Dave Davenport
Guru
- Location
- Hampshire
Any comments on this before I send it?
Good afternoon,
I am contacting you to make a complaint about the driving and attitude of one of your drivers.
At 9.08am today I was cycling along Leigh road, Eastleigh between the town centre and the crossroads with Passfield & Woodside avenues, heading towards Chandlers Ford. Despite there being a clear road ahead one of your lorries passed very close to me when overtaking barely moving over at all despite there being ample room to do so, there are a number of potholes on that stretch of road and had I hit one as he was passing could easily have ended up under the rear wheels.
Your driver stopped at the lights in the right hand lane at the crossroads and I stopped just in front of him on the left. I looked up at him and indicated that I thought he’d passed me too closely by holding my hand up with finger and thumb close together and my other hand in a palm up gesture in a pretty obvious ‘questioning’ way. His response was to point to the shared path on the other side of the road and indicate that he thought I should have been on there, he seemed to find this exchange very amusing with a big grin on his face. When I questioned whether he had deliberately close passed me because I was not on the shared path his response was to shrug his shoulders in an exaggerated way and have a good chuckle to himself. He responded in the same way when I indicated that I would be contacting his company.
I am experienced cyclist (and driver) and am registered with the DoT as a qualified cycling instructor, I don’t go around looking for conflict with other road users and am perfectly aware that we all make mistakes. Had your driver acknowledged that he had made a poor overtake on this occasion I would just given him a nod and forgotten it.
I’m not looking to have anyone dragged over the coals but I would be grateful if you could remind your employee of his responsibilities as a professional driver of large vehicles and suggest he acquaints himself with rules 61, 163 & 212 of the Highway Code.
Thank you for your attention.
Good afternoon,
I am contacting you to make a complaint about the driving and attitude of one of your drivers.
At 9.08am today I was cycling along Leigh road, Eastleigh between the town centre and the crossroads with Passfield & Woodside avenues, heading towards Chandlers Ford. Despite there being a clear road ahead one of your lorries passed very close to me when overtaking barely moving over at all despite there being ample room to do so, there are a number of potholes on that stretch of road and had I hit one as he was passing could easily have ended up under the rear wheels.
Your driver stopped at the lights in the right hand lane at the crossroads and I stopped just in front of him on the left. I looked up at him and indicated that I thought he’d passed me too closely by holding my hand up with finger and thumb close together and my other hand in a palm up gesture in a pretty obvious ‘questioning’ way. His response was to point to the shared path on the other side of the road and indicate that he thought I should have been on there, he seemed to find this exchange very amusing with a big grin on his face. When I questioned whether he had deliberately close passed me because I was not on the shared path his response was to shrug his shoulders in an exaggerated way and have a good chuckle to himself. He responded in the same way when I indicated that I would be contacting his company.
I am experienced cyclist (and driver) and am registered with the DoT as a qualified cycling instructor, I don’t go around looking for conflict with other road users and am perfectly aware that we all make mistakes. Had your driver acknowledged that he had made a poor overtake on this occasion I would just given him a nod and forgotten it.
I’m not looking to have anyone dragged over the coals but I would be grateful if you could remind your employee of his responsibilities as a professional driver of large vehicles and suggest he acquaints himself with rules 61, 163 & 212 of the Highway Code.
Thank you for your attention.