[Closed] Punishment pass today - what will happen now?

If nothing happens what should I do next?

Report it to the police, like you should have done in the first case

I don’t have the evidence for a criminal prosecution and it really wasn’t that bad in the scheme of things – just irritating that this guy put my life in danger to scare me for “getting in his way” – I was obeying the highway code – he broke 3 laws.

You have a statement and can declare you are telling the truth, same as lots of crimes. If putting your life in danger wasn't really that bad what is?

Sorry but screw letting people sort this out internally, it's a job for the police. The company can then decide how to deal with the driver.

Yep I'd go to the fuzz.

Otherwise get a camera, I think more and more of one.

odds on it was someone from here 😏

Forget it and get on with my life?

This

Agreed^

My place of work.

Them, We’ve had a complaint...

Me,Ok.....

Them, don’t do it again,,,,,

Me, ok,,,,,

That’s it.

Not driver/ bike related of course

Insist on restorative justice and get the driver to read STW forum in full for a week.

In what what manner do people expect the police to "deal with it", given that…

"I don’t have the evidence for a criminal prosecution and it really wasn’t that bad in the scheme of things – just irritating"

…?

TJ Has the company, location of the indecent and possibly more info, you skipped the "that this guy put my life in danger to scare me" bit which makes a big difference for me.

From a general road user point of view reporting means stats, stats mean problems and things to address. That means they appear when policing priorities are being decided on. They impact road design and safety/mitigation steps that take place.

You have a statement and can declare you are telling the truth, same as lots of crimes.

TJ is in Scotland so will need corroboration rather than one word against another. Of course that doesn’t mean he should not report to the police - they may have a pattern of reports to corroborate or he may self incriminate if interviewed.

Youve had your rant on STW.. (possibly other sites as well?)

by your own admission it wasn't that big of a deal..

Forget it and move on.

which road TJ?

If only you'd been wearing a helmet camera!

Either it was life threatening or it was not that bad in the scheme of things.

One is for the Police, to help possibly establish or corroborate a pattern. The other is just get on with your life.

Job jobbed, either way

As Poly says - in Scotland without corroboration criminal prosecution is impossible. I cannot identify the driver. all I know is the company the vehicle belongs to. there is no CCTV at that junction

I might well report it to the police depending on the response I get but I am under no illusions abut the odds on getting a prosecution. It would be nuisance value to the company only and waste police time. Point taken tho Mikesmith - perhaps that does make it worth it

which road TJ?

Commercial street and shore junctiuon.

noted

No idea if this is helpful but give the campany’s a big national firm, might the vehicle have dash cam footage from the view from the cab itself? I appreciate it’s in the possession of the company but if the police suspect a crime has been committed surely they can ask to review it?

I’m a bus driver(lothian)in Edinburgh. I take 22’s and 35’s round that junction daily. If anyone reports anyone of us it gets investigated fully and we get disciplined accordingly. Verbal warning-right up to dismissal.

Anytime I’ve had an encounter whilst on bike involving commercial vehicle I report it to police(if Dangerous etc)

plus one - LRT buses are legendary for their courteous behaviour towards cyclists - thanks. A huge change from when I started cycling around Edinburgh

The offending vehicle was a liveried up car / small van ( it was still dark and I didn't get a look at the side of it. Good point on the dashcam tho

Vader - you have a PM

I hear from a lot of my cycling buddies that lothian drivers are generally spot on. I have witnessed a few colleagues making silly decisions though. Lothian was the first bus company I believe to introduce a cycling section on our yearly cpc training. Every driver was out on a bike it really was an eye opener for the non cycling drivers.

I know that there are a few serious cyclists driving Lothian buses!
I don't think you'll get anywhere without camera evidence. I reported a tanker that pulled alongside me and moved into the kerb, forcing me into an emergency brake to get out the back before I was squashed. Police Scotland took a statement, but it took about 6 months of me chasing them to get any follow up. Eventually they replied to say they had contacted the company and the employer had "spoken to the driver".

