Near Miss of the Day 234: Undertaking bin lorry driver

EM69 wrote:

Am I missing something here? at one point the cyclist appears to cut across the oncomming traffic and there is also a cycle lane where the lorry stops at the end?

Or is it me?

It’s you. It was his right of way turning across traffic as it’s a temporary roundabout due to roadworks. I suspect the close pass was a punishment for not using the cycle path. But he was cycling at a speed that would not be safe on that cycle path, as it’s basically a pavement, so it was most appropriate for him to be on the road.

HawkinsPeter wrote:

That's horrendous - right by a traffic island so the cyclist has no room for maneouvre.

Raise a complaint so that the police re-evaluate it and if they still refuse to pursue it, then escalate it so it ends up on their KSIs.

Unless Thames Valley operate very differently from the Met, the above is a waste of time. 

I've submitted 588 (based on the existence of 'Your submission' in my e-mail client.  Some of those might be duplicates from my responses to them where the Subject: line has been preserved) reports of illegal and/or dangerous driving to the Met.   Of those, around five hundred have been shelved, and of the others where I've been told that 'an investigation' was opened, they've written later (in about 85% of cases) to tell me that they've changed their mind and have dropped it.   I've attended court twice.  The first time, the bloke got off after the magistrate and the clerk 'coached' him in what to say (when I wrote to the HM Courts and Tribunals, they replied that the magistrate and clerk had 'acted appropriately', which is quite interesting in itself as magistrates courts are not courts of record, so how would they know...?).  In the second, he got a £200 fine, £600 costs and six points.   When I've asked them to tell me how many of my reports have led to an actual prosecution, they say that they can't tell me because the details 'are held on separate databases'. 

When I've appealed a decision not to prosecute, a 'manager' will look at my e-mail, and then systematically uphold his or her colleague's decision.  By that time, of course, the two week delay has passed, so the driver or motorcyclist has got off anyway.  If I escalate the appeal, it goes to a senior manager, who (in the cases where I have appealed) systematically upholds the decision.  I then complain to the Directorate of Professional Standards, who in every single case, have upheld the decision.  If I appeal against that (and I have on three or four occasions), the appeal is denied.  From there, there is no further right of appeal. Well, there's judicial review if your pockets are deep enough.  Mine aren't. 

In a couple of cases, I have caught the Met out in baldfaced lies.   In the YouTube 'dashboard', one can see how many views one's videos have received.  A dozen times at least, the police bloke wrote to me to say that he had watched my video, and had decided that a prosecution was 'not in the public interest'.  When I looked on my YouTube 'dashboard', I saw that the video had zero views.  The lying snot hadn't even bothered his arse watching the video.   Once, he e-mailed me to say that 'the motorcycle rider' hadn't done anything illegal.  Except it wasn't a motorcycle rider.  It was a driver.  The video (and the statement which accompanied it) had indicated that the alleged offence had been commited by a male in a grey Mercedes.   When I was threatened once by a driver who tried to hit me with his car, they refused to take action on the grounds that I had held a middle finger up, and that I had exited the cycle lane.   Yet another time when a cab driver almost ran me down because he was reading a newspaper and didn't see me, they refused to prosecute because I had ridden my bicycle to the right of a set of traffic cones .. despite the fact that I actually did so a full minute after the cab driver in question had done a runner. 

When I've reported people for driving in cycle lanes, plod tried to tell me that it was no longer a police matter and that the London boroughs were responsible for it.   I contacted the London boroughs in question, who told me that the police were talking shite.  Back to the police .. 'nope.  Not our problem.  Contact the councils'.  It took a letter to my MP, who contacted the Minister for Transport, who personally wrote to Cressida Dick, before the police caved and said, 'there has been a misunderstanding'. 

For those of you living in London, you should be aware that the police will no longer prosecute drivers or motorcyclists who stop inside the Advanced Stop Line or 'ASL'.  The same police bloke at Marlow House whom I mention above, told me that this was because 'it was not an offence' and that - get ready for this - the ASL was 'for guidance only'.   I questioned whether he knew the law, or whether he was lying his balls off.  In either case, he had no business enforcing road traffic law, and I requested that he either be given training, or reassigned.  Neither happened.  When I asked the Commissioner to explain how she and her officers could usurp the role of Parliament and change the law, I was informed that my complaints were 'vexatious' and would no longer be entertained.

