A Matthew Clark Ltd HGV driver forced a London cyclist into the kerb and then called her “a fucking idiot” when she said he had been too close. The victim says that police are investigating and while the company said that it too would look into the incident, there has not yet been word of any developments.
Elisabeth Anderson was cycling along London’s Wood Lane shortly after 1pm yesterday when the incident took place.
“I'm just sick to death of this,” she said. “One day one of these people will kill me, I'm pretty sure of it. I don't want to die under an HGV.”
She added:
Anderson has reported the incident to police, while Matthew Clark Ltd got in touch with her via Twitter to ask when and where this incident took place.
“We will be dealing with it immediately,” they assured her, adding: “We're extremely sorry. Thank you for the information. We have passed this and video on to the local depot to investigate.”
In follow-up tweets, the firm said: “Please be assured we take this matter very seriously and are keen to get to the bottom of it, so it can be dealt with.
“Transport have identified the vehicle and are investigating. We're treating this matter seriously & taking action in line with protocol.”
Anderson has since confirmed that police are investigating, but says she has not yet heard anything more from Matthew Clark Ltd.
Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.
If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community, please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.
If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link. If not, we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).
Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.
I wouldn't be too concerned 'cos their sales figures would suggest that this is already happening.
I agree, that's a better word than I used.
It used to be the prevailing wisdom for a very good reason, roads had much smoother surfaces in the olden days!
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