Tales from today's commute....

[fossyant]

SMIDGAF

Within yards of my house. Offerton Sand and Gravel driver shot round junction at bottom of my road on wrong side. Staring at a twin rear axel ain't funny. Took emergency action and shouted 'wow wow fxxxx hell'

Driver carried on, poked head out looked back 'fark off you knob head'.

Cycled round corner, thought not having this. Turned round. Driver saw me. He stopped and reversed at me. I dived at pavement. As he drew level, swung cab towards pavement.

Let's say a fowl mouthed torrent started and an equally fruity exchange started. As he was doing this he was revving and making the truck jump forward and back.

A concerned neighbour shouted at him. He then drove off 100 yards to deliver.

I apologised to neighbour about language but she said she was getting concerned about his behaviour.

Anyway Mr Driver, your bosses know and unless they phone by lunch I will be reporting you to the cops and bye bye HGV licence. Your bosses were concerned about reputation as you are a local company. I also mentioned the lot of you were driving too fast on the housing estate

 

[Origamist]

Sounds like a nut-job, fossy. Glad you're OK. If you get only platitudes from the company, write to North West Traffic Commissioner: https://www.gov.uk/government/people/beverley-bell

 

[L Q]

SMIDGAF

Within yards of my house. Offerton Sand and Gravel driver shot round junction at bottom of my road on wrong side. Staring at a twin rear axel ain't funny. Took emergency action and shouted 'wow wow fxxxx hell'

Driver carried on, poked head out looked back 'fark off you knob head'.

Cycled round corner, thought not having this. Turned round. Driver saw me. He stopped and reversed at me. I dived at pavement. As he drew level, swung cab towards pavement.

Let's say a fowl mouthed torrent started and an equally fruity exchange started. As he was doing this he was revving and making the truck jump forward and back.

A concerned neighbour shouted at him. He then drove off 100 yards to deliver.

I apologised to neighbour about language but she said she was getting concerned about his behaviour.

Anyway Mr Driver, your bosses know and unless they phone by lunch I will be reporting you to the cops and bye bye HGV licence. Your bosses were concerned about reputation as you are a local company. I also mentioned the lot of you were driving too fast on the housing estate

That's just shocking, I will bet his boss's do zilch about it though as they will get regular calls like this.

Agree with Origamist write to the NW traffic commissioner, I know that they are very interested in skip companies.

 

[Heigue'r]

Can finally post on this thread....yay!!thanks to the lady cyclist that guided me back to cs3 after I missed a turn to follow it round somewhere around limehouse and ended up in 3 lanes of traffic...very much appreciated!!!
If anyone saw someone nearly have a clipless moment outside one of the gates to hyde park.....it was me...there were plenty of cyclists about and im sure it didn't go un-noticed...my own stupidity,saw my PM at the front of the queue in his little smartcare with his window down,perfect opportunity to scare the be-jesus out of him I though.Filterd safely through the traffic to come alongside his open window,unclipped the left leg and hand out to give him a friendly scare,I was going a bit too fast and off the saddle with all my weight on the right foot,pulled on the front brake to scrub off a bit of my 5mph pace and the rear lifted,no chance to unclip right as all my weight was on it,just managed to grab on through his window and steady myself.Very embarrassing,Very stupid and a bit of a tint to an otherwise throughly enjoyable experience.

 

[summerdays]

Can finally post on this thread....yay!!thanks to the lady cyclist that guided me back to cs3 after I missed a turn to follow it round somewhere around limehouse and ended up in 3 lanes of traffic...very much appreciated!!!
If anyone saw someone nearly have a clipless moment outside one of the gates to hyde park.....it was me...there were plenty of cyclists about and im sure it didn't go un-noticed...my own stupidity,saw my PM at the front of the queue in his little smartcare with his window down,perfect opportunity to scare the be-jesus out of him I though.Filterd safely through the traffic to come alongside his open window,unclipped the left leg and hand out to give him a friendly scare,I was going a bit too fast and off the saddle with all my weight on the right foot,pulled on the front brake to scrub off a bit of my 5mph pace and the rear lifted,no chance to unclip right as all my weight was on it,just managed to grab on through his window and steady myself.Very embarrassing,Very stupid and a bit of a tint to an otherwise throughly enjoyable experience.

Always best to have that sort of moment witnessed by someone you know

 

[donnydave]

There;s a bit of cycle path on my commute that I've been ignoring for 6 years and every couple of months some one will try and "educate" me. Today it was a bloke in a grey golf who waited for 3 oncoming cars but couldn't be bothered to wait 5 more seconds for the fourth and last car before a nice long clear stretch. I had already seen him and assumed a stronger position but he was having none of it, I tried to wave him back whislt steering towards the kerb to get some more room but had to bring my arm/elbow in to avoid his wing mirror.
I glanced across at his passenger window and was surprised to see a 7 or 8 year old child staring open mouthed, and a slightly older child in the back doing similar.
50 yards or so later at the red light , I saw his window roll down. I commended him on what an excellent example he was setting to his kids. He then said something like "cycle path not wide enough for you?" but I just spoke over him and talked to his kids instead. Amazingly my brain managed to marshal what I consider a reasonable response, I said to the kids "remember this important lesson, your dad isn't always right, in fact some times he's an idiot". Not the most incisive wit ever recorded by man, I admit but normally the perfect thing to say doesn't occur to me for about 2-3 days so I was very pleased that my brain had managed to come up with something fairly relevant for the situation. The best thing was that the smaller of the children, still wide eyed and open mouthed turned to look at her dad with the dawning light of comprehension in her eyes. Made me chuckle, I hope I've sown the seeds of dissent and the kids rise majestically to crush their evil and stupid parent overlord

Fight the power!

