Reporting London black cab - should I bother?

toontra

This morning a black cab pulled out of a side road right in front of me, forcing me to brake sharply. When I caught him up at the lights and pointed out what he'd done wrong (firmly but politely), he said that I'd seen him coming (how he knew that I don't know as I was wearing sunglasses) and that I should have slowed down. When I said that was irrelevant he told me to p!ss off.

I've got his cab number. Question is, is it worth reporting him, and if so, how do I go about it?

always_tyred

toontra wrote:

This morning a black cab pulled out of a side road right in front of me, forcing me to brake sharply. When I caught him up at the lights and pointed out what he'd done wrong (firmly but politely), he said that I'd seen him coming (how he knew that I don't know as I was wearing sunglasses) and I should have slowed down. When I said that was irrelevant he told me to p!ss off.

I've got his cab number. Question is, is it worth reporting him, and if so, how do I go about it?

I suspect its probably as simple as finding the right e-mail address at your local council.
Don't expect anything to happen on the basis of your experience though - reporting something like that will only be of benefit if he's a habitual to$$er and the file of complaints starts to get a bit thick.
Honestly though mate, life's too short - I loose count of how often little things like that happen. Its far more effective to recite his cab number to him and make him wonder how far you'll take it.

Alternatively practice gently running into things so that next time you can give them a REAL fright.

saveswalking

toontra wrote:

This morning a black cab pulled out of a side road right in front of me, forcing me to brake sharply. When I caught him up at the lights and pointed out what he'd done wrong (firmly but politely), he said that I'd seen him coming (how he knew that I don't know as I was wearing sunglasses) and that I should have slowed down. When I said that was irrelevant he told me to p!ss off.

I've got his cab number. Question is, is it worth reporting him, and if so, how do I go about it?

I dont get this bit 8) :?

nwallace

If you saw he was coming and knew he was not going to stop, he is right, you shoud lahve slowed down. It's the i've got the bigger vehicle system.

toontra

saveswalking wrote:

toontra wrote:

This morning a black cab pulled out of a side road right in front of me, forcing me to brake sharply. When I caught him up at the lights and pointed out what he'd done wrong (firmly but politely), he said that I'd seen him coming (how he knew that I don't know as I was wearing sunglasses) and that I should have slowed down. When I said that was irrelevant he told me to p!ss off.

I've got his cab number. Question is, is it worth reporting him, and if so, how do I go about it?

I dont get this bit 8) :?

He claimed that I'd seen him pulling out so should have slowed down. My point was, how did he know that I'd seen him? I was wearing sunglasses so there was no way of having eye contact. As it was, I had seen him (I always ride fast but defensively) and did manage to brake just in time, but how was he to know that?

Cars do this regularly and I'm fairly used to it, but for a cab driver (supposedly a trained professional) to claim he was in the right and then tell me to p!ss off really annoyed me.

chuckcork

nwallace wrote:

If you saw he was coming and knew he was not going to stop, he is right, you shoud lahve slowed down. It's the i've got the bigger vehicle system.

Is that like having a bigger fist when walking down the footpath, in other words get out of my way or else?

Maybe the solution would be as noted to hit the cab at an angle that does sufficent damage without damaging cyclist or bike. That way when the cabbie complains he won't (legally have a leg to stand on).

Kieran_Burns

You contact Taxi Licencing for the local Council. Make a complaint about an abusive Taxi Driver. The actual pulling out in your path is an offense and should be reported to the Police.

