Black cab bully

[LOGAN 5]

Cycling in the bus lane with this maniac cab driver behind flashing his lights and blaring his horn for me to get out of his way. I didn't as there wasn't enough room for him to pass properly so the abuse continued for a few hundred yeards.

He finally gets past and shouts some abuse. I overtake him, naturally as he gets stuck in traffic then he overtakes again and sounds his horn.

I even catch up with him miles later - coz cabs are so fast in London aren't they, not - and he yells again.

What a moron. He's going to drive round London all day with that attitude. Why do they act this way when driving?

 

[ianrauk]

Don't you know Logan, Black cabbies are the Kings of the road, the cabbie Knights in shining cabbie armour. None shall pass and get in thine way. But one day poor upset cabbie will be sat in his cab finding himself suffering from a coronary whilst eating his breakfast in a bun and reading his copy of the Sun. You will just keep cycling by....

 

[HobbesChoice]

I find black cab drivers are either great or an absolute nightmare. The only deliberately intimidating road problems I've had have been with a couple of black cab drivers, one deliberately getting past and then waiting for me 3 times in an effort to clip me!

Like Ian so rightly says, these aggressive ones will be suffering from a coronary while we cycle on by.

I hope it did ruin your journey too much though!

 

[Spinney]

Did he have a passenger?

If I was a passenger in such a cab I would certainly report that kind of behaviour to the police and/or the taxi company/authority.

As well as telling him to stop so I could get out now...

 

[upsidedown]

We don't get many black cabs by us. The ones that are tend to be from the airport and look very shiny and expensive and are driven pretty well.

Minicabs on the other hand.........

 

[dellzeqq]

Cycling in the bus lane with this maniac cab driver behind flashing his lights and blaring his horn for me to get out of his way. I didn't as there wasn't enough room for him to pass properly so the abuse continued for a few hundred yeards.

He finally gets past and shouts some abuse. I overtake him, naturally as he gets stuck in traffic then he overtakes again and sounds his horn.

I even catch up with him miles later - coz cabs are so fast in London aren't they, not - and he yells again.

What a moron. He's going to drive round London all day with that attitude. Why do they act this way when driving?

this used to happen when the Babe and I rode together in bus lanes. I would be riding in front and she would get the abuse. Now, when I hear them come up behind, we go two abreast. Surprisingly (not) this calms them down.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to slow to a stop, and then to turn around to ask what the problem is. Some rather longwinded explanation of why you are there should then be undertaken so as to clarify things for them... not that I'd condone slowing such a fool down more than you would have done simply by you being there, oh no, not I.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I need to get from A to B????

I know, I'll hire a black cab, driven by a maniac, ensuring my safe arrival and the well-being of other road users.

Knobber.

The driver of the cab, that is!

 

[StuartG]

Driving a cab in London is pretty awful. There really is only two ways to cope. Be philosophical (and share the philosophy with your fare), relaxed and professional. Or get a high on the confrontation, getting one over on the other guy. In other words pointless aggression.

And both will behave with impeccable decorum when being tested so I guess getting rid of the maniacs is not easy. I mean even they are professional enough to know how to avoid getting points on their licences.

I feel sorry for the good taxi guys/esses who have to watch and be screwed by the lunatic fringe everyday.

 

[joolsybools]

Driving a cab in London is pretty awful. There really is only two ways to cope. Be philosophical (and share the philosophy with your fare), relaxed and professional. Or get a high on the confrontation, getting one over on the other guy. In other words pointless aggression.

And both will behave with impeccable decorum when being tested so I guess getting rid of the maniacs is not easy. I mean even they are professional enough to know how to avoid getting points on their licences.

I feel sorry for the good taxi guys/esses who have to watch and be screwed by the lunatic fringe everyday.

Very good point, the minority giving the majority a bad name. Or should that be majority giving the minority a bad name? And we cyclists bemoan the same in our fraternity.

 

[l33rec]

You could take the Hackney plate number ideally a photo and report it to the Public Carriage office it probably wont achieve anything but these type of people are nearly always repeat offender s so if everyone complains It might have have an effect ...

Of course tapping on his window and telling him you work for the public carriage office and his problems are just beginning will although a fib spoil his day for sure !

The worst thing Ken Livingstone did was bow down to the cabbies giving them useage of the bus lanes etc a solid white line is a solid white line yet they are forever zig zagging in and out when they get stuck behind a bus !

 

[hackbike 666]

Most of the time they are ok but there's always one.

 

[Origamist]

You could take the Hackney plate number ideally a photo and report it to the Public Carriage office it probably wont achieve anything but these type of people are nearly always repeat offender s so if everyone complains It might have have an effect ...

Of course tapping on his window and telling him you work for the public carriage office and his problems are just beginning will although a fib spoil his day for sure !

The worst thing Ken Livingstone did was bow down to the cabbies giving them useage of the bus lanes etc a solid white line is a solid white line yet they are forever zig zagging in and out when they get stuck behind a bus !

The PCO are still in denial that black cabs in bus lanes present a risk to cyclists if they choose to use them like a parallel rat-run in order to avoid queues.

Thankfully, TFL have mooted the idea of increased training for black cab drivers with respect to bus lane operation and best practice.

 

[l33rec]

Also be aware that all tfl buses have 24 hr cctv one of the cameras looks directly forward so if a bus was behind you and the cab was in front of the bus Its height would give it a good view of the road (camera mounted next to bus no above driver ) record the reg / bus no ( bus number normally similar to dt104 dp221 and signwritten front rear and side ) then report to the police and tfl who can arrange to have the cctv downloaded from its hard drive.

It has to be the police who request it as it is covered by the data protection act and other liberal minded nonsense.

 

[Molecule Man]

The PCO are still in denial that black cabs in bus lanes present a risk to cyclists if they choose to use them like a parallel rat-run in order to avoid queues.

Thankfully, TFL have mooted the idea of increased training for black cab drivers with respect to bus lane operation and best practice.

Now I'm generally well-disposed to taxi drivers, but there seem to be an awful lot of them who have this bizarre attitude about bus lanes, that because they are allowed to drive in them, they damn well will. Many times I've had a taxi squeeze past me with centometres to spare, even though the next door lane is empty.

And today I had one who managed to successfully enhance the streotype of cabbies as aggressive, mouthy, obnoxious gits. He was parked halfway on the pavement, perpendicular to the road, with his reverse lights on, so I stopped to let him reverse out. He did, then started shouting aggressively at me to get out of the way and let him back up further, even though there was nowhere sensible for him to go. And I thought I was doing him a favour, bacause most other road users would have just charged past him so he couldn't move at all.