The thing to take away from this is that the system is utterly rotten to its core.  Police officers will lie through their teeth and then be supported by colleagues.  But what can you do?  Nothing.  Well, nothing legal anyway, and I have no interest in engaging in the illegal 'guerilla' tactics advocated by other people who comment on this site. 

As a final note, I'd like to point out that I don't report drivers JUST because they're in the ASL.  It usually has to be that they're in there and they almost make my wife a widow when exiting it.

cycle.london wrote:

HawkinsPeter wrote:

That's horrendous - right by a traffic island so the cyclist has no room for maneouvre.

Raise a complaint so that the police re-evaluate it and if they still refuse to pursue it, then escalate it so it ends up on their KSIs.

Unless Thames Valley operate very differently from the Met, the above is a waste of time. 

I've submitted 588 (based on the existence of 'Your submission' in my e-mail client.  Some of those might be duplicates from my responses to them where the Subject: line has been preserved) reports of illegal and/or dangerous driving to the Met.   Of those, around five hundred have been shelved, and of the others where I've been told that 'an investigation' was opened, they've written later (in about 85% of cases) to tell me that they've changed their mind and have dropped it.   I've attended court twice.  The first time, the bloke got off after the magistrate and the clerk 'coached' him in what to say (when I wrote to the HM Courts and Tribunals, they replied that the magistrate and clerk had 'acted appropriately', which is quite interesting in itself as magistrates courts are not courts of record, so how would they know...?).  In the second, he got a £200 fine, £600 costs and six points.   When I've asked them to tell me how many of my reports have led to an actual prosecution, they say that they can't tell me because the details 'are held on separate databases'. 

When I've appealed a decision not to prosecute, a 'manager' will look at my e-mail, and then systematically uphold his or her colleague's decision.  By that time, of course, the two week delay has passed, so the driver or motorcyclist has got off anyway.  If I escalate the appeal, it goes to a senior manager, who (in the cases where I have appealed) systematically upholds the decision.  I then complain to the Directorate of Professional Standards, who in every single case, have upheld the decision.  If I appeal against that (and I have on three or four occasions), the appeal is denied.  From there, there is no further right of appeal. Well, there's judicial review if your pockets are deep enough.  Mine aren't. 

In a couple of cases, I have caught the Met out in baldfaced lies.   In the YouTube 'dashboard', one can see how many views one's videos have received.  A dozen times at least, the police bloke wrote to me to say that he had watched my video, and had decided that a prosecution was 'not in the public interest'.  When I looked on my YouTube 'dashboard', I saw that the video had zero views.  The lying snot hadn't even bothered his arse watching the video.   Once, he e-mailed me to say that 'the motorcycle rider' hadn't done anything illegal.  Except it wasn't a motorcycle rider.  It was a driver.  The video (and the statement which accompanied it) had indicated that the alleged offence had been commited by a male in a grey Mercedes.   When I was threatened once by a driver who tried to hit me with his car, they refused to take action on the grounds that I had held a middle finger up, and that I had exited the cycle lane.   Yet another time when a cab driver almost ran me down because he was reading a newspaper and didn't see me, they refused to prosecute because I had ridden my bicycle to the right of a set of traffic cones .. despite the fact that I actually did so a full minute after the cab driver in question had done a runner. 

When I've reported people for driving in cycle lanes, plod tried to tell me that it was no longer a police matter and that the London boroughs were responsible for it.   I contacted the London boroughs in question, who told me that the police were talking shite.  Back to the police .. 'nope.  Not our problem.  Contact the councils'.  It took a letter to my MP, who contacted the Minister for Transport, who personally wrote to Cressida Dick, before the police caved and said, 'there has been a misunderstanding'. 

For those of you living in London, you should be aware that the police will no longer prosecute drivers or motorcyclists who stop inside the Advanced Stop Line or 'ASL'.  The same police bloke at Marlow House whom I mention above, told me that this was because 'it was not an offence' and that - get ready for this - the ASL was 'for guidance only'.   I questioned whether he knew the law, or whether he was lying his balls off.  In either case, he had no business enforcing road traffic law, and I requested that he either be given training, or reassigned.  Neither happened.  When I asked the Commissioner to explain how she and her officers could usurp the role of Parliament and change the law, I was informed that my complaints were 'vexatious' and would no longer be entertained.

