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

Just seen it. Lame.

** Skyline Whitespace**

To whomever it concur,

I'm afraid to be the bearer of bad new as I have witnesses poor driving from one of your driver this morning heading Southbound on the A24 approaching Tooting.

He decided that I was to be taught a lesson, and tried to push me toward the kerbs, resulting in I coming in contact with his wing mirror, he also was pointing to the pavement looking very angry.

It's extremely scary and dangerous to see a van suddenly turning toward me as he overtook me, and pushing me closer to the pavement until there's very little room left for error, that if I hit a pot hole, I would have hit the kerbs or worse, the vehicle itself.

I am aware that this particular individual doesn't represent your company as a whole, but other road user may think otherwise after witnessing his poor driving skill.

I've enclosed a photo, as it's easier to remember the plate by (you can also see the wing mirror is closed after he tried to push me off the road).

Best Regards

Respond.

Hi Edward,

I are very sorry to hear that you have incurred a bad driving manner from one of our staff, So firstly i will apologize on his behalf, Also thank you for the photograph as from this i know who was driving this van so i can deal with this matter straight away, we take things like this very seriously as i understand how bad this can look on the company as a whole and this is not the sort of conduct that we train all of our staff to follow,
Please be assured that this will be dealt with straight away and very seriously.

If you need any further information from me please feel free to call the office.

Many Thanks

Stuart Kimber.

Is calling an option ed? If not, I am happy to call on your behalf?

Another fob-off from the Public Carriage Office. I don't know what I was expecting really. I also roadsafed it but haven't heard back.

"What's that Skip? You have legislative powers to discipline cabbies for certain things, but not for anything important like road traffic accidents or near misses? Have you thought about asking for these powers, seeing as the police are generally understaffed/not interested and therefore you are the best guys for the job?"

Thanks a bunch.

TL/DR: Cabbie nearly takes out cyclist, gets away with it, righteous indignation.

PCO SUBMISSION

At around 7 o'clock in the evening of the 14th of January I cycled into Copenhagen Street from Barnsbury Road. A few metres before I got to the junction of Copenhagen Street and Leirum Street, a London taxi cab pulled quickly out of Leirum Street in front of me, trying to turn left.

I had to slam my brakes on to avoid him hitting me with his bonnet, but due to going downhill I still knew I could not stop in time, so I also had to swing out into the opposite lane to avoid a collision. He seemed to notice me just at the last second, and came to a halt just as I had passed him. It was a very close miss, and was very dangerous.
I have bright front lights, which he would have seen if he had looked right before pulling out of the junction, so I assume that he did not look. I was also very close to him when he decided to pull out, so would have been very easy to spot.

The registration number was LM58 MZP.

As I headed down the hill towards the junction with Caledonian Road, the cab came up behind me, revving his engine, then overtook dangerously and at speed on my right hand side, with a few inches to
spare.

He then accelerated down Copenhagen Street and turned left through a red light onto Caledonian Road, then drove off.

It seemed like he was trying to escape the situation.

I find this type of driving intimidating and dangerous, even as an experienced cyclist. I will leave this to you to deal with as you see fit, but I would at least appreciate the driver being told how dangerous that kind of driving is and how close he came to causing me serious injury or worse.

Regards,
redbikesgofaster

PCO REPLY

Dear redbikesgofaster,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 15 January 2014 regarding the behaviour of a licensed taxi driver. Please accept my sincere apology for the delay in responding to you.

The Taxi& Private Hire Directorate can only deal with offences that are contrary to the Hackney Carriage Acts and Orders and we have no legislative powers to investigate road traffic offences committed by taxi drivers. Under the circumstances we are unable to take any action against the driver involved.

You have taken the appropriate action by reporting this matter to police.

Whilst I recognise that the police have many responsibilities, the fact remains that they are the only authority that can investigate the road traffic offences that you describe. In the event that action is taken, for example by way of a conviction, this will result in the driver’s fitness to remain licensed being reviewed by Transport for London.

Although we will not be pursuing this matter, we will advise the driver of the allegation (your details will not be disclosed) and remind him of his responsibilities under the Highway Code and that we expect professional drivers to demonstrate a high standard of driving at all times.

I am sorry that you had reason to complain about a taxi driver and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Another sterling fob-off from the Public Carriage Office. I don’t know what I was expecting really.

“What’s that Skip? You have legislative powers to discipline cabbies for certain things,but not for anything important like road traffic accidents or close shaves?Have you thought about asking for these extra powers, seeing as the police areunderstaffed and you are clearly the best guys for the job?”

Thanks a bunch.

TL/DR:Cabbie nearly takes out cyclist, gets away with it, righteous indignation.