Did you get the fleet number of the van ? I reported obnoxious driving by a company driver, not just one incident but routine overtakes on blind corners etc. I must have left about the same time as this guy in the morning. They replied very politely that they had many drivers and I would need fleet number and was anybody else in the car?

It was only a matter of time, a morning some weeks later this guy overtakes a line of cars waiting at a contraflow, with the lights at red. I have never seen anything quite like it and neither had the woman giving me a lift that day.

A further very polite email, driver on disciplinary, and lots of cautious driving at the speed limit observed from then on. It is definitely worth reporting to the company!

Derbyshire police have a policy of not getting involved, or so I was told when I reported a Plastico lorry nearly killing me. Managed to speak with the transport manager who was a total cockwomble.

According to their driver, I accelerated during his overtake. (the whole point of that ride was holding a steady heart rate so no) and apparently, the driver HAD to pull back in because of the pedestrian reserve. Seems dropping back or perhaps not even going for the over take weren't even options.

Without evidence or witnesses and no death, no one gives a shit. Even if there was, it's only a cyclist.

Absolutely report it. You know the name of the company, the time, the date and the location. They can work out who it was.

Best yet, push the police to do the work. I was knocked off my bike last year by a Tuffnells Courier driver and supplied the info above. He didn't have a driving licence and didn't stop at the scene. The driver was identified, prosecuted and jailed.

From previous experience Edinburgh cops are god at dealing with issues such as this. Its just I do not have sufficient info or corroboration for a prosecution. As there was no collision then then of course it will be a low priority for the police.

While any close overtake is potentially life threatening I was probably only doing 10 mph and the driver little more than 20 mph which is why I said "and it really wasn’t that bad in the scheme of things – just irritating” ie compared to having an artic do this at 60 mph Also as I was in primary I had somewhere to go - ie in towards the kerb

He didn’t have a driving licence and didn’t stop at the scene. The driver was identified, prosecuted and jailed.

How the hell does someone without a licence get a job as a lorry driver?

I'm not sure I could confidently identify a punishment pass from a poorly judged pass without judicious use of the horn or the finger by the driver.

a nice reply saying “we will have words” ( that could be just PR puff)

To be fair, you have just sent it to a PR address.

You'll get response 2 OP.

And chasing it up with the police won't yield anything TBH, the driver has endangered you and you have exercised as much influence as you really can by getting him told off by his line manager...

Move on now before it claims too much of your time.

Last summer whilst out running on some single track road near me, the local authority bin lorry tried to run me over - twice. The road is just over one lorry wide with a dyke either side. I almost had to jump in the dyke to avoid being splattered, the driver didn't alter direction or speed either time.

I made a complaint and access request for the cab cctv. It had speed stats superimposed on it and showed no deviation or slowing.

The authority upheld my complaint and that driver was removed from the round (not sure what happened to him). The 'new' driver both slows and pulls over (as much as he can) and is much safer and more considerate. I've met the lorry several times since and had no problems.

Complaining can work though I did end up escalating to the Chief Exec to get it resolved.

Hasn't the highway code just come out with the 1.5m passing thing? We had an email at work about driving the minibuses and making sure they pass cyclists with minimum of 1.5m and as they all have cameras it can be proved if we get a complaint.

Can I be the first to say..

Have you thought about positioning yourself better on the road?
Maybe a Bikeability course?

It's the way of things.

I’d say definitely report it, even if only for statistical purposes, i doubt anything serious will happen on the back of it.
Having said that, you don’t know how many times this driver has done that type of manoeuvre, your complaint could be the third one in a fortnight for example. I’ve had the odd complaint about me over the last 15 years as a coach driver, ive been cleared of any wrongdoing every time by the technology fitted to our buses (megabus) not just cameras.
I know that when investigating an allegation of poor driving, one of the things our management team consider is how often the same type of complaint happens about the same driver.

