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Caravan lorry close miss (YouTube user jthefishy)Caravan firm sacks driver who was filmed overtaking cyclist with inches to spare (+ video)
A Gloucestershire company has sacked a lorry driver who was caught on camera last week overtaking a cyclist in Lancashire with just inches to spare in what some cyclists viewing the video interpreted as a “punishment pass.”
Forest of Dean Caravans confirmed to the website Caravan Times that it had terminated the employment of the driver following the incident on the A59 at Samlesbury in Lancashire last Wednesday morning.
The company’s transport manager, Mark Turley, told the website: "The driver is no longer an employee of ours after talking to him. It was a stupid piece of driving and we've been let down by one of our employees.
"We're unhappy with what happened and shocked with what [the driver] did.
"It's never happened before and we've been transporting caravans for over forty years," he added.
"We've dealt with it, and hopefully now we can move on."
The video uploaded to YouTube, which shows the flatbed lorry that was towing a caravan passing the cyclist and cutting in on him, appears below; if you're at work, you may wish to turn the sound down - unsurprisingly, there's some swearing.
On Friday, the cyclist involved, who gave his name as Jon, told road.cc that he did not want the driver to lose his job, so long as the incident was an isolated one.
He told us: “I’d like to see him get points on his licence and severely reprimanded at work.
“I make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, and we need tolerance on the roads.
“But I would like to see him get prosecuted, because it was dangerous and it was deliberate.”
Jon believed that the close overtaking manoeuvre, accompanied by the driver leaning on his horn, was prompted by the fact he wasn’t riding on a cycle path that ran alongside the road.
In the description of the YouTube video, he said: “There is an unsuitable cycle track at the side of the road which is a shared one with no rights of way and loads of lamp posts and signs in the middle of it! That is probably why he had a problem.”
The incident has been reported to both Lancashire and Gloucestershire police.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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53 comments
The video illustrates what a lot of motorists do to cyclists. Why they do it, we don't know...I'd like to know if the company asked the driver why he did what he did.
I've been passed by a flatbed lorry such as that, though it was unloaded, on the road the snakes up out of Chepstow. There were some cyclists behind me who, after the lorry passed me so closely, came up to overtake me telling me how close I was to being taken out by the lorry.
What I don't understand is why motorists pull this shi*t. What is the f'ing problem? Do they do that to motorcyclists? And I'd like them to get out of their metal cocoon and try it on. One day, I fear I may slap the spit out of a motorist's mouth.
Good to the company, but I suppose they had to do it. After this incident, if they hadn't of done so, I presume there would have been some liability on their side for any subsequent incidents...
On balance I think the company did the right thing but I hope the police still investigate.
The incident is disturbing not just because of the near miss, but because it looks like it was done with intent. The fact that the driver sounded his horn before the pass indicates that he knew what he was doing so this can't simply be attributed to Hanlon's razor.
"We've dealt with it..."
Good, prompt action; it would also be very valuable to run a brief awareness course for their (remaining) drivers to spread best practice and avoid future recurrences, imo. Good behaviour begets good behaviour.
The company did the correct thing. They dicussed it with their employee and bassed on his answers and evidence presented to them acted. The guy deliberately endangered the life of a member of the public and brought the company's name into disrepute.
Now, if only we could get the police to act and to prosecute with such evidence we might be able to change the roads for the better for everyone.
Use the cycle path...
Nice to see some action but I hope the driver concerned has learned his lesson. There are a lot of agencies out there employing anyone with the relevant driving licences. Would hate if that guy is driving again without an attitude change or with an increased grudge against cyclists. Police should follow this up.
Ten seconds of road rage could have cost another guy his life. That's the lesson that needs learnt.
Shocking, simply shocking! How close was were the wing mirrors to the cyclist's head? and there must have been no more than two feet between the towed caravan and the kerb as it passed.
I like what the cyclist is said, obviously the driver have issues but it's never good to see someone lose their livelihood, I'd much rather see a story where the driver apologizes and vows to be considerate with cyclists on the road in the future.
This was almost a death by dangerous driving and you don't think this should have cost him his job!!!!! Gross misconduct, instant dismissal, this kind of driving can not be condoned with a slap on the wrist.
I would expect to fired if I behaved this way, wouldn't you?
The driver can do his apologising when the police talk to him.
I guess so, it was so close to diaster. I think my inner buddist just liked the cyclist's zen like approach
Him losing his job doesn't do much for public safety - he can still drive and we don't know he's learned anything from it. I'd rather the police and judiciary took control, made sure he really understood why he's getting this attention, then allowed him to be a productive member of society.
People like him are angry because they've been allowed to slip into bad habits that are only now being challenged. That is everybody's fault.
I agree wholeheartedly with your first paragraph regarding public safety (although I have no sympathy with the loss of employment), but I must disagree with your second. It is not 'everybody's fault' - whilst attitudes and opinions may well need changing, the driver involved is just an aggressive moron who ONLY has himself (herself? who knows...) to blame. There is no excuse for an extended blast on the horn followed by a possible side-swipe. There is absolutely no way the driver could have known that the cyclist wouldn't be hit/wobble under a wheel - it was sheer luck that allowed the cyclist to live! Unbelievable (but sadly incredibly common) disregard for the LIFE of a fellow human being.
Trouble with "vows" is that they tend to be like New Year Resolutions. Good on the firm for actually holding an employee to account.
Now I'd like to see the police follow it up.
My respect to the company involved for this edifying response.
"It's not making mistakes that organisations should be judged upon, but how they deal with them".
Now if whoever employs this grotesque excuse for a human-being (http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/angry-driver-abuses-cycl...) could just see their way to ending his employment, then the world may just feel a smidgen more just, for a change.
Well done to the firm in this one he could have killed the guy.
Just watched that vid on Cycling Weekly. Sorry but the cyclist was shown right up there. Called the fella 'w****r' now either he puts up or shuts up. Cyclist taught a valuable lesson in my book. Off he went tail between his legs.
Tail between his legs, maybe so. But who was really in the wrong here? Someone calling you a wanker is no justification for you to then call them a cunt ten times and a punch them in the face. Especially if you were in the wrong in the first place.
.
Eh? Why was the cyclist shown up? For yelling a profanity that any normal person would have done when they've nearly been run over by a lorry?
And what's the "...puts up or shuts up..." comment all about? Why was the cyclist 'taught a valuable lesson'? What valuable lesson? You ride on the road you should expect to be crushed under the wheels of a lorry and trailer driven by a psychopath?
Ten seconds of road rage cost the sucker his job. Fair play to the company for supporting this. May a lesson be learnt...
Think I might have taken the cycle path however sissy it may have been just for my own safety...just my opinion.
Well done to the company for taking decisive and swift action. I would have liked to have seen some action from the police but I'd also quite like the fairies at the bottom of my garden to give me a pot of gold, more chance of the latter I think
I expect that you are right. The employer though can act on what he sees and has acted. He has a civil employment contract with this driver and he has terminated it. The only comeback possible would be if the driver decided that his dismissal was unfair and started a case for unfair dismissal. I don't think that's likely because the driving is so horrendous he won't want to make an issue of it.
That is far far different from the police issuing proceedings in a criminal matter. I think they should though.
Has anyone actually made a complaint to the police though? It would need to be the cyclist involved.
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