Black cab 90949

[Flyingfox]

Heading up Moorgate this evening on a Boris bike and had a nasty confrontation with a black cab.

For those who don't know Moorgate is currently a single lane going Northbound due to Thames Water works. It is a very narrow lane (bus width) so you cannot pass the traffic if a bus is in front of you and pretty difficult if it's a car. Anyway, I was between primary & secondary (to the right) as I was going to turn right into the road that leads to Liverpool Station and the traffic was nose to nose due to temporary lights. A black cab behind me kept trying to overtake even though there was no room and there was a bus in front of me!

He kept persisting in trying to overtake to the point he came dangerously close so when we stopped I turned around and asked what his problem was, at which point he went into an abusive tirade. I retorted (without any bad language) at which point his female passenger wound down the window and had her twopennyworth. I must admit I then became irate and told her in no uncertain terms to 'get laid'.

Lights then went green, and I proceeded to turn right, as did the cab, overtaking me at speed as soon as he could.

Is it worth me reporting him to the taxi board, and would they do anything if I did?

 

[xpc316e]

Yes, you ought to report him to the Cab Office. I don't know whether they'll do anything, but they'll certainly do nowt if you keep quiet.

 

[gaz]

Don't get me started on black cabs!

You can report it to tfl via the online contact form (there is a specific form for it). But do not expect anything to happen, the PCO are appalin at doing anything, a marker might be put on the drivers record but that gets lost after a few years.

 

[Joseph]

Is it worth me reporting him to the taxi board, and would they do anything if I did?

Yeah, report him - https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/pco/ seems to be the right link.

Had something similar up in Glasgow last night - taxi driver sitting on my back wheel, no room to overtake, overtook anyway and pulled straight into my path. Some quick braking and a honk of the airzound got me a several minute tirade from him about how I was a danger on the road and how being an ex-police officer and a IAM instructor his driving was unquestionably right. To do this tirade, he'd stopped in the middle of the road just around a blind corner...

Not sure what exactly they will do, but at a minimum he'll get pulled in for an interview, which may be sufficient to teach him to be more courteous in the future. If he's had complaints before it could result in the licensing board taking further action.

If you got the name of the taxi company it's also worth reporting there, I'm sure they don't take too kindly to their drivers starting slanging matches in the road, especially when they've got a fare on-board.

(and don't forget http://www.stop-smidsy.org.uk/ too!)

 

[Brains]

Is it worth me reporting him to the taxi board, and would they do anything if I did?

You may as well CC them in, but it's not their job to care. Their job is the legal licensing of the cabs, not policing the small minority of moronic drivers

The worst piece of driving involving deliberate endangerment of other road users I have ever seen in two decades of London cycle commuting took place about 10 years ago in Rotherhythe.
The cab office had multiple reports of the many offences carried out by a pair of cabbies over a 20 minute period and we found out later had simply binned the lot as it 'was not their problem'

 

[Joseph]

You may as well CC them in, but it's not their job to care. Their job is the legal licensing of the cabs, not policing the small minority of moronic drivers

The taxi licensing authority are required to suspend the licenses of anyone that can be shown to not be 'fit and proper' to hold a taxi license, to ensure public safety. To quote some of the relevant docs:

The purpose of the power of suspension is to protect the users of licenced vehicles and those who are driven by them and members of the public. It's purpose, therefore, is to prevent licences being given to or used by those who are not suitable people taking into account their driving record, their driving experience, their sobriety, mental and physical fitness, honesty, and that they are people who would not take advantage of their employment to abuse or assault passengers. In other words, the Council when concidering whether to suspend a licence or revoke it, is focusing on the impact of the licence holder's vehicle and character on members of the public, and in particular, but not exclusively on the potential users of those vehicles. This does not require any consideration of the personal circumstances, which are irrelevant, except perhaps in very rare cases to explain or excuse some conduct of the driver.

You'd hope that if they get a couple of complaints registered against them then at the very least the driver will get a severe questioning when he comes to renew his license.

 

[gaz]

The taxi licensing authority are required to suspend the licenses of anyone that can be shown to not be 'fit and proper' to hold a taxi license, to ensure public safety. To quote some of the relevant docs:

You'd hope that if they get a couple of complaints registered against them then at the very least the driver will get a severe questioning when he comes to renew his license.

You clearly haven't had any dealings with the PCO.

 

[Joseph]

You clearly haven't had any dealings with the PCO.

Yeah, never had to deal with the London one.

The Glasgow variant does appear to have a process that they do seem to follow, including getting drivers in to be interviewed. Whether any drivers have any ended up suspended I have no idea. I know the Glasgow Licensing folks have turned down drivers with traffic offences, and have had their verdicts upheld when people have appealed to the courts.

Reporting somewhere like http://www.stop-smidsy.org.uk/ may help - presumably they would look for multiple reports about the same vehicle (I'd hope so, anyway - not actually sure what they do with the data).

 

[gaz]

It wasn't a smidsy, so no point reporting it there.

 

[bryce]

Up to you but I wouldn't bother. By and large, I find taxi drivers to be the most aggressive and downright dangerous drivers in London. I know (and somewhat sympathise) that they have to put up with cyclists (some of whom are idiots as well) but often they're a menace.

So much so that I very rarely use them now, I always travel with Addison Lee instead (most of their drivers are fine although you get the odd one who's just arrived on the last ferry and is very erratic). Most of all they're trained to be polite and are well dressed, which goes a long way for me, unlike the usual taxi cab driver in ripped jeans, trainers and t-shirts, chatting to their mates on hands free. + they're usually cheaper and cars more comfortable...

 

[gaz]

Addison Lee better than black cabs?

My experiences has lead men o believe that Addison Lee as a whole has worse driving standards than black cabs. But the bad situations I have been in with black cab drivers are 10x as worse as with Addison Lee drivers.

 

[Flyingfox]

Thanks guys, I will report him as his attempts at trying to overtake me for no gain was nothing short of dangerous driving, and the closest I had ever come to being knocked off my bike.

 

[brodie]

The problem with https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/pco/taxi.aspx is that it's for the passengers to make the complaint. They even say "Please report poor driving or traffic offences to the police.".

 

[gaz]

The problem with https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/pco/taxi.aspx is that it's for the passengers to make the complaint. They even say "Please report poor driving or traffic offences to the police.".

Not strictly true. Yes the PCO will do nothing about the driving standards of taxi drivers. But members of the public can use it to report taxi drivers that break rules in the metropolitan Public carriage act.
Although good luck with actually getting them to do anything

 

[BentMikey]

Is it not better to report via Roadsafe, as they were asking for this to deal with PCO inaction, IIRC? They might no longer do anything without video/witnesses though, given the response to Clarion.