London cab drivers sometimes beggar belief

patchy

Coming down a very busy Euston Road at about 8.20 this morning (right by the British Library), i had a altercation with a cab driver :oops:

Here's the situation (as i remember it):

I'm coming down on the outside of the bus/taxi/cycle lane among stationary traffic. taxi on my left, car on the right, lorry ahead to the right, space ahead to the left with enough room to fit a bike through. i lean in to go into the space.

Taxi driver rolls forward slightly, closing the gap. i stop. So does he, with his right front tyre squarely on my left foot.

I turn round to shout to him 'you're on my foot!' he rolls down the window and starts berating me for 'coming into him and its my fault. All the while, I'm not actually arguing, just repeating 'you're on my foot. I can't move' to him.

He finally rolls forward so i can free my foot, continues having a go. I'm not proud, but at this point I did lose my temper and we had a classic road rage screaming row. He drives off to the tunes of me screaming profanities at him. Not classy, i know.

Thing that really annoys me is that he was more concerned about having a go than actually getting off my foot - which i would assume would be the immediate instinct. There's a part of me that wondered if he did it on purpose:I really hope not.

So...
1) was it my fault? I don't think so – on reflection, we're both equally to blame for the incident itself.
2) Am i being paranoid at thinking this cab driver might make a hobby of catching cyclists under his wheels?
3) How should I have handled said incident?
4) Did anyone see a furious cyclist having the above argument on Euston Road this morning? If so, any chance you got the taxi number - i forgot to in the heat of the moment.

Foot seems ok too, but i'm still pretty adrenalined up, so I'll be keeping an eye throughout today.

cheers

P

t4tomo

It might be the same terwat that despite me signalling right as I approach the T-junction at the bottom of Gordon Street tried to overtake but ran out of room and then started signalling left. I gave him a "what was the point of that gesture" and as I made to filter through in front of him so I could turn right, he inched forward to close the gap to the car in front.

I must admit I did give his rear window a big slap as I filtered around the back.

I will say that most Cabbies are generally fine and will leave you a gap if you are filtering through slow traffic.

patchy

quite possibly! I did try chasing him up Euston Rd to get his number, but he'd turned off just after we encountered each other...

oh yes, most are fine... it's just that any incidents i seem to have (2 in three years) always seem to involve cabbies, and usually the worst of the breed. ho hum...

secretsam

In my experience, London cabbies fall into 2 groups: decent types, committed but fair, happy to treat cyclists with respect as long as we behave. And Cavemen.

sounds like you got the latter.

el_presidente

SecretSam wrote:

In my experience, London cabbies fall into 2 groups: decent types, committed but fair, happy to treat cyclists with respect as long as we behave. And Cavemen.

sounds like you got the latter.

I would agree, in general your average cabby plays "hard but fair" however you will find the odd nutter. Guv.

xcracer

I would say that black cab drivers are the worst for cutting up cyclists in my experience. Black cabbies and anyone in a BMW.

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

I don't live in London and so have no idea whether it's different in the land of eel pies and pearly queens.

But I actually find that here in Bristol (arr) the 'usual suspects' (cabbies, knobs in beamers etc) are often NOT the ones who threaten my life on the most regular basis. In my book, the top three worst offenders are:

1) Harrassed school run mums. The bigger the 4X4 the more dangerous they are. Those awful Mecedes M-Classes with the blacked out windows are the worst offenders of all - lethal.

2) Oldies. Often barely in control of their cars, they compensensate by agressively sticking to what they think is the letter of the law even if it means killing you. e.g. it is MY right of way and you are in it therefore I will drive over you.

3) Boy racers. Ok, one of the usual suspects but often just plain frightening as they actually have no road experience whatsover and a willingness to take crazy risks to impress their mates/girlfriends with their stupid souped up Corsas.

What do you reckon?

secretsam

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

I don't live in London and so have no idea whether it's different in the land of eel pies and pearly queens.

But I actually find that here in Bristol (arr)...

