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A bad fright -- and a result



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 18th 08, 04:12 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
MikeC[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 15
Default A bad fright -- and a result

On Tuesday evening I was riding through a Cambridgeshire village (home
to armb of
this parish), when a cement mixer passed me VERY close. Of course the
driver
wouldn't have heard the resulting ugly terms in which he was
addressed, but when
the lorry turned into a road from which I knew there was no other way
out I followed it.

It turned out the the depot was in there, so instead of accosting the
driver I went
into the offices to complain about his (or her?) driving. The manager
listened and as
I calmed down made a formal note of the complaint, saying that he
would talk to
driver about it when he came in. When ready to leave I said that
several cycle
campaigns had published advice for drivers of large vehicles and I
would get him
what I could find.

The following day he phoned me and said that the driver had been given
a formal
warning and would be the first to be handed whatever I could give
them, and all the
other drivers would receive it too. A very good attitude on the
company's part.


Mike
Ads
  #2  
Old December 18th 08, 04:37 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Phileaus Leaius
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 91
Default A bad fright -- and a result

MikeC wrote:
On Tuesday evening I was riding through a Cambridgeshire village (home
to armb of
this parish), when a cement mixer passed me VERY close. Of course the
driver
wouldn't have heard the resulting ugly terms in which he was
addressed, but when
the lorry turned into a road from which I knew there was no other way
out I followed it.

It turned out the the depot was in there, so instead of accosting the
driver I went
into the offices to complain about his (or her?) driving. The manager
listened and as
I calmed down made a formal note of the complaint, saying that he
would talk to
driver about it when he came in. When ready to leave I said that
several cycle
campaigns had published advice for drivers of large vehicles and I
would get him
what I could find.

The following day he phoned me and said that the driver had been given
a formal
warning and would be the first to be handed whatever I could give
them, and all the
other drivers would receive it too. A very good attitude on the
company's part.

Yeah, but once you'd left he and the driver probably had a good laugh at
you. If, of course, he *wasn't* the driver...
  #3  
Old December 18th 08, 05:35 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
AndyC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 166
Default A bad fright -- and a result


"MikeC" wrote in message
...

The following day he phoned me and said that the driver had been given
a formal
warning and would be the first to be handed whatever I could give
them, and all the
other drivers would receive it too. A very good attitude on the
company's part.


I do wonder if the method employed to deal with complaints nowadays is
simply to tell the complainer what they want to hear. I would also be
surprised if the driver was to receive a "formal warning" for one complaint
about their driving.

However, well done for raising the issue with the company. I would have
probably had words with the driver directly myself.


  #4  
Old December 18th 08, 06:00 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Rob Morley
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Posts: 7,173
Default A bad fright -- and a result

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:35:44 -0000
"AndyC" wrote:

I do wonder if the method employed to deal with complaints nowadays
is simply to tell the complainer what they want to hear.


Indeed.

I would also
be surprised if the driver was to receive a "formal warning" for one
complaint about their driving.

It may not have been the first complaint.

  #5  
Old December 18th 08, 07:22 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Tom Crispin
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Posts: 4,229
Default A bad fright -- and a result

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:35:44 -0000, "AndyC"
wrote:


"MikeC" wrote in message
...

The following day he phoned me and said that the driver had been given
a formal
warning and would be the first to be handed whatever I could give
them, and all the
other drivers would receive it too. A very good attitude on the
company's part.


I do wonder if the method employed to deal with complaints nowadays is
simply to tell the complainer what they want to hear. I would also be
surprised if the driver was to receive a "formal warning" for one complaint
about their driving.


A formal warning is no more than a verbal warning - a talking to. The
next stage would be a written warning. I find it highly likely that
the driver would have been spoken to, and the conversation noted by
the depot manager.
  #6  
Old December 18th 08, 08:03 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Rob Morley
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Posts: 7,173
Default A bad fright -- and a result

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:22:19 +0000
Tom Crispin wrote:

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:35:44 -0000, "AndyC"
wrote:


"MikeC" wrote in message
...

