mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
I'm writing this email to complain in the strongest possible terms about the life threatening actions and aggressive behaviour of one of your drivers.
On Monday 3rd March 2014, at approximately 9:00am I was cycling to work North on the A19, Fulford Road in York when I was overtaken by one of your trucks. The place he chose to overtake me was at a pedestrian refuge/traffic island at the junction of Heslington road. He passed me so closely - and so fast - that I feared for my life.
I ride my bike or drive on this road every day. When I'm driving it wouldn't cross my mind to overtake a cyclist at that point, there simply isn't enough room for a vehicle to overtake safely.
The only conclusion that I could draw from this overtake was that the driver had insufficient concern for my safety. He deliberately overtook me, when holding back and waiting for me to get through the junction would have added no more than a couple of seconds to his journey. It was an unnecessary and dangerous. If he knew what he was doing when he overtook me he took a risk with my safety which is unacceptable. If he didn't know that he'd endangered me when he overtook me then he's incompetent and shouldn't be on the road.
Lots of people that I care about ride their bikes on that road - as they are entitled to do. My wife, my kids, our neighbours and their kids. I was pretty peed off by your driver's dangerous manoeuvre but I can hardly bring myself to imagine how I'd feel if he'd done the same to my daughter.
It's a busy road, and the quality of driving being what it is we are regularly endangered by idiot drivers. The police don't seem very present. But I don't suppose that these issues are unique to the A19. Nonetheless, we've got to the point now where we have, as a family, decided that we're going to report any drivers who endanger our safety. I'm a dad of four, people need me alive.
So when I got to Iceland I turned in, got off my bike in front of the lorry and took pictures of the number plate of the truck and the driver. My intention was to identify him and the truck and report him to Iceland Head Office and/or the Police.
This is where the story gets 'interesting'. The driver jumped out of the cab and ran towards me saying - 'why are you taking pictures, what are you effing doing'?. I told him that I was taking a picture because I intended to make a formal complaint about his driving. 'What? I didn't do anything! - I told him that he'd passed me dangerously closely - to which his response was 'Did I knock you off?' No!' The implication was obvious, he can pass as closely as he likes to cyclists, and so long as he doesn't actually knock them off he's not done anything wrong!
At this point he got very aggressive and kept walking towards me - right in my face, nose to nose. I was telling him to get out out of my face, to back off, and still he kept advancing on me. Telling me I wasn't allowed to take pictures of his vehicle. Five or six times I said 'Back-off, get out of my face', and at this point I was shouting as the situation seemed to be escalating and I wanted people in the car park, potential witnesses, to hear what I was saying. I had parked my bike and I was moving backwards around it and I decided that I wasn't going to walk backwards into moving traffic and pushed him away with two hands on his shoulders.
This seemed to be what he was waiting for, because he immediately accused me of assaulting him!!
I walked into the store with the intention of reporting his behaviour to the manager, this was a driver who had endangered my life, behaved extremely aggressively and then accused me of assault. I was met with a member of staff who should have had the gumption to tell him to shut up and or go away. And who, when I asked if she could provide me with details about how to make a formal complaint against a member of staff was unable to give me an answer.
I refuse to tolerate dangerous driving or aggressive behaviour any where near me by your employees. It's completely unacceptable. You're a national company. You have responsibilities to the people in whose cities you operate. Simple ones, like not endangering them.
I've made one or two complaints to driver's employers over the years and I've never had a satisfactory response, I get a grovelling letter, a promise to interview and reprimand if deemed necessary. And that's usually the last I hear of it. Your response to this letter will determine whether or not I report the two incidents to the Police.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Mick Allan
On Monday 3rd March 2014, at approximately 9:00am I was cycling to work North on the A19, Fulford Road in York when I was overtaken by one of your trucks. The place he chose to overtake me was at a pedestrian refuge/traffic island at the junction of Heslington road. He passed me so closely - and so fast - that I feared for my life.
I ride my bike or drive on this road every day. When I'm driving it wouldn't cross my mind to overtake a cyclist at that point, there simply isn't enough room for a vehicle to overtake safely.
The only conclusion that I could draw from this overtake was that the driver had insufficient concern for my safety. He deliberately overtook me, when holding back and waiting for me to get through the junction would have added no more than a couple of seconds to his journey. It was an unnecessary and dangerous. If he knew what he was doing when he overtook me he took a risk with my safety which is unacceptable. If he didn't know that he'd endangered me when he overtook me then he's incompetent and shouldn't be on the road.
Lots of people that I care about ride their bikes on that road - as they are entitled to do. My wife, my kids, our neighbours and their kids. I was pretty peed off by your driver's dangerous manoeuvre but I can hardly bring myself to imagine how I'd feel if he'd done the same to my daughter.
It's a busy road, and the quality of driving being what it is we are regularly endangered by idiot drivers. The police don't seem very present. But I don't suppose that these issues are unique to the A19. Nonetheless, we've got to the point now where we have, as a family, decided that we're going to report any drivers who endanger our safety. I'm a dad of four, people need me alive.
So when I got to Iceland I turned in, got off my bike in front of the lorry and took pictures of the number plate of the truck and the driver. My intention was to identify him and the truck and report him to Iceland Head Office and/or the Police.
This is where the story gets 'interesting'. The driver jumped out of the cab and ran towards me saying - 'why are you taking pictures, what are you effing doing'?. I told him that I was taking a picture because I intended to make a formal complaint about his driving. 'What? I didn't do anything! - I told him that he'd passed me dangerously closely - to which his response was 'Did I knock you off?' No!' The implication was obvious, he can pass as closely as he likes to cyclists, and so long as he doesn't actually knock them off he's not done anything wrong!
At this point he got very aggressive and kept walking towards me - right in my face, nose to nose. I was telling him to get out out of my face, to back off, and still he kept advancing on me. Telling me I wasn't allowed to take pictures of his vehicle. Five or six times I said 'Back-off, get out of my face', and at this point I was shouting as the situation seemed to be escalating and I wanted people in the car park, potential witnesses, to hear what I was saying. I had parked my bike and I was moving backwards around it and I decided that I wasn't going to walk backwards into moving traffic and pushed him away with two hands on his shoulders.
This seemed to be what he was waiting for, because he immediately accused me of assaulting him!!
I walked into the store with the intention of reporting his behaviour to the manager, this was a driver who had endangered my life, behaved extremely aggressively and then accused me of assault. I was met with a member of staff who should have had the gumption to tell him to shut up and or go away. And who, when I asked if she could provide me with details about how to make a formal complaint against a member of staff was unable to give me an answer.
I refuse to tolerate dangerous driving or aggressive behaviour any where near me by your employees. It's completely unacceptable. You're a national company. You have responsibilities to the people in whose cities you operate. Simple ones, like not endangering them.
I've made one or two complaints to driver's employers over the years and I've never had a satisfactory response, I get a grovelling letter, a promise to interview and reprimand if deemed necessary. And that's usually the last I hear of it. Your response to this letter will determine whether or not I report the two incidents to the Police.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Mick Allan
But I take your point.
