Haulage Trucks

[yorkshiregoth]

Had a potentially very serious incident this morning.

I was cycling down Great West Road doing 36mph (it was downhill), and I was riding in primary position, when from the junction just after PC World a certain haulage company truck came straight out of a junction. I applied the brakes, but as it was wet I started slipping. Luckily I managed to just stop in time, the truck carried on oblivious. I caught up with him at the next lights and very politely remonstrated with the driver, he came out with the usual "Well you should have been on the cycle lane" crap so he obviously saw me. He then started blasting his air horn, then one of his colleagues in another haulage truck came on my right hand side and started sounding his air horn too. Both drivers then started to move in towards me with me in the middle like a sandwich. I then decided to get out of that situation and got on the pavement near GSK. My heart rate shot up from 180 to 240 in this brief altercation. I had to sit down for a couple of minutes before I could continue.

I have made a report to the police, as I was able to get the Index plate of one of the trucks. Shame I didn't have my helmet cam, as I am having problems with it holding a full charge. I spoke to the haulage company foreman on my way home and he sounded very apologetic and that he will also look into it.

 

[magnatom]

That sounds really nasty! There is NO excuse for that sort of behaviour. !

Lets hope the police take this seriously. Do you know if there is an CCTV in the area?

 

[Arch]

I expect both those truck drivers have atrophied willies, and wives who spend more time at bingo than at home.

Very nasty. I hope you get the follow up that deserves.

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

Hello All,


Speaking as a HGV driver I must apologise for this pair of halfwits, we hold a professional advanced licence and should behave a lot better that most road users, you expect idiot driving from car drivers ( or in my experience I do) but not from HGV drivers.

Part of my training that I have found useful is you have to drive well yourself but also expect to protect others from their own stupid driving tricks as well, In a cyclists/motorcyclists case this is reversed into protecting yourself from others stupid driving tricks.
This means when someone does do something daft you have to say to yourself what an idiot , but make sure you keep it to yourself otherwise getting into an altercation with another driver just leads to more bad driving and possibly a more dangerous situation. This is what happened to yourself, although not your fault in any way keeping your thoughts to yourself would have stopped the second incident happening. Believe me I know from experience that this is easier said than done when someone has nearly just killed you!

Another bit of advice I was given when doing my motorcycle training with a couple of police instructors some years ago was just think all the time that every other person on the road is trying to kill you.


All that said and done I hope something is done about these idiots but I very much doubt it, the police have no interest unless you did actually get killed and only then because you would have affected their figures!

 

[Riding in Circles]

I have to say that in Kent, I find truck drivers to be the best road users to be around when cycling, both foreign and British trucks act in a courteous and safe manner in my experience, in this incident you basically had your life threatened by these thugs.

 

[fossyant]

That's terrible - I too generally find HGV drivers good, it's the brainless tools in transit vans that are idiots......

At least push for an apology.....if nothing else, OK poor driving to pull out - selfish, but to then try and sandwich you is shocking......

 

[wafflycat]

Yes, that was *bad* what happened to you. I thank the stars that where I am, on mostly narrow country lanes with poor sight lines, that the HGV drivers are for the most part complete gentlemen and knights of the road.

 

[Night Train]

I would, and have done in the past, pushed for a sacking. I have also got a few sacked too. There is no excuse for that sort of driving.

The company should be keen to get rid of drivers like that especially as they are driving that badly with the company's name all over the truck! There are plenty of good truck drivers looking for work that there would be no reason for a haulage company to keep bad ones.

I'm glad it didn't escalate to contact, though it must have been scary enough as it is.

 

[Mr Pig]

It's those big earth/hardcore movers that charge between sites that are the biggest danger.

Like the ones that batter past me every day coming from the quarry just up the road! Had a few close calls :0(

 

[Night Train]

Ahhh, 8 wheel tipper trucks. I was once told by a trucker that they ranked even lower in the truckers pecking order then skip lorries.

 

[Night Train]

They also tend to leave mud, muck and hardcore all over the road as they go.

 

[Maz]

That's just terrible, yorkshiregoth. I don't think I would've done anything different to what you did. I hope you get at least a formal apology from the company.

 

[fossyant]

Guy's the 8 wheelers are usually Utility trucks (gas/water/elec) delivering hard core to replace what's been dug up, and yes they are on a schedule....

Do report any silly drivers, cos the Contractor won't be happy - i.e. all Utility works are subcontracted, and the main companies like their 'figures'

These 8 wheelers are big machines - at my old job we had about 10 delivered - talking £80k of investment for a company each - so driving like a twit is punished...