Reported to 101. Immediate call back and appointment made to be interviewed.

No answer from the email to the company yet and also I accept the point about stats etc hence the report

Most large  company fleet vans these days have gps trackers fitted.

It’s a fair bet that the company can review their tracking data and identify exactly which vehicle it was and who was driving it based on the time and location alone.

I’m sitting looking a big screen which currently shows the location of all of our vans in the central belt.

I’m sitting looking a big screen which currently shows the location of all of our vans in the central belt.

Pie stops and dogging spots?

Nice interview with a local cop. He is going to check the CCTV from the next junction along to see if it caught the incident ( I doubt it will have done) If it does then they will prosecute, if not they will phone the company to tell them of the complaint and bollock them.

Can't really ask for more than that. I did say " don't waste too much time on it"

No reply from the company.

Time for a twitterstorm? Trolling on facebook? Do they know who I am? 😉 ( they might do soon! )

That's good. Last I reported to Hants police, they did follow up, but the van was untraceable.

Good work TJ !!

Good outcome TJ, looks like things are being taken a bit more seriously and perhaps a process for dealing with incidents (rather than the particular officer trying to work it all out)

I have made 3 reports in the past for stuff like this. In all cases the cops were professional, polite and helpful but in all cases the incident was not caught on cctv - one they did see the incident but couldn't get the number plate of the car

I appear to be being ignored by the company. I don't have any real evidence but at what point do I name and shame? How long do I give them to respond? Not even a holding reply yet.

don't you need to let the police have time to investigate then if they can't do anything, escalate

All the police can do is check CCTV to see if it shows anything ( which it won't I am 90% sure) which they are doing right now. If no CCTV then it will be dropped as no corroboration = no chance of any criminal action

E mail from the company today. so someone might get a metaphorical kicking for it.

Good morning,

Your email has been passed to me for investigation prior to passing to the appropriate Manager within the Business. It is unfortunate that you had such an unpleasant encounter whilst travelling a few days ago in which you believe this was one of our vehicles. If this was the case then please accept our sincere apologies.

To answer your question Mr TJ, I can confirm that our team have been investigating this incident to trace the vehicle and can assure you as a Company we do not condone dangerous driving of any type. We have very robust procedures and guidelines in place with regards to the Safety of our Drivers and other road users with strict Disciplinary procedures should these not be followed.

This matter will be dealt with internally and the appropriate processes will be followed where necessary.

Kind Regards

Yeah, we're probably gonna do naff all in other words......

I was hit by a pick-up a while back, actually touched, though I wasn't injured, he pulled out onto a roundabout. Rang the police, weren't really remotely interested, and I had the registration number. best they could do was invite me to the only manned station in the county to fill out a form, 20 miles away, between 9am and 5pm.

Just the investigation and words with the driver might make him think before doing it again. If he has previous then he might be in trouble.

that will do me

I do find it interesting how different police forces approach this. I reported on 101. I said I didn't want to waste their time. they insisted on an interview with a cop and would have had one at my flat to speak to me the following morning but I went to the local station instead so as to waste as little police time as possible.

E mail from the company today. so someone might get a metaphorical kicking for it.

Possibly. Or it might be a stock response, and they actually do very little to follow it up. Doesn't sound like they commit to engaging with you any further?

Don't worry - I will chase them. don't they know who I am? 😉

I wouldn't expect them to tell you any more than that but good luck.

I work for a large company with a very large fleet. in the last couple of years ive been in a position where I've been involved with complaints about liveried vehicles. Here lies the problem ... so many people make the most insane complaints that you find it hard to believe the genuine ones.
No1. Vehicle Reg XXX was parked over my drive today for over two hours I could not find the driver and I missed a very important appointment.
Asked the drivers manager to check the log, the vehicle was in that street at that time. As was the manager carrying out a audit on the driver and vehicle. All logged and backed up by trackers.
So someone wants a bit of compo!
I could go on.
Anyway a good result for TJ.