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

have you seen this

Judging from the comments Rik, what do you think? :-)

It's in at least two threads I think.

sorry :(

No need to be sad.

As a long time cyclist I often see what you have encountered. Well done for keeping your cool. Why are CCTV cameras not used to catch maniac drivers beggers belief, is driving in a manner that endangers other road users (cyclist) not a crime?

Looked in the Evening Standard on Monday on my way home and was like "OMFGhdfjk" That's James.
Not that I actually know you in person or anything...

:P

Well done dude.

I have been in touch with Nathan at http://www.ncpm247.com

He is their fleet manager and also a cyclist - he commutes by bike.

Their company instructions are to give way to smaller road users (pedestrians, cyclists etc). The driver was sacked for his dangerous driving. Interestingly they will be rolling out the cameras to their entire fleet as a result of this.

He also mentioned that the cameras they use have 360 recording and audio, but do cost £250.

There also may be a cheeky lfgss discount if you need your windows cleaning!

It has been refreshing to have such a candid response from them.

ncpm have had hundreds of emails of support from cyclists

but also about 20 emails from van drivers, abusing them for their actions!

brilliant stuff, go to show that they can get more customer by making their driver hit a cyclists and then fire them afterware.

Well done to them for standing up to it. It's good PR for them and it's undoubtedly good progress to have vans fitted with this equipment.

This just got sent to J & M Crane & Transport Ltd of Gravesend Kent

Re: driver behaviour

Hello, I would like to alert one of your drivers to appropriate behaviour when riding close to cyclists in city streets.

Yesterday (12 April) I was cycling south over Blackfriars Bridge alongside one of your lorries at around 6pm. It was carrying a large portakabin-type building on the back and the first part of the registration was J18 ...

Given the time of day, I was travelling around the same speed or faster than the flow of traffic but twice your lorry aggressively overtook me, with a beep of the horn to 'clear me out of the way' and then speeding past in close proximity. The second time he did this I was travelling around 23-25 mph (I race bikes) and your lorry went past me at a considerable speed.

As I hope you are aware, two cyclists have recently died on London streets through collisions with HGVs. I do not say this to apportion blame in those circumstances but to highlight the need for both cyclists and HGV drivers to take exceptional care on London's roads. The behaviour of your driver yesterday, particularly given the very large load he was carrying, seemed to fall short of this standard.

The driver may see events in a different way, and may believe that using the horn was a safety measure. However, in my view, as an experienced cyclist, the driver's aggressive driving tactics and high speed would suggest otherwise. I do not currently plan to take this matter further, but I would remind you the Metropolitan Police have recently set up an alerting service for cases such as this.

Regards,

Yeah.

I reckon most of us could cut and paste that letter, without much alteration, about one in five journies in London.

Nice letter, Tom...

It's high time that TfL got on with 20mph on bridges. It's been in the pipeline for a while.

Nice letter, Tom...
+1
I wrote a similar letter to a coach company last year, including: "I consider this driver's behaviour to be unprofessional and unacceptable. I would be interested to know what training, reporting and monitoring procedures your company has in place to ensure the safety of other road users."

I got the sort of reply we want: "As you would expect we take reports of dangerous very seriously. My colleagues within the Quality Department, who are qualified PCV Instructors, have identified the driver concerned. Under these circumstances they hold an interview with the driver regarding the incident and their normal procedures then include a driving reassessment, silent checking and re-training as well as disciplinary action when warranted."

If you get a dismissive or hostile response then you should report the company further, either through the Police RoadSafe site or to the Traffic Commisssioners.

Good work, James my boy! And a dashing snap of you with full beard! Maybe you can ask them to update the picture to one of you leering in tweed with a paedo moustache and turkish cigarette?
"I was just handing my phone number to some girl guides when this dashed bounder tried to murder me! I almost snapped my turgid member on my top tube..."

Last year I posted an account of myself and Mrs. Brave almost being run off the road by a National Express coach in New Cross. I wrote to them.. This is the reply I received...

Thank you for your email received on 03 December 2009.

I am very concerned to hear your account of the standard of driving of our
coach on 4 December 2009. I apologise sincerely for the upset and concern
that this caused you.

The safety and well being of our customers and other road users is our
highest priority and I assure you that, under no circumstances, will we
tolerate the standard of driving that you describe.

We take such complaints very seriously and have strict internal procedures
to ensure that the issues are properly followed up.

I have already forwarded the details to the manager responsible for this
service, who will interview the driver and discuss your complaint in
detail. The driver's previous employment record will be reviewed, along
with any other relevant documentation. The manager will decide what action
is appropriate to ensure that there is no repetition of the poor driving
that you have reported.

I will not be able to advise you of the outcome because of the strict
confidentiality that has to be maintained on driver behaviour issues.
However, the outcome will be recorded on a central database for future
reference and will be reported to our Compliance Manager, who monitors
these issues.

Thank you for getting in touch, your feedback is important to us. If I can
be of further assistance, please call me on 0844 844 2304.

Yours sincerely

Julie Elwell
Customer Relations Executive

Tel: 0844 844 2304

FOI.

get it.

EDIT: fail... national express.

It sucks just getting hit with a form response, but perhaps by doing this kind of thing en masse, attitiudes get changed...?

To whom it may concern

I would like to make a complaint about the driving and behaviour of the N73 driver who I had the misfortune of meeting at Newington Green
at 2.07am this morning, 24th May 2009.

I was ahead of the N73, parallel with a car, at the northbound lights, heading onto Albion Road. When the light turned green, the car accelerated ahead onto Albion Road. Myself and the N73 were in the bus lane, and both proceeded northbound when the lights turned green. The bus then flashed his lights at me in a manner that implied agitation, and pulled out to pass me. Albion Road has on-street parking for cars on both sides, staggered at intervals. As this happened, there was a car driving towards us, in the middle of the road (prompted by the line of parked cars). This caused the driver of the N73 to swerve in towards me (I was parallel with the driver's cab at this point) in a dangerous manner. I gesticulated at the driver to inform him that I was in danger of being crushed; he did not alter his course.