The thing to take away from this is that the system is utterly rotten to its core.  Police officers will lie through their teeth and then be supported by colleagues.  But what can you do?  Nothing.  Well, nothing legal anyway, and I have no interest in engaging in the illegal 'guerilla' tactics advocated by other people who comment on this site. 

As a final note, I'd like to point out that I don't report drivers JUST because they're in the ASL.  It usually has to be that they're in there and they almost make my wife a widow when exiting it.

Thank you for doing this. I was thinking to do the same but now I know that its pointless and it makes more sense to take the law into my own hands rather then expect the authorities to do their job properly.

Vegita8 wrote:

cycle.london wrote:

HawkinsPeter wrote:

That's horrendous - right by a traffic island so the cyclist has no room for maneouvre.

Raise a complaint so that the police re-evaluate it and if they still refuse to pursue it, then escalate it so it ends up on their KSIs.

 

As a final note, I'd like to point out that I don't report drivers JUST because they're in the ASL.  It usually has to be that they're in there and they almost make my wife a widow when exiting it.

 

 

Thank you for doing this. I was thinking to do the same but now I know that its pointless and it makes more sense to take the law into my own hands rather then expect the authorities to do their job properly.

The thing that annoys me almost as much as the behaviour of the drivers, is when the police lie to me.  There's no excuse for that.  I'm not a villain.  I'm a witness and/or a victim of an offence.

Just looking through my videos, and I came across one I'd almost forgotten.  Heading down a hill, road narrows for bollards and there are vehicles parked on both sides.  7.5 ton flat bed behind me from Sound Scaffodling, driver revving his engine and tailgating me.

[REMOVED]

At the lights, I tried to reason with the guy.  He just kept cutting me off with "Are you a car?  Are you a car?  Are you a car?" the reasoning being (I can only presume) that only cars have the 'right' to be in the middle of a lane. 

Reported it to plod.  'Move along, nothing to see'

Walked into the police station that weekend to report it as a common assault. Civilian behind the counter told me it wasn't assault as he hadn't touched me.  "It's only assault if he hits you", she said.  When I read her the definition of assault, she replied (and this is a direct quote), "that's not the definition we use".  As I've seen people be pinned to the floor and arrested for disagreeing with police or civilian assistants inside police stations, I left.  Wrote to the police.  They sent the woman in question for 'training'. 

Another time, bloke in a VW Golf tried to run me off the road.  When I told him he was being filmed and would be getting reported me, he said he'd shoot me.  When I said he'd be arrested for threatening me, he laughed and said he'd been in handcuffs before, and would be again, and wasn't the least bit bothered about that. 

Another time, bloke in Mercedes made a 'gun' sign at me.  But my name's not Jeremy Vine, so that one was swept under the carpet, too.

And so on. 

cycle.london wrote:

Just looking through my videos, and I came across one I'd almost forgotten.  Heading down a hill, road narrows for bollards and there are vehicles parked on both sides.  7.5 ton flat bed behind me from Sound Scaffodling, driver revving his engine and tailgating me.

I've found the e-mail exchange with Sound Scaffolding. 

Sound Scaffolding: "As I say I do not in anyway condone this type of behaviour but after viewing this you did quite clearly cross their path and the fact that you obviously went on to safely continue your journey, I feel that your comments concerning an accusation of assault, in fear of your life and being completely shaken are somewhat out of context"

When I took exception to this and asked them (remaining polite throughout) how they could condone behaviour like this from an employee, they replied. .

"Seriously have you nothing better to do than harass me!! This has now become very very boring. Please either stop emailing me and get on with your sad life or I shall report you for harassment."

cycle.london wrote:

HawkinsPeter wrote:

That's horrendous - right by a traffic island so the cyclist has no room for maneouvre.

Raise a complaint so that the police re-evaluate it and if they still refuse to pursue it, then escalate it so it ends up on their KSIs.

Unless Thames Valley operate very differently from the Met, the above is a waste of time. 

I've submitted 588

Big snip.

Erm ... 'I told you so'?