I Hate ALDI wagon drivers!

howiejmidlands

I HATE YOU ALDI, you are all SCUM.

Today i was nearly knocked under the wheels of an ALDI articulated vehicle, he was so close, i was hard up against the gutter, left leg up to keep the pedal from hitting the gutter and throwing me under his wagon. This BA&^%^RD knew what he was doing.
I got a partial index, and i was so so so mad, i called the police straight away.

Got home to call the HQ, which is just down the road from me, and i got some Transport cretin saying we dont give out names of employees. Well i want to write to the MD, so whats his name, sorry we dont give names out. OK so whats yours....and he tells me!! DURRRRRR

SO ALDI, you are still ALL SCUM and i HATE ALL OF YOU!! ESPECIALLY YOUR WAGON DRIVERS.

woodford2barbican

Don't tell him your name Pike!

cougie

Sorry to hear about your incident - but can you blame all aldi drivers for the actions of one ?

howiejmidlands

Right at this moment Cougie, yes i am.

TheBoyBilly

Glad to hear you're okay Howard. The thing is now that you have C+ on your side can they get a response from Aldi? I hope you have witnesses so that they can't fob you off.

howiejmidlands

Unfortunatley no witnesses. Only glad i was able to survive the event, trust me, an inch either way and i was going under his wheels.

I have two very sarcastic and damning letters going in the post to the MD of Aldi and his transport manager. They have 14 days to reply, then i might think up a cunning plan of shaming them big style.

I hope Leicesterhire Police do their bit, but on the greater scheme of things, whats my little encounter worth to them??? Not a lot i guess.

biondino

Howie, if you're going to write to these people please, please don't use sarcasm. Be firm but polite, make your point as clear as possible, but sarcasm will make them think you're an ****hole. Seriously. Vent here, vent to your mates, hell, break into Aldi's garage and key all their vans*, but be professional when dealing with management.

*I was just joking, m'lud.

GTi-R23

Probably not what you want to hear but I doubt the police will care in the slightest about your incident, you can't prove the driver was deliberately trying to shake you up, so there is no crime.

Sorry to hear it though, my old man is a LGV driver and he says alot of articulated lorry drivers are employed by agencies and some of them do have low standards, and if Aldi use an agency for their drivers, writing to them may not achieve alot.

redvee

Chances are the Aldi drivers aren't inhouse. As far as I'm aware most supermarkets are only connected to the transport by the fact their name is on the sode of the wagon. They have contracted the services out but insist that the operation is run to a high standard.

fizz

Sounds nasty, but if I may ask a question what were the circumstances and how did you end up on the left hand side of an articulated lorry its the worst place you can be*

*note I am not saying that you did this, I'm just interested in the circumstances of the incident.

I think its unfair to blame all truck drivers. thats a bit like saying "all cyclists are hooligans, and run red lights etc etc" that we all get tarred with.

downfader

Most of the H/LGV drivers I know at work are fine towards cyclists and I get on well with them. Trouble is firms are now employing Polish and eastern euro drivers and their driving standards a lower than our lads. :?

As far as I'm aware if you ask to speak to someone in authority - dont they have to provide you with suitable contact? A tip for searching on who a relevant MD is to use the financial times website I'm told. Then address the letter to "Mr X" at said companies head office and mark the letter private and confidencial.

I also think just saying "the police will do nout" is pointless. If its serious enough they have an obligation to atleast take details, if you feel you've been short changed make an official complaint, if that then fails you go to the police standards bodies.

GTi-R23

Sorry was trying to be negative, register the incident by all means, but in my experience, it probably won't be very fruitful. No actual crime was commited so what can the police do?

howiejmidlands

Hi there Fizz,

OK today was my interval training ride. So from where i live it is a 33mile route down the old/new A5, left turn up the A444 to Jct 11 of M42, then a B road back into Tamworth. The incident took place about 2 miles or less after i turned up the A444. This is a single carriageway road, ie one lane each way.

I was within, ooooh not even a foot of the kerb, as i heard the monster truck behind me.

I was not playing chicken with trucks, or way out in the middle of the road. I may be wearing a crash helmet, but it doesnt stop you getting crushed under 44 ton. And it pains me to add, but over 25 years ago, a good friend of mine was killed as an HGV turned left at an island and dragged him under the wheels.
Dead.
He left a wife and two boys.

And to be fair, most wagon drivers do give you the space. But there is no way on gods earth this cretin didnt see me.

cougie

Sounds to me like you were too close to the kerb ? Less than twelve inches away ? Thats asking for trouble.