Taxi Licencing will deal with the abuse (so big this up) but can not and WILL not deal with the "due care" part of the problem, and of course without witnesses it's your word against his.

gradiric

Most black cabs are fine, but they are some rogues around. I had an accident with one about 2 years ago, when a passenger got out of the cab and I flew into the door at speed. Passenger paid up for a new front wheel, which was good of him as it was partly my fault as I was filtering down left hand side. But cabbie was definitely dodgy - he gave me a lift home but refused to give me his name until I started dialling the police, then said the cab wasn't his but belonged to a friend. My conclusion was that he wasn't the registered cabbie but borrowed the cab from time to time to make a bit of dosh and the 'real' cabbie probably thought it would help spread the cost of the cab by sharing it out. I didn't take it further as I had the cost of the bike repair covered, I wasn't badly hurt, it was partly my fault and I'd buckled the door of the cab, so could have liable for damages myself. So let it go, but possibly shows that they're not all the 'professional' drivers we assume they are.

phil_ss1

gradiric wrote:

I didn't take it further as I had the cost of the bike repair covered, I wasn't badly hurt, it was partly my fault and I'd buckled the door of the cab, so could have liable for damages myself. So let it go, but possibly shows that they're not all the 'professional' drivers we assume they are.

So you may have unwittingly let an unregistered, uninsured driver off the hook?

Phil

gradiric

phil_ss1 wrote:

gradiric wrote:

I didn't take it further as I had the cost of the bike repair covered, I wasn't badly hurt, it was partly my fault and I'd buckled the door of the cab, so could have liable for damages myself. So let it go, but possibly shows that they're not all the 'professional' drivers we assume they are.

So you may have unwittingly let an unregistered, uninsured driver off the hook?

Phil

That's right, maybe. But to pursue a hunch at the risk of landing myself with a large repair bill didn't seem like a trade-off I was prepared to take at the time.

percusski

I say report them, cab drivers are all pricks in my experience, as are most bus drivers (you know the ones, they drive past you pull in then start pulling out as you're going by), let's not go down the road of white van drivers. Cab drivers own the road don't you know, so by law they have right of way at all times.

always_tyred

percusski wrote:

I say report them, cab drivers are all pricks in my experience, as are most bus drivers (you know the ones, they drive past you pull in then start pulling out as you're going by), let's not go down the road of white van drivers. Cab drivers own the road don't you know, so by law they have right of way at all times.

The Highway Code clearly states:

Manoe - signal - mirror - uver

NGale

percusski wrote:

I say report them, cab drivers are all pricks in my experience, as are most bus drivers (you know the ones, they drive past you pull in then start pulling out as you're going by), let's not go down the road of white van drivers. Cab drivers own the road don't you know, so by law they have right of way at all times.

excuse me my dad is a former bus driver (now works for Sainsburys To You deliverie) of 30 years and never had a problem with cyclists (he cycles himself) so not all Bus Drivers are bad.
Also he has managed to get many of the cabbies in Exeter on side, as a councillor he helped them out with some issues in Exeter and he has sat down in return with them over a few issues including their attitudies towards cyclists in the city (relations have been 'tense' to put it lightly in the past) and a few of us are working with them to get better understandings on both sides.

toontra

I only occasionally have problems with cabbies, but when I do they tend to be foul-mouthed and aggressive, as this guy was. It really is the "king of the road" syndrome.

The ironic thing was this incident happened a few yards from the black cab-driver's examination centre in Penton Sreet N1. He's obviously forgotten the basic rules of the road, let alone his manners.

percusski

NGale wrote:

percusski wrote:

I say report them, cab drivers are all pricks in my experience, as are most bus drivers (you know the ones, they drive past you pull in then start pulling out as you're going by), let's not go down the road of white van drivers. Cab drivers own the road don't you know, so by law they have right of way at all times.

excuse me my dad is a former bus driver (now works for Sainsburys To You deliverie) of 30 years and never had a problem with cyclists (he cycles himself) so not all Bus Drivers are bad.

Hence 'Most Bus Drivers', however I'm basing my comments on years of experience of being clipped by mirrors on the near side and pulled out in front of whilst overtaking etc etc, and I bet i'm not the only one.

always_tyred

Bus drivers and cabbies are entirely different. Busses are basically HGV's with distractions and many more stops. Mostly, their attitude towards cyclists is complete disinterest - they have better things to worry about.

Cabbies are generally competent drivers, but without doubt there is a culture of "hate" towards other road users, in particular cyclists. Most cabbies are too professional to do anything other than grumble, however.

In all groups there are exceptions.