So, I’ve just had a member of the public threaten to report me, and to be fair I’m probably in the wrong, although it was a genuine misunderstanding/error rather than me driving like a ■■■■.
Was on the way to a new job in an area I’m not familiar with (city centre with confusing one way system), and realised I needed to change into left lane and take upcoming left turn which is still some way off. So I put my indicator on and slow down hoping somebody will let me in (no cars behind me). I had no intention of bullying my way in and would’ve just gone around the block if needed.
A gap appears and I thought ‘oh, he’s going to let me in’ but I waited for him to flash me to be sure. Car doesn’t flash but also doesn’t speed up. I waited a good five seconds and could see in my rear camera that he wasn’t speeding up, so I moved over.
Car starts beeping and flashing and going nuts. I flashed my hazards to apologise (although I was nowhere close to having hit him and he hadn’t had to slow down). I then had to pull over about a minute later as I’m at the job.
The other car pulls in front of me and I’m thinking "great, he thinks I’ve pulled over to have a pop’, which I’m certainly not going to do in front of my dashcam. Short fat middle aged bloke in a National Express high vis gets out and as it’s clear he’s not about to kick off I get out and say “I’m sorry mate, I thought you were letting me in.” He starts taking pics of me and the truck and flounces back into his car saying “I’m gonna report you mate”.
I’m not sure whether to preempt this and speak to the traffic office. I’d rather look like I’m being upfront, but chances are that they’ll log the time and then check the cameras. If I don’t report it and the guy just calls up and has a moan then they might not bother trawling through the footage (or they might ask me what time it occurred which means they’ll see the footage anyway and it makes me look like I was trying to avoid reporting).
My company are quite strict in general and defo review footage etc, but on the other hand there are plenty of people who have collisions and get away with it - a colleague backed up into a car without checking his camera only yesterday.
Why are you even ■■■■ bothered over the actions of some ■■■■■■ mate
If your firm don’t back you they ain’t worth working for.
I personally would not give a flying ■■■■ if it was me it happened to.
Thing is, I was pretty close to him, but as I could see he was travelling at the same speed I knew I wouldn’t hit him. I reckon he hadn’t noticed I was indicating and got a shock (probs didn’t know I had a camera to judge distance). Or possibly he was just being a nob and not letting me in and didn’t like that I went anyway.
What I’m worried about is them checking my cameras and thinking I cut some bloke up. I wouldn’t normally pull in so close but I thought he was waiting for me to go. Another bloke got sacked the other day because they watched his footage and he was driving like a nutter.
Report you for what exactly? Indicating your intention to change lanes and only doing so when it was safe to? Personally I’d tell your TM what had happened if its all on camera unless of course there’s more to the story that you’re not telling us.
On the other hand a short fat bloke driving around in a national express hiviz could just be some pervert who at this very moment in time is pleasuring himself whilst looking at the photos that he took of you earlier.
I’m not omitting anything from the story. It’s just that I don’t usually cut so close in front of people if they’re not letting me in (which I thought he was).
If he calls up and says I cut him up and the cameras show me cutting a foot or two in front of him it doesn’t look good.
Whilst i’m dead against driver facing cameras, this is an ideal instance of as many outside cameras as possible being useful.
Hopefully you’ve got a ns corner rearward facing camera so if they view the footage they’ll see you indicating (by reflections even if the camera can’t see the indicator) and by how you moved over gently after indicating for several seconds.
If you’ve really cut the bloke up, then take the bollocking on the chin, remember he may have footage too and if he’s gone to the trouble of following you and swaggering down the road in his perma hivis (which tells you all you need to know about the type ) then he probably will send it in, so if you’ve been shall we say hasty or got it wrong, then say so up front before the phone call arrives from this wannabe copper.
Good managers would rather be pre warned if you’ve dropped a bollock and a phone call might be coming in, vice versa they hate being caught out.
