Whoa! Anyone else get THAT taxi driver this morn?

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thefollen

Veteran
Location: Sloane St- northbound, about 8:25am.

What a lunatic! Never seen anything quite like it. Taxi driver ahead absolutely screaming at a cyclist for 'undertaking him'. The cyclist carries on and I follow.

At this point the cab is doing about 7mph and me maybe 10mph, plenty of room on his left for cyclists to glide along (usually) not bothering anybody. No issue.

He then starts screaming at me and intentionally veers dangerously into me at which point I have to give his cab a slap; he was, after all, about 6inches from me (albeit at a slow speed). I know some may view this as the wrong course of action, but otherwise he'd have made contact. Also yes, I could have stayed behind him- guess it was the devil in me to follow the other chap as I'll always stick up for another cyclist, providing they're not totally in the wrong. Didn't like the idea of this guy bullying him.

Yep, of course he doesn't like this and chases me up the road in a cab ending in a violent left hook on the next turning. Could've been nasty, but luckily I'm expecting all of this and am very agile on the hybrid. I hit the brakes, turn with him, hop onto the pavement and cycle round to have a word. There are quite a few cyclists around questioning him as to his bizarre and dangerous actions. He's still screaming and looks as though he's going to get out the cab to continue it further. He stays in and I circle at a decent distance to the driver's side before he bellows how he 'has it all on CCTV'. I explain that I hope he does show it to the police and that it makes for some nice viewing. It'll be very cringeworthy, and they certainly won't be after me!

A couple of us continue up the road and even 30metres ahead I can still hear him screaming at people.

Big bloke, longish shaggy grey hair, mid 50s I'd say. Plate began something like V247

How he drives in London every day is beyond me. Most cabbies are great and know how to drive harmoniously with cyclists and all traffic in a calm manner. Surely he should have either had a heart attack or be behind bars by now. Either way, he shouldn't be on the road.

Anybody else encounter him?
 

mr_cellophane

Legendary Member
Location
Essex
Was he definitely a cabbie and not someone driving a taxi shaped vehicle ?
 

mr_cellophane

Legendary Member
Location
Essex
You don't have to do that, just check the white plate on the back and the "All London" or "Suburban" licence on the read window.
 
OP
OP
thefollen

thefollen

Veteran
Wish I'd taken the full plate; would definitely have reported him. Hopefully one of the many others he was arguing with did so.

Similar age bracket Matthew, but that guy is about 5 stone lighter! Prime example though of somebody making trouble out of nothing. Anyone would think you'd kicked his dog.

Wonder if the fella I encountered is like that every day? Of course you never know what's going on in someone's life; he may have had some bad news or been kicked out by the missus. Many factors affect people. If he gets that apoplectic every time a cyclist undertakes him when crawling through London, he must get angry a lot!
 

sickboyblue

Senior Member
Location
Manchester
Not a chance I would have taken that. He would've been out of his cab and picking his teeth up!
 

Cyclopathic

Veteran
Location
Leicester.

The driver over reacted by a mile but the cyclist didn't have to say anything to him. I don't think what the driver did was in any way dangerous. He clipped the line by a couple of feet at the most and more importantly he didn't come even close to any other traffic let alone the cyclist. I fail to see what the cyclist thought he could possibly acheive with this piece of very anal comentary.
 
He has it all on CCTV?

Do you have his details?

Write formally and ask for a copy as you wish to use it in evidence against him.
 
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