CheeseyJoe

You can't blame all Aldi employees for one persons fault. Think of it this way, you wouldn't like someone holding a grudge against all cyclists just because they had a close run in with one idiot chav on a bike.

synchronicity

howiejmidlands, I completely understand & sympathise with you.

The exact same thing happened to me about 8 years ago when I was living in Sydney. Except it happened on a bridge, with two lanes each way & not with Aldi (see the near death experiences thread).

I got the truck's number plate, but was so ENRAGED, I had to get my dad to call the company... they reckon they knew who the driver was because of the log books they all carry and that they were looking for a reason to get rid of him... never went to the police though.

All I can suggest is to avoid all dangerous situations. Either change the time you ride, change the route, or else when you see/hear a big semi-trailer bearing down on you, stop and get on the kerb. It's just not worth risking your life over, is it?
Having said that, it's unfortunate that we're the one's to cop all the shit on the road and that we're the one's who have to alter our routine for the sake of safety, etc.

I know that if I went back to living in Sydney again, I'm certain that I wouldn't be riding the same routes as I did when I was younger... I saw one too many chalked/sprayed outlines when I was training.

downfader

GTi-R23 wrote:

Sorry was trying to be negative, register the incident by all means, but in my experience, it probably won't be very fruitful. No actual crime was commited so what can the police do?

Ummm driving without due care and attention, for one.

cougie wrote:

Sounds to me like you were too close to the kerb ? Less than twelve inches away ? Thats asking for trouble

Dont be so daft. As you know there are plenty of good reasons to swing into the kerbside. It is an obligation of all overtaking vehicles to overtake safely, doesnt matter on the distance the cyclist is from the pavement, etc. :?

cougie

Downfader - riding that close to the kerb just invites idiots to squeeze past you without having to overtake you safely.

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... ioning-197

McBain_v1

Better to ride about 3ft out from kerb and force driver to take notice and overtake with plenty of room (or yell abuse out of window) than get squeezed against kerb and risk injury or worse (i.e. damage to bike).

cougie

Exactly ! And then if someone does squeeze you - you have more room to manouver.

I remember getting passed by a bloke last summer who was very fit, but was riding about 6 inches away from the kerb. I couldnt ride his wheel - it just felt too dangerous - and you're riding throug gravel at that distance.

spen666

GTi-R23 wrote:

Probably not what you want to hear but I doubt the police will care in the slightest about your incident, you can't prove the driver was deliberately trying to shake you up, so there is no crime.....

so driving without due consideration for road users ( aka careless driving) has been abolished has it?

howiejmidlands

Cougie

I am normally between 18 inches to 3 ft from the kerb. The faster i go, the more i move out from 3ft to the centre of the road, especially descending at speed. In this instance i was going at about 15 mph, and in my humble opinion, the distance i was from the kerb was correct. The fact that Mr ALDI Scum wanted to get even closer, probably saved me from going under the wheels, becasue if he did not see me, and i was 3ft or more into the road, i would have been hit.
Its a judgment call every time we ride, how close, or not, do you ride to the kerb. And i made the right call, becasue i am lucky enough to be alive and moaning about it now, rather than being cold and stiff in a morgue becasue i rode too far out.

cougie

howiejmidlands wrote:

And to be fair, most wagon drivers do give you the space. But there is no way on gods earth this cretin didnt see me.

So you were sure that he saw you - and he'd have seen you even better if you'd been a few feet further out too ? If you were a foot away from the pavement as you say you were when he came past - then I'd maintain that you were too far off to the side of the road. By all means go closer to the pavement if you really need to - but arent you saying you were there when you heard him ?

If I'm reading your account wrong and you were riding out in the middle of the carriageway and then the guy squeezed you up against the kerb - then yeah - he needs speaking to and retraining. Sounds like he does anyway - but meekly hugging the pavement is a no-no for cyclists too.

I'm sure Aldi would rather that than have bad publicity and one of their wagons held up for an examination and a driver suspended.

downfader

cougie wrote:

Downfader - riding that close to the kerb just invites idiots to squeeze past you without having to overtake you safely.

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... ioning-197

Cougie, you appear to have misunderstood what I was saying. :roll: I dont see how I can make it any clearer.

cougie

I'm not disputing that its the obligation of the overtaking vehicle to pass safely. Have I said anything different ?

Clearly some motorists have poor skills though - and its safer to ride wide and make them treat you as a bona fide vehicle and not some slowmoving object lurking in the gutter. Is that clear enough for you ?

synchronicity

I give howiejmidlands the benefit of the doubt that he was riding in the correct place.

And let's not start a debate about whether the truck driver saw him or not. Suffice it to say that there are some complete jerks in this world who go out of their way to be, well, mean. My point is, THEY DO IT ON PURPOSE! :evil: