On a training ride this morning and came far too close to death as a lorry pulled back in mid overtake to avoid the pedestrain refuge in the middle of the road. Called the company involved who told me what a clean record the driver has and that after speaking to him, he had to pull back in.

I’m really not impressed with their responsense. How far should I take it? Let it go now or report to the police?

Report the incident to the police. They can offer “words of advice” to the driver without pursuing it formally.

In the past when I’ve felt properly threatened by a commercial driver and I’ve felt unhappy enough to phone their company, I’ve suggested that they can expect to get a follow up from the Police as I’d already reported the vehicle and driver for dangerous driving.
You could of course suggest to the company that it’s only by luck that their clean record driver isn’t currently waiting to be bailed from custody with an upcoming death by dangerous driving trial awaiting him.

I had a similar incident a few months back and the police said they couldn’t do anything as it was my word against his.

Don’t expect them to do much, unless you have witnesses/evidence.

I had a similar incident a few months back and the police said they couldn’t do anything as it was my word against his.

Copper mate of mine said it’s difficult to take any action if no-one is actually hurt, but that they would definitely have a word*

*kick him in for a bit**

**joke!

He ‘had to’?

He could have braked.

Thats a poor response from the company. I complained after being side swipped and then watching a female cyclist infront have a similar miss. the company took it very seriously.

I may be having a slow moment here, but what do they mean when they say he had to pull back in?

I had a similar incident a few months back and the police said they couldn’t do anything as it was my word against his.

I was told the same after I was knocked off my bike as both witnesses didn’t follow up on their offer to help. Mangled bike, drivers insurance paid up but police weren’t interested without witnesses.

Alternatively when I reported someone for driving in the bus lane and swearing/shouting at me they went round for a quiet word.

Same police force wildly differing results.

but what do they mean when they say he had to pull back in

Or he’d have hit the refuge. Of course what that actually means is he shouldn’t have started the overtake in the first place, **** 🙄

Or he’d have hit the refuge.

I figured that’s what he meant but I think billy may have been questioning the inference that onzadog’s safety was of lesser importance than not hitting the refuge or indeed the driver maintaining his speed.

I was of the same opinion DONK, hence the rolly eyes 🙂

So the company are happy that after he had placed himself in that position, his response was to try and take you out rather than risk damaging their property.

Cyclist’s life < bit of street furniture. Nice response.

Get them to put that in writing as it sounds like an admission to me.

I had a very similar near miss. Lorry overtook a bit close, then moved left while next to me to make room for an oncoming (~30mph) car. Zig zags painted on the road proved that rather than just being a helmet-cammer-close-pass thing, he genuinely was driving through the space that I’d been occupying two seconds earlier.

The car that ‘made’ him move over was visible before he started the overtake. I tried waving at him to say don’t overtake, he ignored it and went for it anyway. But when I contacted the company I got the same response. “He’s a very safe driver, he didn’t mean to scare you, he saw a situation developing and had to react to it”. 🙄
No! The f**knugget CREATED the situation. If he’d waited 5 seconds for the car to pass he could have overtaken me safely.

Police round here wouldn’t have been interested in it as I wasn’t dead.

I saw him on the same road a few months afterwards, recognised me and got out of his lorry to tell me he ought to smash my face in for reporting him to his company.

Reported again. “He was just a bit upset because you’d insulted his driving, he didn’t mean it” etc etc

Since you weren’t knocked off, learn from it.

The next time a lorry overtakes you and you can see that there is something that may make them swerve back in, brake. Observation works for all parties involved.

Spending effort thinking about this will keep you alive – everything else is irrelevant.

I hate to be the bringer of bad tidings but I think you lot need to wake up and smell the coffee. Nobody gives a **** about cyclists, even when they die. If you genuinely think that either plod or the company itself is going to do anything useful about you reporting a near miss then you’re clearly deluded.

I must emphasise that I wish it wasn’t so, and really hope you do get a result. But you need to be realistic.

Cyclist = subhuman in many people’s eyes.

I saw him on the same road a few months afterwards, recognised me and got out of his lorry to tell me he ought to smash my face in for reporting him to his company.

Which tells you he’s a bully and therefore probably knew full well what he was doing..

Back to OP. IANAL but you could try the trick you do when dealing with a bully at work. You email them noting down the conversation you’ve just had, ending with ‘please reply to confirm this is correct. I’ll assume no reply means you’re happy that this is a true account of our conversation” This really puts them under pressure as they have to admit what they said or accuse you of lying, which if you haven’t, they can’t do.

Wait a few days and then forward the email to the Police. As mentioned above – the owner acknowledging there was a close pass could give the Police something more than ‘just your word against his’ to go on… it’s an admission of sorts.

I’m continually shocked at how nasty some drivers are towards cyclists – to the point of injury and killing. It wasn’t like this when I was a kid in the 80s or even 10 years ago when I started road riding seriously…

Drivers tend not kill and injure cyclists because they are nasty. They do it because they are careless, distracted, breaking traffic laws etc etc, very few drivers vindictively go for cyclists. Especially not drivers who drive to pay their mortgage or feed their families.

In no way am I condoning the driving described in the examples above, but a victim mentality doesn’t help our cause.

Honestly. Just give it up, don’t bother as it will get you nowhere and just crack on with life.