Well, I’d never have given ■■■■ on the agency as I had work coming out my ears, but I like this job. 10 mins from home and get £35k for class 2 work as I get paid the night rate - but I’m home by midnight. And got my own round now which makes things much less stressful and and less unpredictable.
I’d hate to lose this job (although I think it’s unlikely). Colleague got a warning the other day for oversleeping. Happens again and he’s up the road.
Personally i really wouldn’t give a ■■■■. You said yourself, your in a area you never been before going to a new customer. Should of told him to ■■■■ off, No point in being polite to jumped up pricks like him, gone way above his station of being a bus driver, if he even is one and not just some oddball with a fetish for authoritative feeling. If he was that bothered by it, why didn’t he slow down and flash you in anyway. He is just obviously a ■■■■■ and as said, if your company don’t back you then there just as bad. Life is way to short to be worrying after work about stuff like this
I’d tell your boss what happened, get your version in first. The national express dude was a jerk, he saw what you were trying to do so should have backed off a bit and helped you, that’s what professionals are supposed to do. Guess he didn’t know what was going on around him, dummy.
And what’s with this I’ll report you crap, he sounds like, as you English say, a little ■■■■■ Your there, he’s there so if he has a beef with you then tell you to your face, could be he was confused so you could have enlightened him and he would have learnt something from talking to you.
Thank god for Hi-Viz vests so little tin gods like this don’t have to feel inferior.
Reminds me of an incident circa 12yrs ago, driving for Corby Chilled/Innovate. I’d pulled onto the A12 heading north towards Ipswich. After a couple of miles I could see a car pulling out of a service station, so I looked in my mirror indicated and pulled out. Now I could see a car in the outside lane but it was a good 500 - 700 yds back. The idiot however, just keep going at the same speed and drove straight into the back of me. Didn’t feel a thing but saw the smoke and and the car twitch. I duly pull into a lay-by and the two guys in the car follow me into it. They start ranting that I’d pulled out in front of them, I simply told them that they must be mad. Phoned the office to let them know what had happened and that there was zero damage to the truck. Never heard another thing about it. Honestly, I still today cannot fathom that one out.
Yeah, I’m no doubt overhinking it. Thing is, though, I know what my employer are like - big multinational with big fuss made about ‘corporate image’.
No drama about the occasional scrape on the truck, and a collision with a vehicle normally just requires an assessment. However, if some numpty calls up and makes an ‘official complaint’ to head office I can see this triggering some kind of ‘investigation’, and I’ll bet mr angry bus driver will know what to say compared to the average knob on the street.
The Police do allow self-reporting for non-accidents. If you believe that the person’s standard of driving is below what you would normally expect from a safe and competent driver, then you can indeed report them.
If anyone ever claims to be reporting you, make sure you catch their license plate and write up what/where it happened ASAP if Police are not called. Scammers will claim you hit them and say you drove away from the scene, cause plenty of work for Insurance companies.
I don’t reckon the situation was helped by the fact that when he stopped he parked right in front of one of those yellow bollards, meaning the traffic couldn’t go around him (there were too many oncoming cars to use other side). So immediately there are three cars alongside my wagon beeping at him to get out the way.
Twas a weird situation to be fair. I couldn’t see who was in the car as he had a coat or something on parcel shelf, so I had no idea if it was a bird or three lads. I sat there for about ten seconds debating whether to just get out and start unlocking the gate to job, to show I hadn’t pulled over for a punch up. But then I thought what if I get out the wagon and three lads jump me (was in a roughish area).
He’s sitting in the car for a good ten seconds too so it was like a mexican standoff. And then humpty dumpty gets out and starts taking pics.
Rowley010:
Report you for what exactly?? You’ve committed no offence and from what you’ve described you didn’t do anything dangerous.
Well, he’d probably say I cut him up. I did cross pretty close in front of him, even though I could see I wasn’t going to swipe him due to my rear camera. Usually I’d probably not pull in as close, but I’d been sat there indicating for ages and he was hanging back so I assumed he was waiting for me to pull over.
I think it’s likely he either wasn’t paying attention or was just being an arse.
