Please report dangerous drivers to the police - Roadsafe. Report to plod, not just whinge here.

Interesting one this eve, a bus passed by very close (within a couple of inches of elbow) at a pinch point whilst me and gf were daydreaming along in the wobbly cycle lane (my mistake, I know better and should've been in primary) I had a word at the bus stop a moment later as despite our use of the facility rather than the road, the gap simply wasn't there... driver blanked me, but gave us a wide berth on next pass (as I was then in secondary and watching him closely by).

Riding past the depot a few mins later, he was parked up (I had the bus number ready to email them about it) so I stopped and politely mentioned it again and we had a chat, he apologised.

I'll still send an email to the bus co, but won't now name and shame the bus and route, just ask that they remind all drivers to take care around more vulnerable road users at pinch points.

Nice feeling that there was no shouting for once, and the driver will think more in future before trying to grab that gap for a few seconds earlier arrival.

Black Cab SN03 SUX, some advice:
Don't scream "If you've got no fucking brakes you deserve to get fucking knocked off" at cyclists if you don't like being called a cunt in return.
Learn to recognise what a brake looks like on a bike. I have one.
Don't drive like an utter cock, accelerating as hard as you can and moving right out across the centre-line in the road because a bike has overtaken you.
Don't pay a couple of hundred quid for an easily memorable numberplate if you're going be an agressive wanker on the road. You're being reported.

A bit of a result from the Police on this one, I received an email this morning from the PCO Team - Cab enforcement unit:

*You recently made a complaint about a Hackney carriage index SN03 SUX following an incident on 14/03/11 at Cambridge Circus turning onto Shaftesbury Avenue (Westbound).

This complaint was forwarded to me by the traffic department that administers the site concerned as it involves a cab. I work alongside the taxi licensing authority, the London Taxi Private Hire Directorate - LTPHD (previously known as the Public Carriage Office - PCO).

I intend to deal with this matter by making the LTPHD aware of the incident via my Inspector. I will request they mark the driver file with a record of the incident. My hope is that if the driver concerned is in the habit of behaving in the way you allege, a complaints history will build up & the driver can be interviewed by the licensing authority directly, with a view to suspending his hackney carriage license.

If dealing with the matter in the way isn’t the result you had hoped for, please feel free to contact me (e mail please - I am never at a desk!) sending me some good contact phone numbers. I will call you back as soon as possible.
*

So it seems they're treating these incidents more seriously. In reality I couldn't have asked for a better result really, if this guy carries on his behaviour there's a good chance he'll lose his job.

awesome work

+1

Chilling video from Gaz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTOPTocYrMA

Idiot driver for sure but his positioning at the stop could have been a lot better; neither behind or alongside the scooter he left room for an inconsiderate driver to get too close to him. He didn't 'take the lane'.
And if "back the fuck up" is his opening salvo is it surprising that the driver got even more wound up?

that is absolutely terrible.

Will, yes I agree he should have taken the lane but the cement lorry to his right is also a bit scary so I am not sure if I would have liked to be closer to it either. And yes Gaz shouts and swears a lot, I am sure he knows he has to work on that bit.

What cameras is Gaz using? The picture and sound quality from both seems really good.

Whilst the driving is disgraceful and totaslly inescusable, I think a politer request in the first place may have helped.

I think it is a contour HD.

I think it is a contour HD.

Thank you!

There's a great youtube video test of all four camera worth watching.

I remember that the GoPro is also with checking out too.

and the HD170 Stealth!

I'm trying to decide on one now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGXPKHbOm7o

I live in Canterbury and the worst for being aggresive to Bikes are Buses, don't know why they get so arsey the stop allthe time and annoy the cars and i can ride quicker than them anyway. but even so been squeezed into the kerb many times! luckily they always get stuck in traffic so i can give them a piece of my mind when they stop!!!! bastards!

bus companies have procedures for dealing with reports of bad driving. Report to hq with time, location and number plate and they should be able to match the report to a driver.
It will be pretty obvious to them which drivers need a reminder about how to share the road safely once they receive some reports

Had a run in with a Silver Vauxhall Vectra 321 DXC on the way home.

He burnt past me, scraping his car on the speed bumps in the rush past. Minute or two later, as he's slowed down for more speed bumps, I've overtaken him at decent speed - probably the wrong thing to do, and maybe better to have just let him speed up and slow down for the rest of the road whilst staying behind.

At this point, as I've got in front of him, he's kept his speed up and is laying on the horn right behind me (no way is he going to slow down for a mere cyclist), so I flicked the Vs (wrong thing to, do but you can't help it). Cue furious car pulling up next to me and a torrent of abuse, with my shouting "Fucking slow down then!" back in the window.

This advice taken, he angrily swerves left, hitting me and forcing me to fly around a corner into a smaller road - bloody lucky there wasn't a car there, or I'd have been in real trouble.

My temper really flares up and I fly down the road after the sod, camera in hand. Sadly, I was concentrating more on the photo of his number plate than his speed and didn't slow down enough at the mini roundabout he'd stopped at. So instead of steathily pulling up behind him and snapping a couple of photos, then bidding a hasty retreat, I skid into the rear of his car in comic fashion (not fast)

That makes Mr Vectra a real berserker and he pulls up around the corner with the offer of a fight & plenty of fruity language, whilst I snap another picture and holler "run into me will yer, you c..." across the road at him. Then I speed off whilst he's trying to find a parking space (considerate) before the punch up, as a fight would have only made things much worse. And besides, he looked bigger than me.

Kudos to the white van driver who pulled over, waved me in front of him and then drove behind me so that I could get out of there without further hassle.

I know that shouting back, swearing and all the other stuff is not the way to deal with these things, but in the moment it's difficult not to.

"Right over here, you little CUNT" speech bubble needed.

I'm making light now, but it bloody shook me up.

Sounds horrible. You should have risen above, and not retaliated, but I know that's hard when the adrenaline is up.

Really sorry to hear that.
Report immediately.
A little bird told me it does not appear on the insurance database today.
Plod might well take an interest.

Sounds horrible. You should have risen above, and not retaliated, but I know that's hard when the adrenaline is up.

I know, straight afterwards I knew I should have just let him scream and holler rather than give it back. The next cyclist on the road probably became the focus of his anger.

ZEN MASTER, thats me.

Really sorry to hear that.
Report immediately.
A little bird told me it does not appear on the insurance database today.
Plod might well take an interest.

Would that be the best bet, even though I gave out the abuse? Still, having a slanging match and swerving into people is a different matter.

He hit you.
Report it.

that last shot is a pretty sweet picture of him about to drive the wrong way past a traffic bollard on a junction too...

edit: into the path of that oncoming bmw, and he's indicating his intentions too.

i like the first photo with the shadow of your front wheel showing.

you can even see the shadow of the valve.

glad you are ok.

I like the second photo where you can see the bike reflected in the light.

You can even see the mudguard.

glad you are ok.

I like the third photo where you can see all of the lovely greenery.

You can almost make out individual leaves.

glad you are ok.