To me he had a total loss of control and seems like a menace on the road - what will he do next time he sees a cyclist? I was left very shaken up after this (partly due to the fact that it was so close to my home, and also because I'm not a confrontational person) and despite the foreman's apologies yesterday, I think I want to make a formal complaint to the company/police (although given nothing actually happened, will it make a difference?). But would this make a bad situation worse? Should I just try to forget it? A complaint might ruin this guy's livelihood, but then again he could easily take someone's life driving an enormous truck like that.

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