Well That Was Interesting...

Pufftmw

Coming into New Cross Road by Kender Street last night about 19:00 and traffic is backed up. Ahead I see a German reg'd coach in the bus lane just moving off from the pedestrian lights by the church. I see a cyclist in front trying to get him to stop and the coach keeps on moving forward til he knocks the cyclist & his bike over. Coach proceeds to carry on. I overtake and try & get the coach to stop, which it just won't do. Its stuck in the bus lane due to traffic and I'm doing about 2/3 mph trying to get it to stop. Man on bike vs coach - hmm... Fortunately there was a parked car ahead and I knew it would have to stop to get into the outside lane of solid traffic, so when it did, I plonked myself in front of it so he couldn't get round. He was also blocked in by a car driver who had seen it all happening.

Cyclist, large black guy, comes rushing up, leans straight into the window and starts trying to batter the coach driver :shock: who promptly winds his window up. The cyclist then goes up to what seem to be members of the public standing outside a shop and tries to borrow a phone, I think to call the police.

Whilst he's doing that, the car driver comes out of his car (Polish reg) goes round to the coach driver's side and starts abusing him and his driving. Does that for a minute, gets back in his car and drives off. One of the guys on the side of the road drags out a pallet to put in front of the coach to stop him driving off, which he's still trying to do but I'm not going anywhere.

Meanwhile cyclist has tried to call someone, obviously not the police, trying to get them to come over from "the estate" to help him. At this point I'm wondering what might be going down, but then he tells his friends (they all know each other) on the sidewalk to keep the coach there until he comes back in 5 minutes. When asked why, he says hes off to get a knife so he can stab the driver :shock: :shock: :shock:

I'm not hanging around to get involved in something stupid, so I go...


Not saying the coach driver deserved to get a slap but it was certainly dangerous driving and failure to stop at an accident, however trivial. Prepared to help a fellow cyclist out until the police arrive for that but not hanging around 'til he gets tooled up and comes back and kills the guy. Some scary people out there...

DonDaddyD

Probably best that you didn't hang around.

I probably would have done. Would've been tempted to call the police, but had that action been noticed the cyclist and his 'mates' may have turned their attentions my way for trying to '"G dem up" (I think da kidz are still saying this). Silly really because a phone call to the police would have been to report the driver...

You just can't help some people.

alan_sherman

Why didn't you phone the police?

rubertoe

This is why i dont cycle south of the river...

... you should of called the police BTW.

Headhuunter

There are some seriously mental people down in New Coss. I've had altercations with dodgy looking guys before, the last time about a year ago, some guy in a black Merc with darkened windows was driving incredibly aggressively near me - not sure why. The traffic was moving very slowly so I would pass him, then he would catch me and purposely swerve in front of me, then I passed, then he passed etc etc.

Eventually it got to New Cross station and I knocked on his window as he passed me incredibly closely, immediately the car stopped, dead in front of me and I could see this big guy getting out swearing, coming round the car. I thought b*gger this, hopped onto the pavement and headed down a side street... The driver had just about reached me at this point - there were lots of peds on the pavement and I was trying not to hit them whilst make my escape. I felt his hand on my back - he tried to push me off but I got away down the side street.

I didn't look back but could hear the guy rushing back to the Merc and hear his wheels spinning as he tried to get after me - cars and lorries were blasting their horns as he was clearly pulling across traffic to get after me. Unfortunately I had gone down a dead end! I could hear him coming behind and once he saw me he basically tried to run me down but I managed to hop onto the pavement and through a pedestrian alley... He jumped out of the car again and chased me but obviously couldn't catch me.

Unfortunately I was then in another dead end residential street but luckily he didn't stray far from his car - he couldn't see where I'd gone. I stopped there for a while to catch my breath and some guy who had seen a lot of it came to see if I was OK...

He said that the driver had clearly and very obviously wanted to run me down. He had almost hit several other vehicles in the chase and he said that when I escaped he had driven off very erratically back up to the main road, as though drunk or on drugs or something....

I think it was a lucky escape. The guy gave me the reg number and his contact details but unfortunately I put them in my shorts pocket which I promptly washed so couldn't report to the police.... Not sure it would've been a good idea anyway, organised, hardened criminal came to mind....

cyclingprop

Pufftmw wrote:

Coming into New Cross Road by Kender Street last night about 19:00 and traffic is backed up. Ahead I see a German reg'd coach in the bus lane just moving off from the pedestrian lights by the church.

I didn't know there was a church?

Headhuunter

cyclingprop wrote:

Pufftmw wrote:

Coming into New Cross Road by Kender Street last night about 19:00 and traffic is backed up. Ahead I see a German reg'd coach in the bus lane just moving off from the pedestrian lights by the church.

I didn't know there was a church?

The church on the left once you have passed the junction with Avonley Rd and Kender St.... It's a pretty big Victorian job!

Ride hard

OP, damn!!

Headhuunter, double damn!!

Sheesh, I've been traveling through that backside of London (apologies to anyone that lives there) for many a year and even though I know its not the prettiest of places, have never encountered anything like that.

The coach driver was clearly a d*ck but that doesn't excuse the reaction of the cyclist.

Pufftmw

alan sherman wrote:

Why didn't you phone the police?

I thought that's what the cyclist was trying to do...

cyclingprop

Ah. I read it like you were turning for some reason.

Gallywomack

Headhuunter wrote:

cyclingprop wrote:

Pufftmw wrote:

Coming into New Cross Road by Kender Street last night about 19:00 and traffic is backed up. Ahead I see a German reg'd coach in the bus lane just moving off from the pedestrian lights by the church.

I didn't know there was a church?

The church on the left once you have passed the junction with Avonley Rd and Kender St.... It's a pretty big Victorian job!

No doubt it's always been a blur as CP goes by as a result of his power awesome and laser-like focus...

I grew up in Catford so pretty inured to the joys of SE London, but New Cross is one area where I do feel a bit intimidated at times. That said, it seems to be full of hipsters these days so maybe losing its edge slightly.

slowbike

Had you considered that the altercation had started before you entered the scene?
Perhaps the cyclist had already tried to assault the coach driver and the only way the coach driver could get away was to run the cyclist over ...
Wouldn't be the first time a vehicle has been used in self defence - did similar myself when at school - although not with a coach ... The school bully tried to stop me leaving. After a failed attempt at talking a way out of it I got off my bike, picked it up and threw it at him. He ended up on the ground, I picked up my bike and rode off.
He didn't bother me again ...

bigmat

I used to live in New Cross. Ah, the innocence of youth...

cyclingprop

The problem is you were North of the A202.

I recall the church now. Seems less religious given that its usually got people drinking outside it.

spen666

rubertoe wrote:

This is why i dont EVER GO south of the river...

... ....

FTFY