Take it to the MAX!!! 8)

br, I did exactly that. It’s the reason I’m still here. I had to brake hard to make room for him coming back in.

As I used to tell my motorcycle students, x years of accident free driving don’t mean you’re a good driver, it just means you’ve been lucky enough to always drive near people who can accommodate your mistakes.

Doesn’t mean those mistakes should be ignored though.

Hopefully he will leave his shoes somewhere nearby but beyond that it is sadly unlikely to be worth pursuing to much further.

You could report to the police who will at least log it and you might also refer to the body that now issues goods vehicle operators licenses. The more these instances are logged and reported the more political imperative there MAY become to actually change something.

As for the upset because you have criticised his driving comment – it is exactly this culture that’s leading or contributing to the flipping awful standard of driving in the UK. Everyone is a driving god.

Maybe I am in the minority but if someone insults my driving or suggests I like self gratification then I take a long hard think about why they might have thought that and try and learn from it. Ten years ago I got insulted a lot more than I do now. I wonder if people have got nicer or maybe I have learned some better habits and skills through being prepared to confront my mistakes and errors and be honest with myself?

On a training ride this morning and came far too close to death as a lorry pulled back in mid overtake to avoid the pedestrain refuge in the middle of the road.

Driver should have gone to SPECSAVERS, for a free eye test.

Rule #1 of road cycling in the UK- People are ****.

I did report someone recently but only to annoy him to be honest.

The law will rarely help you, either sort it yourself immediately or forget about it.

Your employee got out of his vehicle and threatened to batter me for reporting his shit driving

“He was just a bit upset because you’d insulted his driving, he didn’t mean it”

that is ****ing outrageous. Together with their response to your original complaint and the OPs it just shows how some of these companies do not give a shit about cyclist safety.

As for the upset because you have criticised his driving comment – it is exactly this culture that’s leading or contributing to the flipping awful standard of driving in the UK. Everyone is a driving god.

The number of times I remonstrated reasonably with drivers because they have carved me up or pulled out in front of me who then give me a torrent of abuse for me pointing out they nearly smeared me across their car.
What happened to personal responsibility and a little bit of humility?

b r – Member
Since you weren’t knocked off, learn from it.

The next time a lorry overtakes you and you can see that there is something that may make them swerve back in, brake. Observation works for all parties involved.

Do you mind if I call you a **** idiot? Cos you’re a **** idiot.

i can sort of see where b r is coming from,
while a driver may cause an accident and be 100% blameworthy, ultimately it is the cyclist who will come off worst.
its look out for yourself, because nobody else will.

Like I said above, I did. The cause was 100% the lorry driver, the resolution was 100% me. The question is, should a blind eye be turned or should this be taken as an opportunity to improve the driver’s attitude/awareness?

If we don’t try, do we have any right to complain as standards continue to drop and the roads become more and more dangerous?

im a professional driver, i would be mortified if my company had the slightest reason to speak to me about my driving standards, so i would say complain.
put it this way, is the driver going to improve if nobody complains?

I don’t think this should be an argument about cycling defensively. I’m sure pretty much all of us do this to some extent or other.

Of course the OP should be complaining, and complaining again if the reply is unsatisfactory.

Do you mind if I call you a **** idiot? Cos you’re a **** idiot.

Maybe DezB, but I am an alive one – 30 years of two-wheeling (including 10 years of commuting by m/c in/around London) taught me to consider every other road user a fool.

And see subsequent posts.

Agree. That’s not excusing the driver, it’s just self-preservation. It seems that too many cyclists, motorists and pedestrians lack sufficient road sense to be able to anticipate the actions of other vehicles and road users.

I would have thought these things ought to be reported to the police. If the crime stats reflect no problem, nothing will change. I doubt they will do anything to this driver, mind.

I think there’s sense in both attitudes.

1) report dangerous and careless driving – there MUST be consequences if we’re to stop people being killed
2) Always assume all other road users are blind, stupid, psychopaths and ride accordingly. But when they turn out not to be, don’t forget to be polite 😀

Always assume all other road users are blind, stupid, psychopaths and ride accordingly. But when they turn out not to be, don’t forget to be polite

This is what I do. I’m rarely surprised. I’ve started an experiment – choose a type of car for the day, and wave in a friendly manner at oncoming cars of that type. Hopefully, they’ll think that the cyclist is someone they know, and think twice before making a stupid move. Hopefully…

Honestly. Just give it up, don’t bother as it will get you nowhere and just crack on with life.

“All that is required for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing”

Seriously, I feel that – on a lot of occasions – people are aggressive and rude because they feel that it will make the ‘victim’ back down, thereby getting the perpetrator off the hook.

If enough people report the same person, then things will eventually get sorted.

Were you wearing a headcam? If so, you probably caused the situation deliberately in order to be able to film it. Sadly, you aren’t really going to get anywhere unless you have a witness or video footage, so I’d recommend getting a camera if you want to follow up this sort of thing and even then it is luck of the draw as to whether the police accept it as evidence.

Why do women have the vote?

Why don’t black people have to take a different bus?

Why don’t they lock up homosexuals any more?

Honestly. Just give it up, don’t bother as it will get you nowhere and just crack on with life.

Because they didn’t do that.

If you want society to change its values then you have to be prepared to make some noise about it.