 

[martinclive]

There;s a bit of cycle path on my commute that I've been ignoring for 6 years and every couple of months some one will try and "educate" me. Today it was a bloke in a grey golf who waited for 3 oncoming cars but couldn't be bothered to wait 5 more seconds for the fourth and last car before a nice long clear stretch. I had already seen him and assumed a stronger position but he was having none of it, I tried to wave him back whislt steering towards the kerb to get some more room but had to bring my arm/elbow in to avoid his wing mirror.
I glanced across at his passenger window and was surprised to see a 7 or 8 year old child staring open mouthed, and a slightly older child in the back doing similar.
50 yards or so later at the red light , I saw his window roll down. I commended him on what an excellent example he was setting to his kids. He then said something like "cycle path not wide enough for you?" but I just spoke over him and talked to his kids instead. Amazingly my brain managed to marshal what I consider a reasonable response, I said to the kids "remember this important lesson, your dad isn't always right, in fact some times he's an idiot". Not the most incisive wit ever recorded by man, I admit but normally the perfect thing to say doesn't occur to me for about 2-3 days so I was very pleased that my brain had managed to come up with something fairly relevant for the situation. The best thing was that the smaller of the children, still wide eyed and open mouthed turned to look at her dad with the dawning light of comprehension in her eyes. Made me chuckle, I hope I've sown the seeds of dissent and the kids rise majestically to crush their evil and stupid parent overlord

Fight the power!

That's now up there with my favorite from @MisterStan when squeezed by a Boxter driver he then caught up at the lights.........
Mr Stan - can you give me some more space next time please
Driver - can't you afford a car
Mr Stan - can't you afford a proper Porsche
Driver - ....................................................................

 

[fossyant]

That's just shocking, I will bet his boss's do zilch about it though as they will get regular calls like this.

Agree with Origamist write to the NW traffic commissioner, I know that they are very interested in skip companies.

Might just do that. The General Manager has phoned me. He's not happy and driving aside the driver shouldn't be talking to people like that as it ruins the reputation of the local family firm.

 

[donnydave]

That's now up there with my favorite from @MisterStan when squeezed by a Boxter driver he then caught up at the lights.........
Mr Stan - can you give me some more space next time please
Driver - can't you afford a car
Mr Stan - can't you afford a proper Porsche
Driver - ....................................................................

Reminds me of when I was witness to an unknown hero challenging the +40yr old male driver of a newish fiat 500 - "its nice that your mum lets you drive her car"

 

[fossyant]

The general manager phoned back and the driver has admitted he was out of order. He's has had a reminder about what they expect from their drivers and thanked me for telling them as they don't accept that standard of behaviour or driving.

I told him to tell the driver I'm not taking it further but to let him know I said he was bang out of order. The manager said to not be swayed by his call and if I wanted to report it to the police then do so.

No need to take it further.

 

[J1888]

Tube strike, lots of odd driving and poor cycling...well, a little more than usual.

Waiting to turn left on to Fleet Street, said to cyclist who pulled up next to my left, bang on the kerb, I said at the red light 'I'm going left here mate'...silence. Said it again and he looked at me like I was an alien and mumbled 'fine.'

Maybe he'd rather I'd have left-hooked him?!

 

[fossyant]

Colleagues wished me luck going home. Think they noticed the physical shaking this morning. Nowt to report going home.

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

1st ride in some new shorts today, and they tick the box in big way. Would of liked a little more time but foolishly I sat down on the sofa and thought I'd just close my eyes for 5 minutes, meaning I didn't leave until gone 06:10. Another milestone achieved on the ride in yesterday morning, 9000 miles for the year passed, my end of year target of 12'000 well in sight now.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Very pleasant ride in , ran into The guy I used to commute with a lot 3 or 4 years ago, he gave up after 3 hit and runs, he was waiting at a bus stop in Harold wood .
We had a chat . He has given up cycling for gym work and rugby, though intends to start cycle training again around march as he has been persuaded to do the London 100 for Charity next year, he wants me to do it with him and help train his group from work as it was me who dragged him around his first sportive many years ago and I am the only semi serious cyclist he knows.
At the moment I have no intention of doing it as he will be so much slower than me with the lay off he has had, I don’t think it will be a huge amount of fun dragging a load of warehouse staff around the lanes of Essex to get them fit enough to do a 100 miles.
Nobody to play with and no numpties.

 

[Origamist]

Bit chilly first thing, but warmed up after a few miles. Legs felt wooden and was happy to take it easy.

One poor pass out of a 150, so not too bad.

Tried to download my quick commute yesterday morning, and it was stuck on the Garmin's internal memory, not the SD Card. No one will believe me now...!