Cut up by liveried van, nearly put me in the offside barrier

[justinbaker]

Cut up by liveried van, nearly put me in the offside barrier – what to do.

All – I am quite angry about a situation this morning while driving to work on the A14. This is my daily commute, and although I sometimes see some bad driving, today’s was quite frightening.

I am minding my own on the inside lane 60mph, and there’s progressive traffic in the outside lane, a car hasn’t accelerated to keep up with the flow, so a large Mercedes van attempts to undertake him, directly into my lane, right at the side of me. I manage to avoid him by braking very hard and putting to wheels in the gravel inner boarder.

He knew I was there as when I obviously sounded my horn to express my displeasure, then I got the “wakner” sign.

I am good at remembering numbers. So I have the 0845 number from the side of the van, and the registration, and it was 08:04am. Eastbound A14 towards Huntingdon!

What should I do?

[Super Injunction]

The 0845 number is probably a call centre but I'd have thought a call would be worth it to try and get hold of either an Ops of Fleet manager and calmly put you points across. If they give you the brush off then maybe a call to the plod to report dangerous (or whatever this would be classed as) driving might be worth a shout - the driver of the van should at least get a b******ing for it!

[TotalControl]

Allow. Similar situation happened to me some 6 years ago which caused me to go into the centre and spin out of control as I came off the central barriers near London Colney.

Alternatively, speak to police/ the company and tell them what happened. Personally, I'd let it go.

[elanfan]

Speak to the Fleet manager - if you don't get a good reaction i.e the guy is diciplined then tell him you will report driver to the Police.

Most Fleet Managers do not want drivers of this ilk on their payroll as it is this type that cause accidents which ultimately drive up insurance costs, down time etc


Bolleaux - beaten to it!!

[eybic]

I had similar but not as bad as that. I phoned the company up and left a voicemail. I was really shocked when they called me up apologising and stating they would be talking to the driver in question.

[mnkiboy]

Similar thing happened to me a few weeks ago. I reported the driver on the company's website, and got a few phone calls apologising, and promising and phone call back once the driver had been traced and spoken to. Not heard a thing for 3 weeks now.

I certainly won't be shopping at this particular national chain of shops again. Not that I ever did anyway.

[Sticks.]

Don't do anyting while you're still angry imho.

[Iang84]

Report him as a transport manager I would want to know if any of our drivers are driving like a w*nker
we have given drivers disciplinaries over this sort of stuff as it reflects badly on the company

[sklar]

Sticks. said:

Don't do anyting while you're still angry imho.

This.

If you do decide to persue it, you need to ask yourself what you hope to achieve from that course of action. When that sort of thing happens to myself, if it's nothing personally beneficial then I just move on.. After ranting to anyone who'll listen at work and home though!

[Getragdogleg]

I had a similar situation with a bus recently, I was turning right into a narrow lane and was stopped in the road indicating my intentions while a car came out of the road I wanted to go in, as I was about to make the turn I did a quick look over my shoulder for bikes, did not see anything but a bus coming up behind me so I set off slowly because the road I was turning into was only about 12 inches wider than the car I was driving, I did not expect the bus that was coming up behind me to decide I was not moving fast enough and try to overtake me though.

I stopped and the bus stopped with about 1mm to spare.

The bus driver then gave me a load of abuse and insisted I was in the wrong.

Needless to say I complained, not about the fabulous driving but about the sweary shoutyness.

[Tyre Smoke]

elanfan said:

Speak to the Fleet manager - if you don't get a good reaction i.e the guy is diciplined then tell him you will report driver to the Police.

Most Fleet Managers do not want drivers of this ilk on their payroll as it is this type that cause accidents which ultimately drive up insurance costs, down time etc


Bolleaux - beaten to it!!

Seriously?



No fleet manager is going to discipline a driver on a report from a member of the public. It's your word against the driver's. You could be a serial complainer and general tosser.

However, no fleet manager worth his salt is going to let it go either. They should take the details and speak to the driver. Then report back to you. Even if the driver denies everything, they should still make placating noises.

[eybic]

I used to work for a courier company and we used to get complaints about drivers. Generally the company will know what the driver is like and if it has happened before, If it has they may give him a warning. Of course they should take complaints seriously especially if they get lots about a particular driver.

[Midds]

Saw a similar thing this morning - did you get anywhere with this?

[Matt UK]

I see your options as:

Report him to the police / his boss
Find the comapny address, track down your man and deliver him some serious Chuck Norris revenge
Have a rant on PH, calm down, accept that these things happen and move on.

Edited by Matt UK on Wednesday 8th June 09:34

[Jw Vw]

sklar said:

Sticks. said:

Don't do anyting while you're still angry imho.

This.

If you do decide to persue it, you need to ask yourself what you hope to achieve from that course of action. When that sort of thing happens to myself, if it's nothing personally beneficial then I just move on.. After ranting to anyone who'll listen at work and home though!

+1