The following day he phoned me and said that the driver had been
given a formal
warning and would be the first to be handed whatever I could give
them, and all the
other drivers would receive it too. A very good attitude on the
company's part.


I do wonder if the method employed to deal with complaints nowadays
is simply to tell the complainer what they want to hear. I would
also be surprised if the driver was to receive a "formal warning"
for one complaint about their driving.


A formal warning is no more than a verbal warning


But noted in his work record.

  #7  
Old December 18th 08, 09:13 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Just zis Guy, you know?[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,166
Default A bad fright -- and a result

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 07:12:43 -0800 (PST), MikeC
said in
:

The following day he phoned me and said that the driver had been given
a formal
warning and would be the first to be handed whatever I could give
them, and all the
other drivers would receive it too. A very good attitude on the
company's part.


And a lot of firms will do similar, but I have (on the few occasions
I've tried it) been a pains to point out that I don't want the
driver bollocked or whatever, it is very common not to fully
understand the time it takes to pass a cycle, for example, and thus
cut in too soon, the main thing is to make it a point of education,
not punishment, because if the bloke gets in trouble then his mates
might do something rash. And make it a two-way thing, like the TfL
leaflets which have the lorry driver perspective on one side and the
cyclists perspective on the other, which I think is rather clever.
The "do not pass on the left" logos on mixer left mudguards are
becoming quite widely used, so that would be a good "we're all in
this together for the common good" point.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound
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  #8  
Old December 18th 08, 11:26 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Ian Smith
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Posts: 3,622
Default A bad fright -- and a result

On Thu, 18 Dec, AndyC wrote:

I do wonder if the method employed to deal with complaints nowadays
is simply to tell the complainer what they want to hear. I would
also be surprised if the driver was to receive a "formal warning"
for one complaint about their driving.


I agree that the easy solution for the firm is to sound like they are
taking it seriously, and it's almost impossible to determine if
they've actually done anything.

I had a run-in with with a van about a month ago:

I'm approaching back of traffic queue, already coasting, van starts
overtake, has nowhere to go so pulls sideways requiring me to swerve
and brake hard to avoid collision. I shout "Oi" while braking.
Driver (having come to a stop) get out and threatens physical
violence, gets back in and reverses at me about a foot. Queue moves
forward and he goes with it then stops violently enough that wheels
lock, then reverses a foot at me again. Driver gets out and threatens
more violence, so I called the number painted on the back doors while
he was ranting at me.

I got similar - depot manager promises will take it very seriously
and have a word with the driver when he got to the depot.

When I spoke to depot manager again next day he reported that driver
had got in, swore loudly at manager and stormed off, didn't turn up
for work next day. It's a good story to put me off following up
complaint more formally (though the manager did invite me to put it in
writing for inclusion in staff record if I wanted). It may be true,
but there's no way of knowing.

It wouldn't surprise me for a verbal formal warning to be triggered
for one reported case of bad driving, and for it to remain on record.

regards, Ian SMith
--
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  #9  
Old December 18th 08, 11:29 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Alan Braggins
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,869
Default A bad fright -- and a result

In article , MikeC wrote:
On Tuesday evening I was riding through a Cambridgeshire village (home
to armb of
this parish)


Changing the subject, you don't have a new purple SWB recumbent?
I've seen it a couple of times near your village, but not had a
good view of the rider. I didn't think it was you, but wasn't sure.
(I know it's not a replacement bike, because I saw what was definitely
you on your old bike in between. I did wave, but I was driving.)
  #10  
Old December 18th 08, 11:51 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Ian Smith
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,622
Default A bad fright -- and a result

Ian Smith wrote:
On Thu, 18 Dec, AndyC wrote:
I do wonder if the method employed to deal with complaints nowadays



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