Protecting The Most Vulnerable

wave at the driver, gesticulating "call me", this is along the lines of mr_tom's suggestion.

There's only 23 posts. Keeping you from your night shift are we?

yup, packing for Barça, so you know what to do....

someone stick some chevrons for me...Sun tan oil will not pack itself

Have a great time in France Festus!

Similar situation tonight, on the way home from polo in the car. Girl riding in the opposite direction too close to parked cars for my liking with a car coming up behind. The car pull out just enough to avoid her but I end up having to pull and emergency stop because the idiot pulls into my path. Luckily he stops a foot away from my car. Rolled the car forward to block him from moving, got out and had a full on rant at the prick. I wonder if he'd have taken the rant if I'd have been on the bike.

Some people just don't think and will probably never learn

The driver in the scenario needs to wait. You have priority in this situation as they are coming into your side of the road to overtake so make it look like you know that is the case by moving out and putting yourself in the middle of the available space between the parked cars on your side and the cyclist. This communicates "there isn;t enough space here for your car mate" which is better than "there might be enough space for your car if you just give it a go".
The driver will either make a brain/eye/hand connection and wait or it will flick a switch in their brain and they decide to make a bulls eye of you and try and kill you on purpose, driving off and laughing afterwards.....this is pretty unlikely though. You can maintain your position until they slow down at which point you can move back over to within the car door zone and proceed slowly- being the car door zone isn't so dangerous at low speed after all. Give them a broad smile in appreciation of their humanity and carry on.
They might carry on regardless- it does indeed happen so be ready with a handy swerve....you can handle it and if you cant then go and practise some swerves (have you had a cycle training lesson?). Try and leave making an assumption than rather than trying to kill you the driver isn't very good at driving and doesn't have the skills to judge their own size and speed and the effect this has on vulnerable road users, who they dont realise exist. Worrying of course, but better than thinking the world is full of people who are intent on killing you which tends to make you miserable and aggressive and you wont make the best decisions the next time you have a similar situation.
In other words, be assertive rather than submissive.

All good points, but I know from experience that drivers will instinctly swerve to the nearside if they suddenly think an oncoming vehicle is going to hit them, even if there's a vulnerable road user on that side, because I've been in that situation plenty of times.

So if, as the oncoming vehicle, I remain assertive about my road positioning even after they've twattishly started to pass the bike on their side of the road, there's a good chance they'll hit that bike. I've even been in this exact scenario, and seen the oncoming cyclist have to panic brake and try not to fall off as they're squeezed into parked cars.

If a cyclist in that situation was killed/seriously injured, part of me is going to be thinking 'yes, the driver was a complete cunt, but if I'd just moved left, they wouldn't be fucked up now,' and I'd also imagine that the authorities would go with the driver's assertion that "he was cycling in the middle of the road and forced me to swerve and hit the other cyclist", knowing how much they seem to favour absolving drivers over protecting cyclists.

The motorist passing the other cyclist is legally obliged to yield to you and pull back behind the other cyclist until you have passed and then complete the pass if safe to do so.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070314

So the law is on your side if you hold you line or even move out. Might not save you or the other cyclist from a trip to A&E though. So I reckon its totally situation dependent. I tend to slow down first and move into the door zone if I have to.

wave at the driver, gesticulating "call me", this is along the lines of mr_tom's suggestion.

+1 this works. Call me!