lorry passing too close

[Raph]

Earlier this week as I was riding into town a tipper lorry passed within a foot or so of me, basically making no effort at all to move over and leave a bit of space, it gave a mild fright at the time, but later when I looked on both front and rear cameras, it is quite close. There was another cyclist behind me, I think he got roughly the same - about a foot clearance.

Is it worth making a fuss about? A pass like that just has to coincide with a bad pothole and things could go very ugly very quickly. The guy is obviously in the habit of driving like that so I'd say it's only a matter of time before he trashes someone. Is it worth giving a copy to the local cops?

It's hard to know whether the guy was unaware, or deliberately "buzzing" us, but either way it's dangerous driving, though possibly not in legal terms.

[jezer]

I doubt the police will do anything, but if you can identify the company from your footage I recommend a complaint to them. Of course it may be a self-employed owner/driver type person, so probably wouldn't give a toss.

[tatanab]

I wonder if this is "the camera effect". You were not greatly bothered until you looked at it on the screen. Some of the clips posted make me wonder because I see no particular problem, although of course many also truly show a problem.
P.S. this is not meant unkindly, just an observation.

[jollytiddlywink]

I share your pessimism about getting any action from the police, but on the other hand not reporting it to them will guarantee that they don't take any action. It may well also be worth complaining to the company that owns the lorry, as jezer suggested. I've done that a few times in the last couple of months, calling companies after seeing someone driving their vehicles while using a mobile phone, or parking a vehicle right across a pavement next to a busy dual carriageway. Whether the company does anything effective in response to the complaint or not is an open question (although in once case it seems clear that they did), but they won't know their drivers are dangerous/inconsiderate, or that the public (and their customers!) care about this, if nobody complains. The squeaky wheel and all that.

[[XAP]Bob]

Report it to the company, let them respond. *then* tell them you have video...

[Raph]

That's a lovely warm cuddly luddite-esque thought tatanab; "we never 'ad no problems till that nasty technotrickery came along!"), it's very cute but I did say it caused a mild fright at the time so I'm not sure how you work out that I was "not greatly bothered". I delete ride vids without watching them unless something particularly funny or beautiful or scary happened on the ride, and this one was the latter. The vids, both front and rear, confirm that it was too close.

I've checked the company name, they're not far from here. I'll probably write to them, mentioning I've got the vids, offer to send them a copy, and could they please tell their driver to shape up and get a driving license (not those exact words of course). I reckon not telling them I have it on vid simply means they won't bother to reply, then it's up to me to get in touch again and they won't bother to read a second email from me.

Does anyone know if a complaint of bad driving goes on record with the cops? I'm sure they'd do nothing but if the same driver trashes someone next week, might this get flagged up?

I might post up the vids anyway. Then if everyone reckons they're not scary I can forget all about it.

[gaz]

I'm sure there are posts on here that suggest the police do gather details of such reports and record them in a manner that will raise concerns should there be a number of reports received which involve a particular vehicle.

I'm sure there are posts on here that suggests such reports go straight to shredding at the end of the day.

You could also add it to the CTC database: http://www.roadjustice.org.uk/report

[Raph]

I'll do that, thanks.

[niggle]

I had a very similar experience last week, I have posted it on Youtube with company name and vehicle reg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSgZoy_3IfQ My thinking is that police will not be bothered with such trivia until something serious actually happens, but if there is previous evidence on the net then they may just find it and use it to help prosecute. OTOH maybe they do not do such searches and it would be better to send the evidence to the police in any case?

[Vantage]

I never did hear back from the company.
Please excuse the language.

http://youtu.be/3X61xx6ABOQ

[hexhome]

Write back to them and tell them that as they have failed to address your genuine concerns regarding their operation of HGVs, you will be addressing these concerns with their Traffic Commissioner. Write to their local Traffic Commissioner, explaining your concerns. I guarantee you will now be taken seriously.

[hexhome]

The information you need;

http://www.tan.gov.uk/tanen/vosa_anonym ... tId=162643

https://www.gov.uk/government/people/nick-denton

[niggle]

The company I had a problem with, Huse Transport, is a three man band apparently. I could try phoning but I think I may just get an abusive response and/or denial.

[reohn2]

Earlier this week as I was riding into town a tipper lorry passed within a foot or so of me, basically making no effort at all to move over and leave a bit of space, it gave a mild fright at the time, but later when I looked on both front and rear cameras, it is quite close. There was another cyclist behind me, I think he got roughly the same - about a foot clearance.

Is it worth making a fuss about? A pass like that just has to coincide with a bad pothole and things could go very ugly very quickly. The guy is obviously in the habit of driving like that so I'd say it's only a matter of time before he trashes someone. Is it worth giving a copy to the local cops?

It's hard to know whether the guy was unaware, or deliberately "buzzing" us, but either way it's dangerous driving, though possibly not in legal terms.

A tripper truck you say,now there's a coincidence

I agree about the pothole coincidence,you could very well be dead.
Report it without doubt IMO.
I don't know how far out from the kerb you ride but it's never less than 0.8m to 1m for me(unless I move over and signal for someone to overtake say on a singletrack road)that distance gives me a safety margin to the left in the case of such lunatic/dangerous/maniac drivers.

[reohn2]

I never did hear back from the company.
Please excuse the language.

http://youtu.be/3X61xx6ABOQ

You made a serious mistake of being right in the doorzone overtaking the parked cars,I give a clear hand signal in plenty time and move right out,especially if there's even a chance of being overtaken when I'm overtaking.

It wouldn't be the A666 going through Edgerton toward Darwen would it?