PCO SUBMISSION

At around 7 o'clock in the evening of the 14th of January I cycled into Copenhagen Street from Barnsbury Road. A few metres before I got to the junction of Copenhagen Street and Leirum Street, a London taxi cab pulled quickly out of Leirum Street in front of me, trying to turn left.
I had to slam my brakes on to avoid him hitting me with his bonnet, but due to going downhill I still knew I could not stop in time, so I also had to swing out into the opposite lane to avoid a collision. He seemed to notice me just at the last second, and came to a halt just as I had passed him. It was a very close miss, and was very dangerous. I have bright front lights, which he would have seen if he had looked right before pulling out of the junction, so I assume that he did not look. I was also very close to him when he decided to pull out, so would have been very easy to spot.
The registration number was LM58 MZP.
As I headed down the hill towards the junction with Caledonian Road, the cab came up behind me, revving his engine, then overtook dangerously and at speed on my right hand side, with a few inches to spare.
He then accelerated down Copenhagen Street and turned left through a red light onto Caledonian Road, then drove off.
It seemed like he was trying to escape the situation.
I find this type of driving intimidating and dangerous, even as an experienced cyclist. I will leave this to you to deal with as you see fit, but I would at least appreciate the driver being told how dangerous that kind of driving is and how close he came to causing me serious injury or worse.

Regards,
redbikesgofaster

PCO REPLY

Dear redbikesgofaster,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 15 January 2014 regarding the behaviour of a licensed taxi driver. Please accept my sincere apology for the delay in responding to you.

The Taxi & Private Hire Directorate can only deal with offences that are contrary to the Hackney Carriage Acts and Orders and we have no legislative powers to investigate road traffic offences committed by taxi drivers.
Under the circumstances we are unable to take any action against the driver involved.

You have taken the appropriate action by reporting this matter to police. Whilst I recognise that the police have many responsibilities, the fact remains that they are the only authority that can investigate the road traffic offences that you describe. In the event that action is taken, for example by way of a conviction, this will result in the driver’s fitness to remain licensed being
reviewed by Transport for London.

Although we will not be pursuing this matter, we will advise the driver of the allegation (your details will not be disclosed) and remind him of his responsibilities under the Highway Code and that we expect professional drivers to demonstrate a high standard of driving at all times.

I am sorry that you had reason to complain about a taxi driver and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Gaaah, much format.

I think what he is trying to say is taxi drivers are cunts.

...and that their regulator is toothless.

The regulator is not there to regulate the taxi drivers that exist - it's there to defend an artificial monopoly by imposing barriers to entry to the market.

Sorry for the ropey formatting there. I hope all your eyes recover quickly.

What gets me is that the PCO sets itself up as a quasi-regulator, takes complaints etc, and can act in certain situations - but not all.

Meanwhile, the police have to manage their dwindling resources as best they can, which generally means offences against cyclists get short thrift (because it's not murder, drugs, gang crime etc etc).

That then creates a gap where cabbies can generally drive as poorly as they want, save a jolly letter from the PCO asking them not to run over any two-wheelers if they can avoid it.

Argh.

OMFG. From a Lewisham Cyclist group on facebook...

Very dangerous close pass on purpose. 05 march 2014 - YouTube

Christ, that's terrifying.

Scary stuff.

Squeaky bum time!

Certainly is terrifying. 'Car's' and 'wagon's'. Awful.

Unreal isn't it. Leant on the horn too. WAC etc.

There's a piss-poor cycle lane alongside, the cyclist reckons that's why the driver did that.

http://road.cc/content/news/113083-video-caravan-firm-horrified-after-cyclist-suffers-shocking-near-miss

That's fucking insane, especially driving that kind of vehicle.

There are clearly people who think others lives are worthless.

Cunts cunts cunts.

Very near miss this morning, riding up Lombard St in the contraflow, a driver in a little white hatchback van took exception to me riding the wrong way on a one-way street, so aimed his van at me, gunned the engine, and would have hit me if I hadn't bailed onto the pavement.

I thought the reg number was RE03 HVX but that doesn't match the description on webuyanycar so I'm stumped. The driver really needed reporting, I hate to think what could have happened if I hadn't been able to get out of the way.

In googling the contraflow to check that I hadn't just imagined it, I note that City of London corp talks about 'improving the contraflow to minimise conflict'. Why they can't just close it to through traffic and make it access only is quite beyond me.

Had a lovely ride back from Surrey yesterday only marred by an angsty white van man in Brixton. He was cutting in and out of the lanes of traffic and nearly went into Simon, who shouted Oi only to be hurled abuse as a response. I went up to his window and asked if he has a problem and his response was "yes you people on your shitty bikes are always getting in my way, i didn't nearly hit him, he shouldn't be in the middle of the lane, he should be over by the pavement blah blah blah". Didn't get any numberplate or company name and felt a bit annoyed that white van man was out on a Sunday.

OMFG. From a Lewisham Cyclist group on facebook...

Very dangerous close pass on purpose. 05 march 2014 - YouTube

Fired...

http://www.caravantimes.co.uk/news/people/human-interest/forest-of-dean-caravans-fires-driver-after-cyclist-near-miss-is-caught-on-film-$21384068.htm

Don't read the comments.

Don't read the comments.

Haha that daft woman is commenting via her facebook account, and it's ending up on her fb page with everyone taking the piss out of her. Her friends must be well impressed.

Oh very dear.