I pulled parallel with the driver's cab at the next stop, and pointed out his dangerous driving and offensive behaviour. He replied, "you're not the only vehicle on the road". This seemed a particularly fatuous remark, considering his negligent behaviour towards me - a vulnerable road user in comparison to himself.

I would strongly recommend that you provide training courses for your bus drivers in road safety, the highway code, and respecting other
road users. Had I been an under confident cyclist, the driver's actions may well have caused a serious Road Traffic Accident.

I look forward to hearing your response.

their reply:

I am writing to thank you for taking the time to contact London Buses with your comments about the standard of driving of a route N73 bus driver.

This company always treats allegations of dangerous driving very seriously. Once a member of staff has been brought to our attention he would be interviewed by his manager and appropriate action would be taken as a consequence. It would also be likely, depending on the seriousness of the complaint, that a plain clothes Inspector will monitor the driver’s future performance. Further action may then be taken against him depending on the outcome of the Inspector’s report. This action can vary from re-training to dismissal.

Given the limited number of instructors and the large number of drivers we employ we do encourage road users who have been inconvenienced to contact us with details. This in turn allows us to target our instructors more efficiently.

I have therefore forwarded your comments to the Manager of Tottenham Garage for his immediate attention.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the driving you witnessed and to thank you again for taking the time to contact London Buses.

Yours sincerely

Mrs L Saunders
Customer Services Manager

Top tips; I've just used the RoadSafe site to report an incident yesterday. A clubmate and I were riding through Dulwich after training at the velodrome when a car on the opposite of the road & going in the opposite direction swerved over to try and take both of us out. He stopped at the red lights in the village where I caught up with him, followed by my clubmate and knocked on his window. Another cyclist arrived and the driver got out of his car to square up to all three of us. When we got out phones to take pictures he backed off, got into his car then drove through the red light to get away - in full view of several other drivers, independent pedestrian witness and cctv. The first thing he said when he got out of his car was a rant about cyclists not paying road tax... ffs. First time I've encountered that level of maliciousness and deliberate intent to harm. Didn't half give me the shakes.

Anyway, incident has been reported and I have the relevant form to complete and have witness details a-plenty. Hopefully this will get followed up.

Hope he didn't meet any other cyclists yesterday evening as I would really fear for their safety.

Hope he gets caught, that is incredible behaviour.....

I used this to report a driver this morning. Don't know why, but today I just couldn't be doing with the usual aggressive acceleration, horn tooting and abuse you endure cycling through the City. I think it was because the main recipient was clearly a spring novice cyclist, rather than me. I got the company name (West Horsley Dairy) so I've contacted them about it too.

Got a response from the company:

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have forwarded this to the relevant department heads and they will do a thorough investigation.
Kind regards
Catherine

Catherine Entwistle
Director

And here's my original message:

Forgive me if this is not your responsibility, but yours are the only email addresses listed on your website.

I am writing to flag the driving of one of your delivery drivers. I was cycling westward through the City at approximately 7.20am this morning (Leadenhall Street > Cornhill > Poultry > Cheapside > Newgate Street > Holborn Viaduct) and encountered one of your vans stopped at a red traffic light at the end of Cornhill by Bank. The van had crossed into the box for bicycles and there were bikes in front it. I pulled up alongside on the driver's side, but held back slightly. When the lights changed the driver accelerated aggressively, shouted from inside his cab, peeped his horn, and drove close behind the bicycle in front. He continued in a similarly aggressive manner along Poultry and Cheapside. I encountered him again at the traffic lights beside St Paul's, where he shouted abuse (directed at me, I think) when another cyclist crossed the red light, and from where he accelerated aggressively through traffic, cutting up a black Porsche, into Newgate Street. After this I did not see him. The van's numberplate was XXXXX.

I have reported this to the Metropolitan Police's RoadSafeLondon service. Driving in London is dangerous enough; there is no need for inconsiderate, aggressive drivers to make it more so. Hopefully you can impress upon your drivers the need for all road users to behave with care and consideration to others.

So...no idea what will happen, but hopefully some of these companies do take complaints of poor driving seriously.

So about a month ago I had a crappy right-hand turning incident. Apparently I took up far too much room on the road turning and incensed at me for 'being on the fuckin road you fuckin slag' and not sticking around to listen to his screaming tirade, the driver belted around the block to head me off at the other end of the street (obv. a local) and came at me on my side of the road head-on in a game of chicken I wasn't ever going to win - so I elected to get my arse off the road quick-smart and he drove off into the sunset screaming with laughter

Got his rego (unfortunately no pics/witnesses/cameras etc) and soon as I got home reported it to the police. A traffic incident report letter came in the post bout a week later but nothing since. I realise it's only been a month so I'm just wondering how long people were waiting to hear results for this kind of thing? & is it advantageous to 'nudge nudge' the case manager with the odd call/email?

megoid, I doubt that this kind of incident will be acted upon yet (here's hope), as I suppose they will prioritise incidents where actual contact is made, but well done for reporting it and getting it into the system. I know that it can make you so angry to be confronted by a person so impatient and stressed that they resort to this kind of method.

It sounds as if you had a good position on the turning manoeuvre. Did you also communicate with drivers behind when you initiated it? It's always worth turning your head fully (not just furtively) and make eye contact with drivers behind. They will then be prepared for what you're doing, and they'll also realise that you're a human being. Obviously, the driver shouldn't have acted the way he did either way. Hope this kind of incident doesn't happen again!