What was I supposed to do?

[mattybain]

Had a nasty incident on Bury Old Road last night, for those that don't know the road it is infested with those bendy buses which I think are being taken out of service in London due to being too dangerous.

I was cycling up a long slow incline when I have to stop at lights. A bus comes behind me and thankfully pulls out to give me lots of room. "Great" I think a considerate First Bus driver. How wrong could I be?

We set off and I get away much quicker than the bus and assume a strong primary due to a parked van, however he is soon overtaking me, giving me lots of room.

The bus gets halfway to overtaking me, my bike is in line with the bendy bit, when he starts to pull in sharply and indicate that he is going to stop. As the gap get's less and less I start to panic a bit and then pull myself together and move to the left and sharply pull on my brakes. I am relieved when I manage to stop before the back of the bus hits me.

Enraged I cycle up to the driver and start to have words. Guess what he says to me? "What was I supposed to do?", momentarily speechless I start to suggest that maybe he could have gone a little slower, braked and waited for me to clear the bus stop before he pulled in. He just shrugs his shoulders.

I can kind of forgive, a sorry mate I f**ked up, but his reply indicated that he genuinely thought that he did the only thing he could do!!

Scary, e-mail sent to First buses. Luckily he had a really easy to remember number 12012!!

 

[jonny jeez]

Report it immediatley, he could have killed you.

The drivers up there sound MILES BEHIND the bus drivers in London, perhaps they need to contact them for some training!

Glad you're ok.

 

[thomas]

Had something like that myself with first, and it wasn't even with a Bendy bus. Ended up punching the bus as it passed too close and was pulling in on me...that made them stop on their tracks.

Complained, twice,..took them about 6 months to finally respond and by that time I was fed up. Got my camera a few days after that happened.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I've had an almost identical incident in Wolverhampton, ages ago. When I confronted the driver, his response was "well, there's not much I can do". Errr, I was rather under the impression you were the driver? peanut.

 

[magnatom]

Near all (if not all) FIRST buses have CCTV on board and that included cameras point out (i.e. at you) Demand that the company looks at the footage. Perhaps you can ask them to send you the footage (although they don't legally have to).

 

[amasidlover]

Unfortunately this seems a common occurrence in Manchester; Stagecoach, Arriva and First all seem as bad as each other - these days I know where the bus stops are on my route, I listen for buses approaching and am ready to stop if they pass just before a bus stop.

Personally I don't think vehicles with over 12 seats are appropriate for mixing with cycling traffic and would quite happily see the size of buses we now have banned (not suggesting its practical or that lots of people don't need buses, but there you go...)

 

[mattybain]

Unfortunately this seems a common occurrence in Manchester; Stagecoach, Arriva and First all seem as bad as each other - these days I know where the bus stops are on my route, I listen for buses approaching and am ready to stop if they pass just before a bus stop.

Personally I don't think vehicles with over 12 seats are appropriate for mixing with cycling traffic and would quite happily see the size of buses we now have banned (not suggesting its practical or that lots of people don't need buses, but there you go...)

I don't agree with this, all that is required is better training from the bus drivers, especially those that drive those bloody big bendy buses.

I am going to print some of these out http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pete.meg/wcc/report/WBT-bus-cycle.pdf and hand to them to next bus driver that threatens my life.

I think these bits might have been useful to the driver yesterday

"Do not race past cyclists and pull in quickly to get to a bus stop"

"Let cyclists clear the stop before pulling in"

 

[mattybain]

Near all (if not all) FIRST buses have CCTV on board and that included cameras point out (i.e. at you) Demand that the company looks at the footage. Perhaps you can ask them to send you the footage (although they don't legally have to).

Do they point out the front of the bus? if so I don't see how this will help when you are being squashed by the side of the bus.

Last time I enquired about an incident they asked for me to send my camera footage as they said the CCTV on the buses rarely worked!!

 

[lit]

I know it's hard but if you'd been a bit calmer he may have taken a different attitude towards (it's human nature to defend oneself when being "attacked")

I had a similar situation yesterday where a bus blocked me in instead of waiting and then just drove off without picking up a passenger, I followed him to have a chat about it and funnily enough his route ended at a garage and he came around to my way of thinking and that was the end of it (depends on the driver really but calmy calmy often works)

 

[thomas]

Near all (if not all) FIRST buses have CCTV on board and that included cameras point out (i.e. at you) Demand that the company looks at the footage. Perhaps you can ask them to send you the footage (although they don't legally have to).

Yes they do. You can request a copy of any footage featuring you on the CCTV under the data protection act. You may be subject to a small admin fee (no more than £10 - I THINK).

Same as if you go into a corner shop or with council run CCTV schemes.

 

[mattybain]

I know it's hard but if you'd been a bit calmer he may have taken a different attitude towards (it's human nature to defend oneself when being "attacked")

I had a similar situation yesterday where a bus blocked me in instead of waiting and then just drove off without picking up a passenger, I followed him to have a chat about it and funnily enough his route ended at a garage and he came around to my way of thinking and that was the end of it (depends on the driver really but calmy calmy often works)

Actually I was pretty calm for me (it's relative), and just calmy asked him what he though he was doing pulling in a cyclist like that. It wasn't an irate exchange by any stretch of the imagination.

It was more the attitude that he didn't do anything wrong that got me. If he doesn't realise that pulling in one a cyclist is wrong then he certainly shouldn't be driving a stupidly long bus!!

 

[magnatom]

Yes they do. You can request a copy of any footage featuring you on the CCTV under the data protection act. You may be subject to a small admin fee (no more than £10 - I THINK).

Same as if you go into a corner shop or with council run CCTV schemes.

As far as I am aware this is only true for government agencies etc, not for private companies. Someone will confirm or deny this.

 

[magnatom]

Do they point out the front of the bus? if so I don't see how this will help when you are being squashed by the side of the bus.

Last time I enquired about an incident they asked for me to send my camera footage as they said the CCTV on the buses rarely worked!!

I think it can vary where they are. Just yesterday I noticed a bus with a camera on the back and one on the front. Not sure about the side.

Even if on the front, it would still corroborate any statement you made (i.e overtook and pulled in sharp at a distance that would suggest you would still be within the length of the bus.

 

[thomas]

As far as I am aware this is only true for government agencies etc, not for private companies. Someone will confirm or deny this.

I can't find a link, but I watched a programme on TV about it. If a private company holds information on me, I have a right to be able to know what it is...so if I am on CCTV, that is information about me, and I therefore have a right to see it.

edit:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/cctv_code_of_practice_html/9_responsibilities.html

There yo uare

Individuals whose images are recorded have a right to view the images of themselves and, unless they agree otherwise, to be provided with a copy of the images. This must be provided within 40 calendar days of receiving a request. You may charge a fee of up to £10 (this is the current statutory maximum set by Parliament). Those who request access must provide you with details which allow you to identify them as the subject of the images and also to locate the images on your system. You should consider:

 

[lit]

Actually I was pretty calm for me (it's relative), and just calmy asked him what he though he was doing pulling in a cyclist like that. It wasn't an irate exchange by any stretch of the imagination.

It was more the attitude that he didn't do anything wrong that got me. If he doesn't realise that pulling in one a cyclist is wrong then he certainly shouldn't be driving a stupidly long bus!!

Fair play.

Agree with you there, the driver yesterday tried to deny it at first (a supervisor happened to be there), not that I wanted to get him in trouble, just for him to see it would have made sense to let me go on then pull in.

He was probably just being a arse from what you said, who knows.