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Jeremy Vine called a “terrible person” by London bus driver for not cycling on the left and giving way

“You guys are very provoking human beings and I don’t know why you do it”, the London bus driver told Vine…

Jeremy Vine has posted a video in which a London bus driver can first be seen honking at the BBC and Channel 5 presenter who was cycling on the road, and then calling him a “terrible person” and a “provoking human being”.

In the footage shared on Twitter, the 58-year-old can be seen waiting at a traffic junction in Charing Cross, London when a 176 double-decker bus creeps up behind him. As Vine starts pedalling, the bus driver honks at him.

At the next signal, Vine stops and turns around to ask the driver: “What did I do wrong?”. The driver’s reply is inaudible in the video, but Vine signals to the left asking, “Am I supposed to be over here?”

Still unable to hear the driver, Vine turns around and approaches the driver, who can then be heard saying: “I think you are terrible person. You knew what you were doing. You guys are very provoking human beings and I don’t know why you do it.”

Vine continues to ask what did he do wrong, but the driver unfortunately didn’t give a clear reply, instead saying: “You did something wrong and you know what you did.”

Vine asks if he was in the wrong part of the road, but by that time the light turns green and the driver asks Vine to move along and said: “Excuse me, don’t trouble me.”

“Don't go while I'm here,” Vine urges, as he's positioned directly next to the front corner of the bus, but eventually decides to turn back around.

> Van driver narrowly avoids hitting cyclist, yells "f*** off" at Jeremy Vine

Vine captioned the clip: 'London bus driver did the full moral outrage number on me this morning, but I DON’T KNOW WHY. Please watch and help me understand.'

Last week, when Jeremy Vine exclaimed "Oh wow" at a van driver in London who was about to hit another cyclist, the driver proceeded to shout “f*** off” out the window at him. Vine wrote that he was tempted to confront the driver, but decided he “quite fancied getting home alive”, instead laughing with a group of passing youngsters.

And two weeks ago, a courier who called Vine a "p***k" while crossing the road in west London was suspended from work while his employer investigates.

The 50-year-old man, named as Tony in an interview with the Mail, was filmed crossing the road in front of Vine — as the broadcaster rounded a van stopped in a bike lane.

> Jeremy Vine tells cyclists to "cycle in anything you like" — wants media portrayal of cyclists to move away from Lycra and race bikes

As Vine passed, continuing his ride through Hammersmith, the man turned around, saying "Vine you p***k" before some other inaudible dialogue.

The warehouse worker later insisted he did not regret anything and "called him a p***k because he was acting like one" and claiming that the presenter had almost hit him. Vine subsequently shared a second camera angle raising doubt about how close the apparent collision had been.

Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.

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9 comments

Avatar
OldRidgeback | 10 months ago
6 likes

If the driver thinks cyclists should ride on the left then perhaps the driver should have a look at TfL's advice for cyclists.

Avatar
eburtthebike | 10 months ago
14 likes

Well, I too am baffled.  I suspect that it was being on a bicycle in front of her bus. Maybe the bus company would like to comment and tell us what he was doing wrong?  And when they fail, they could tell us that this driver will receive training and be force fed the latest HC.

Even if he had been farther over to the left, it doesn't look as if the bus could overtake him before getting to the next set of lights, which were red, so it would have been pointless to overtake.

This is a professional driver with the lives of many other people on the bus, and those on the road, in their hands, and they still don't get it, and have the entirely misplaced entitled view of so many drivers.

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to eburtthebike | 10 months ago
4 likes

No, there was no prospect of a successful overtake on that short stretch between lights.

If the driver hadn't tooted, her comments might just have been general exasperation. Maybe she thought Vine was trying to provoke something with the camera, coming to the window, etc.

You need to be pretty chilled to be a good London bus driver. Most are. This one wasn't.

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hawkinspeter | 10 months ago
10 likes

Just watched the video and it seems clear to me that the bus driver wanted to perform a possibly dangerous overtake, but Vine hadn't left enough room for them. Despite not trying to overtake, it's poor judgement by the driver as they were indicating left, so overtaking would likely have squeezed Vine off the road. Bus drivers need to be extra careful around cyclists as buses are one of the worst vehicles to be on the inside of. Buses need to pull in close to the pavement for their passengers, so it's just stupid for them to overtake cyclists just before doing so (I think this driver was turning left by the look of things, though).

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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 10 months ago
3 likes

I would have ignored that. Once, when a bus driver did something similar to me I also approached them and politely asked 'do you know what the difference is between you and me?' 'No' it grunted. 'You drive a bus for a living'.  The driver started fuming and literally shaking.  I cycled off slowly and they sat in the traffic. 

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 10 months ago
7 likes
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP wrote:

I would have ignored that. Once, when a bus driver did something similar to me I also approached them and politely asked 'do you know what the difference is between you and me?' 'No' it grunted. 'You drive a bus for a living'.  The driver started fuming and literally shaking.  I cycled off slowly and they sat in the traffic. 

Well that's not very fair. Maybe bus driving was just their hobby.

Anyhow, there's no shame or loss of dignity in driving a bus for a living, but doing it badly or aggressively should be a source of shame unless they try to improve.

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Sredlums replied to BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 10 months ago
5 likes

Shaming someone for his/her profession is not cool at all. Calling a person 'it' is even worse. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Avatar
mark1a replied to BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 10 months ago
4 likes
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP wrote:

I would have ignored that. Once, when a bus driver did something similar to me I also approached them and politely asked 'do you know what the difference is between you and me?' 'No' it grunted. 'You drive a bus for a living'.  The driver started fuming and literally shaking.  I cycled off slowly and they sat in the traffic. 

Wow...

Perhaps you could share with the class what you yourself do for a living?

 

Avatar
Psi163 replied to mark1a | 10 months ago
2 likes

I must admit that when I read that comment I understood it to mean that the driver should be more careful, driving such a dangerous vehicle with all the resposnisibility of his passengers.... 

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