- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
Taxi driver warns CyclingMikey he will "end up needing the dentist" (CyclingMikey/YouTube)Taxi driver warns CyclingMikey he will "end up needing the dentist" after challenging phone use
CyclingMikey's latest video shows a London taxi driver telling him he will "end up needing the dentist" after he challenged the professional driver's mobile phone use behind the wheel.
The cab driver was reported to the Metropolitan Police by the road safety campaigner and YouTuber, real name Mike van Erp, but avoided police prosecution due to staff dealing with an IT system change, Mikey saying they had been left understaffed and the report ran out of time.
Filmed in Hyde Park in July of last year, the footage shows the taxi driver moving forward while holding a mobile device in his hand for several metres before Mikey asks: "What's that you're holding in your left hand?"
"Mate, I'm doing two miles an hour, I'm not in a very good mood, I suggest you just jog on," the man replied. "I'm really not very happy. You can film me all you like, mate, but you're going to end up needing the dentist, now piss off."
In response to being told the footage will be going to the police, the taxi driver replied: "You can do what you like."
Sharing the video on YouTube to his 94,000 subscribers, Mikey said the driver is "supposedly professional" but "you don't seem like London's Finest to me with your phone use and rude and unprofessional threatening behaviour. I suggest you pull your socks up."
And while he reported that the Metropolitan Police had begun prosecuting, they apparently ran out of time, Mikey suggesting that "the Allegations Team at Marlowe House were coping with an IT system change and were understaffed and overworked".
> Tired of road crime": CyclingMikey on episode 16 of the road.cc Podcast
After sharing the video on social media, TfL's Taxi & Private Hire department replied thanking the cyclist for the report, adding that it has been "passed on for investigation".
"He did at least get to feel the pain of the initial prosecution process, and probably would have been worried about the consequences and possible loss of his green badge for the entire six months," Mikey said.
CyclingMikey has reported thousands of law-breaking drivers over the years, with 800 successful prosecutions in the last five years and 383 reports last year.
He attracted attention for particularly high-profile cases, such as catching Guy Ritchie and Chris Eubank, the film director being banned from driving for six months as a result, while the retired boxer was given three penalty points and told to pay £280 in fines, court costs and fees.
In January, speaking to road.cc, Mikey said "people need to see justice being done" and any abuse he receives is simply because some motorists "feel they have the right to drive how they want".
"In the beginning of my camera work, almost 17 years ago, I took a lot of strain at the abuse thrown my way," he said. "I'd answer each comment seriously. Nowadays, there has been such a torrent of abuse and lies about me that I just let most of it wash off me.
"In the UK cyclists are considered by society to be 'cockroaches of the road', unworthy scum who freeload on the public highway and are terrible lawbreakers. For such a person to challenge a driver for lawbreaking is a massive affront to the social order, and people don't like this.
"Many of those throwing abuse also feel that they have the right to drive how they want, and that nobody can tell them what to do. They see the prosecutions, and they are afraid of the consequences, and they are angry that someone dares to do this to them."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- Laz 59 min 30 sec ago
hopefully, that will be the last time we see that van in drivable condition
- Nick T 2 hours 15 min ago
Come again chief? The Tarmac in size 56 has a 73.5 degree HTA, the Addict in the same size comes in at 73.4 degrees. In terms of bike fit that's...
- TheBillder 3 hours 57 min ago
My new double glazed wooden framed sash windows are £1600 plus vat per (quite large) window. House built in 1904. The cost includes fitting and...
- galibiervelo 4 hours 13 min ago
We promote #bikefriday You dont need it - go for a spin. Nice bikes and kit are lovely, but not as noice as a dawn spin this friday morning with a...
- David9694 4 hours 16 min ago
Council acting like ‘the Sheriff of Nottingham’ with parking charges...
- David9694 4 hours 20 min ago
Man taken to hospital after vehicle crashes into pub...
- David9694 4 hours 30 min ago
Car flips in Millennium Way, Sheerness, near former Aldi supermarket that reopens as Home Bargains this weekend...
- RoubaixCube 4 hours 59 min ago
Ive been using the same £2-3 dish brush I bought from wilko, tesco or pound land for as long as I can remember. I dont understand why anyone would...
- S.E. 6 hours 35 min ago
I'm thinking CX tyres...
Add new comment
107 comments
Van Erp is a vigilante that wallows in his notoriety; if he just recorded offences and reported them without interracting with offenders, that would be fine but he loves confronting offenders, which has the unfortunate side-effect of generating hate from those motorists for cyclists in general.
Still peddling this line despite many corrections.
I see you don't know the meaning of the word despite it being explained to you.
Why do you continue to make incorrect assertions about English law when you don't even live here ?
reporting incidents to the police is not vigilantism, cycling Mikey does not attempt to provide any enforcement.
accusing people reporting crimes of being vigilates is just one step away from snitches get stitches.
You're pandering to EXACTLY this kind of driver. The ones who pick and choose which laws apply to them, and when. The ones who try and lecture law abiding cyclists with made up rules they just thought of. Your attitude, and theirs, is partly why we have got to the position where 80 people being killed or seriously injured every day on our roads is tolerated, or ignored.
I appreciate that these type of articles get clicks, but I'm personally finding I'm spending less time on the site lately, as it seems more and and more articles are about driver agression towards cyclists. Just feels like it's getting a bit much and is not what I want to read all the time. Is there anything more positive about cycling we can write about?