"Arr"?!?!? WTF!?? I take it you're not originally from Bristol

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

I'm not - Devon in fact. But I still love lazy caricatures of generic west country bumkins...

patchy

get orf moi laaaaand! Woife! Fetch the blunderrrrbuss!

nb - am cornish so immune to accusations of westcountryism accusations of inbreeding welcome...

DavidTQ

I think the britsolians have one of the strongest west country accents going, I live in Torquay, Devon born and bred for many generations, but you dont hear many west country accents here any more . I dont even have one.

Chewy Cheeks

My da was a cabby and 10% of the people who grew up on the suburban street I did had a dad who was a cabby as well so i do have an idea of what they are like.

In the main hardworking aspirational blokes who want to do the best for their families.
On a day to day basis they deal with all the joys that London traffic can throw at them, from junkies to lords and all the randon behaviour in between. I think it makes them pretty immune to most of it all but they dont like feeling bullied.

However your man this morning sounds like he needs his number taking and reporting to the LTDA.

Thanks be that your OK

secretsam

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

I'm not - Devon in fact. But I still love lazy caricatures of generic west country bumkins...

I am and I don't. Stop it. And wipe the remains of that cream tea off your face.

orv

However your man this morning sounds like he needs his number taking and reporting to the LTDA..

Last time a colleague of mine reported a cabbie to the LTDA he was told that since he wasn't a passenger in the cab they weren't interested. Don't know if that's still the case.

Gussio

xcracer wrote:

I would say that black cab drivers are the worst for cutting up cyclists in my experience. Black cabbies and anyone in a BMW.

Range Rovers are right up there with the worst of them. Last week, for the first time ever, a Range Rover driver actually waved me infront of him. I was so happily surprised that I almost posted a thread on here. Made a nice change from the usual to$$ers trying to squeeze me off the road in their over-sized, over-powered w*nk mobiles.

FWIW, I find the majority of black cab drivers to be reasonable enough. Private minicabs on the other hand will most certainly be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes.....

Random Vince

Gussio wrote:

FWIW, I find the majority of black cab drivers to be reasonable enough. Private minicabs on the other hand will most certainly be the first up against the wall when my cross bow comes.....

good plan :P

prj45

Most cabs are very well driven, the drivers know what's going on around them.

This does kind of makes it worse when you get cut up or pushed sideways as you pretty much know its not through ignorance that the driver has done it.

Why a cab driver would suddenly decide to harass a cyclist I don't know, maybe he got harrased by a cyclist that morning and doesn't feel very generous.

There is one expection though, I SWEAR that cab drivers roll their eyes up into their head when they are about to do a u-turn, like sharks attacking prey it appears its always executed totally mindlessly, and there's no stopping once its started regardless of the consequences.

graham_g

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

I don't live in London and so have no idea whether it's different in the land of eel pies and pearly queens.

But I actually find that here in Bristol (arr) the 'usual suspects' (cabbies, knobs in beamers etc) are often NOT the ones who threaten my life on the most regular basis. In my book, the top three worst offenders are:

1) Harrassed school run mums. The bigger the 4X4 the more dangerous they are. Those awful Mecedes M-Classes with the blacked out windows are the worst offenders of all - lethal.

2) Oldies. Often barely in control of their cars, they compensensate by agressively sticking to what they think is the letter of the law even if it means killing you. e.g. it is MY right of way and you are in it therefore I will drive over you.

3) Boy racers. Ok, one of the usual suspects but often just plain frightening as they actually have no road experience whatsover and a willingness to take crazy risks to impress their mates/girlfriends with their stupid souped up Corsas.

What do you reckon?

wHOA! Dude, although I tend to agree, you have missed out one major culpritt - First Bus drivers. They hate everyone, reagardless of mode; I and my girlfriend have received abuse as passengers, cyclists and car drivers. Oh, and we only moved to Bristol in November/December!

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Fair point!

Indeed, I have it from my sources that First bus drivers actually have to pass a special 'objectionability' test in advance of being allowed out on the roads - just to make sure they are suitabily rude, surley and aggressive before they are exposed to the public. .