What started out as a typical Clarkson rant on Twitter has spilled out onto our forum, with a bit of interesting perspective from the other road user involved.
It turns out that the rider in question is our forum user Itsme, here’s the alternative view…
“Right then, from the horses mouth so to speak…….
I was riding home from work (this is one of my regular routes) down Sloane Avenue in Chelsea towards Sloane Square. As I approached this island at the junction of Ixworth Street, a Range Rover over took me, because he had to veer left to avoid hitting the island I got pushed towards the kerb.
Sloane Ave
There was no point to this pass as there was slow moving traffic a little bit further down the road.
Now I was pretty cheesed off with this and most of you will know a close pass starts pumping adrenaline. Sloane Ave is a nice flat road and it’s really easy to keep up with the trafic and just past the island I was keeping pace with the Range Rover, the driver was looking in his N/S door mirror giving the ‘stare’. I admit that I was fairly vocal at this point and shouted ‘What? you f*****g c**k, f****** knobstick’ not much of an insult but I was too riled up to think straight.
As we approached the junction with Cadogan Street the traffic started slowing so I moved to the middle of the road to overtake. As I passed the Range Rover the window started to come down and a few words were exchanged by both of us as I passed (I can’t remember what, I don’t think it was as bad as the first reaction though as I tend to calm down fairly quickly). I then kept up with the traffic for the rest of Sloane Ave, and then in to Draycott Place which is quite narrow for a two way road.
Draycott Place
Keeping up with the traffic in Draycott Place is easy as well, and as I approached the crossing at the end someone was waiting to cross so I stopped (I always do this, and stop at red lights as well believe it or not!), before it, and not on the crossing as some have suggested.
The junction
I was turning right at this junction to go down to Sloane Square, so as I moved off I was positioning myself for this.
At the junction I looked behind me and saw Jeremy Clarkson just pulling up behind me with his head and arm out of the window, holding his phone and shouting ‘gotcha’ and looking well smug with himself. He was driving, and there was nobody else in the car. I got off my bike and pushed it back to his car and pointed out that he was overtaking me going in to a hazard, and made me change course. He just kept shouting increduously ‘you were four feet from the kerb, but you were four feet from the kerb, I’m a cyclist and you were four feet from the kerb!’.
After a couple of attempts to explain to him why I thought he was wrong I gave up as he just kept shouting, I then rode off. Throughout this exchange I stayed reasonably calm.
At no time did I abuse any other road user or pedestrian on my journey home.
What JC’s pic on twitter doesn’t show is how much traffic was about at the time. Before I stopped at the crossing the junction was busy, and the traffic was queing all the way down to Sloane Square. I was probably well on my way to Parliament Square by the time JC got through Sloane Square. The ambulance wasn’t parked either, it was moving.”
From this forum thread… http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/jeremy-clarkson-continues-to-be-a-moron
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Anyone point out that it’s illegal to use a phone (camera) whilst driving….;-)
Highway code needs changing. Drivers need educating on what is legal for cyclists to do and to understand why cyclists do it. If fail to get any of these questions right, they should fail their test. As half the problem is drivers think cyclists should never be in the middle or never filter.
Why do guys like Jeremy Clarkson get held up as heroes?When it’s obvious they are a complete tit! Not only this but the way he treated the original Stig and how he treated the public footpath that went along the edge of his estate, trying to close it and just being a pain. Reminds me of Jimmy Saville in that he headed a popular show and was seen as a hero. In reality what he was like outside the show and off screen was not good.
Clarkson only has a face that size, so it fits a cricket bat perfectly.
What does beggar belief is a motorist passing at a traffic island forcing the cyclist to move, there are road signs at near Peebles advising motorists not to do this. I thought these were laughable as it seems common sense, obviously not!