With regads to this article. without watching the video, I'm not sure how Mikey does this day in, day out and stays sane. Dealing with this amount of agresion on a regular basis can't be good for your mental health.
I'd guess that he attempts to rise above it and sees the aggression as akin to a toddler's tantrum. Remember, he's motivated by the death of his father, so he likely can't take drivers seriously when they start frothing about their need to drive and use a phone at the same time.
He doesn't rise above it enough in my view. I don't know why he engages with them at all (other than to be confrontational and get more clicks). If he really was all about road safety, he'd just submit the footage and be done with it.
Agree - feels like his 15 minutes of fame.
Submitting it to the police will, hopefully, serve as a deterrent for that driver.
His interactions will, again hopefully, show other drivers watching it, just what kind of hatred there is out there for cyclist and cause them to think twice.
As for his 15 minutes of fame - he more than deserves it. He is obviously very focused on his goal of making cycling safer and if he needs to become famous to do it, I would support that.
Based on the comments one can easily see on Twitter, YouTube, etc, I would say his confrontational attitude does far more harm than good. I wonder how many many times I've been close-passed by people enraged by CM.
But good for him and his infamy. Bravo.
So you're upset with CM and not so much by the idiots close-passing you?
I don't think it's valid to blame CM for drivers getting upset for being caught breaking the law. If they're caught, then they should have a good look at themselves and why they think their convenience is more important than other people's safety.
I never said that, did I. Nice try at putting words in my mouth though. Your standard MO.
Plainly, CM isn't all about catching drivers breaking the law. If he was, he wouldn't even stop as he cycles past. So long as he's got a view of the number plate, the driver's face and the offense, there would be enough information to make a submission. But no, he riles people up for views/clicks.
Dress it up whatever way you like. It's harmful.
It's a fair point. I am guessing you have had a lot more close passes than I have had (simply because I haven't been cycling for long)
I have no doubt that my first experience of an enraged driver threatening me will quickly change my view.
And yes - it does make me sad to know that it is when and not if.
Today I learned:
Huh?
I was replying to where you said "I wonder how many many times I've been close-passed by people enraged by CM." and interpreted that as blaming CM for the shitty drivers.
What did you mean exactly?
In what way is that blaming CM for the driver's behaviour? That'd be like blaming McDonalds for getting fat - rediculous. The blame remains squarely on the poor driver, but I wonder how many of them are influenced by CM's behaviour and thirst for clicks.
Well we agree with the allocation of blame, then. I recall that you're a Bristol fella, so presumably the number of drivers enraged by CM will be very small unless you do a lot of London cycling.
If only. CM feels the need to televise his idiocy on the wonderful invention of the internet. That's the problem.
Are there really that many drivers that would get so angry after seeing another driver getting caught for using their phone at the wheel?
Based on the comments section of CMs videos, there are a lot of drivers who get angry about seeing a cyclist confront a driver (an otherwise-law-abiding-road-tax-paying driver of course) for their illegal (but obviously completely safe and absolutely reasonable) behaviour.
Previously
I wonder how many times I've been close-passed in Edinburgh by people enraged by CM?
We had this discussion back when Nigel-was-nigel or the Martin account was about. There are much more salient and likely sources for driver hate of cyclists. "Much of the media" followed by "some politicians" would be the starting point. (A better bogeyman might be Jeremy Vine).
IMO most likely of all is "you're different and you're in their way" - and some people are aggressive / don't care about you.
I think close passes I've had are largely incompetence and ignorance, followed by a small but worrying minority of DGAF drivers. Fortunately very few "punishment passes" or other hassle but I suspect it's the same types who find it amusing to suddenly yell at passers-by or throw things off bridges at people (bullies feel braver in motor vehicles).
From the same school of logic as "me wearing a helmet causes car drivers to hit me"?
CM enraging car drivers does not mean that a car driver is no longer responsible for their actions. You're putting words in my mouth that I never said.
Well this is an odd one - witchcraft? Clearly by putting your words (quoted) in my post I've made *my* words come out of your mouth - some devilry!
To avoid that happening further - as several folks seem not to be getting it - what *is* your point?
(I note helmets have been reached so it may be too late...)
My point is that confronting drivers, as CM continues to do, does far more harm than good.
How is that statement not blaming CM?
Blaming him for somehow forcing poor drivers to close-pass me?
I could blame him for making the us/them culture worse.
Oh. Well that's all right then, presumably you don't and I don't, so we don't have anything to worry about. All's well after all. CM is just some guy in London (I assume) - if you live there just avoid him if he appears on your ride.
Did you miss the fact that he broadcasts his behaviour to an audience of tens, if not hundreds of thousands?
As well as his delightful comments: "I'm rather unlikely to be afraid of this fat old man haha"
And some people on here consider him to be an ambassador for road safety. What a joke.
You've understated it. If it's on the internet potentially he broadcasts to billions.
What I though we were debating originally - which it seems we are - is quite simple. Just how many actually watch and are then primed to commit offenses, assaults or whatever the police now want to say close-passes are (assault include giving fear of serious harm if I recall).
As opposed to those who get some justification for their existing aggressive nature (or lack of control) from niche outlets like the Mail, niche personalities like Matthew Paris, Gary Bushell etc. Or who don't need someone to tell them who to hate.
He's not my cup of tea so I don't subscribe to his output. I don't feel great sympathy for those he's reported though.
At least they're staying logically consistent with the whole CM causes drivists to close pass cyclists thing..
Pages