Why are Professional drivers getting away with this?

A few months back TrafficDroid posted a short video of him being knocked off by a Taxi in London. Recently an update has been posted with the results.

So the basics of this is the cyclist was travelling in a straight line, thought the overtake was too close so sounded his horn. Driver stopped whilst moving to the left in an attempt to block the cyclist, cyclist carries on, driver passes again this time much closer, moving left and knocks the cyclist over and in between parked cars.

The results of this are 6 points on his license and a £700 fine + court costs.

Some might say, good result. But if I’m honest, I’m disappointed in our system. This was clearly a purposeful act and yet he only gets done for driving without due care, 6 points and a £700 fine.
Because Taxi drivers are self-employed, it is hard to say how much one earns. It’s often thrown around that they are tax dodgers. I don’t think the £700 fine is that much.

But lets put it this way. A professional driver purposefully used his vehicle to knock a vulnerable road user over and into some parked vehicles. If anyone in any other occupation did something comparable, they would be fired from their job and struggle to work in the same field again. Yet when it comes to professional drivers they are let off, back into the street to do the same to the next cyclist that doesn’t agree with him.

Why does our legal system allow this to happen? This sort of driving is not by mistake and it’s clear from his response of “what are you doing?” And not “oh my god are you ok? I’m so sorry” that he did this on purpose.

I won’t even mention the false witness statements that other taxi drivers who didn’t witness it are willing to put forward to help their buddy.


10 thoughts on “Why are Professional drivers getting away with this?

  1. I once complained about a similar deliberate side push by a taxi to the licencing authority in Glasgow. (I stayed up because of my mad skillzz) They said they weren’t at all interested and could only enforce the conditions of the licence they provide to taxis. I read the conditions, it’s all about the age and condition of the car. Nothing about driving standards in there at all.

  2. The “punishment” is ludicrous when what the driver should have been charged with is attempted murder (using the cab as a weapon).
    I ride in London every day and some cab drivers are very good around cyclists and some are very, very bad.

  3. Fundamentally, the taxi authorities are only interested in the interaction between the driver and the passenger(s). Anyone else is irrelevant to them.

    The police are only interested in the driver being a driver, and are not interested in whether the driver is “professional”.

    Being self-employed, there is no employer to hold the driver to account.

    The courts don’t care because the system is designed to worship the car.

  4. Gloucester are making all taxi drivers resit their test… they’ve got until October to complete this and some of them are whining like heck about the 2 month wait before they can resit it… what worries me is that they’re still able to drive on the existing licence even though they are failing their test.

    http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Taxi-drivers-protest-Gloucester-City-Council-s/story-28326202-detail/story.html

    “However, in a previous statement Lisa Jones, Gloucester City Council’s food, licensing and markets manager, said: “We changed our policy following a request from the hackney carriage and private hire trade to replace the Gloucestershire Road Safety Assessment with the DVSA.”

  5. Doing a job for a living does not make one a professional.
    Taxi driving is after the refuge of the redundant, or the otherwise unemployable, creating the anger and resentment that so often can be seen just under the surface, and their misuse of the P-word to aggrandise themselves.
    One small notch above debt collecting parasite or pyramid sales scammer is Taxi Driver.

    1. A definition of professional “engaged in a specified activity as one’s main paid occupation rather than as an amateur.” So being a taxi driver does make you a professional driver.

    2. You are indeed a prat, to generalise in this manner. You may as well say that all cyclists are saints and never do anything wrong. Your misinformed and bigoted opinion says more about you than anything else.

    3. You’re a prat! A £700 fine is substantial. I ride a bike for fun. I drive a taxi for a living-32 years, now. Hardly unemployable as I’ve done other jobs during that time.

      The Taxi Driver is also a prat. Which goes to prove that prats drive cabs & ride bikes.

      He had to defend himself as no one could defend the in-defendable except a prat.

      There was absolutely no reason for his actions other than spite. He’s got his Hire light on and not even in a position where he needs to get someone somewhere urgently…..and even then, you don’t behave like that. A claim on his insurance (which I’m guessing was made) will also bump up his premium for years (if it’s his own cab) and cost him another £250-500 excess.

      Garages who rent a Cabs to drivers do not take kindly to their premiums being hit either.

      His behaviour was unprofessional. A driving safety course would not help him as its his nasty attitude that was the problem. His mate was a prat, too!

  6. What I find frustrating is that if I was to hit someone over the head with a metal bar causing serious injury I would be looking at a prison sentence.

    But it seems that if I deliberately drive a car into them (and the video evidence clearly shows this wasn’t an accident) than I would be offered a driver improvement course and not even have to appear in court.

    Why is using a car to assault someone treated so leniently?

    1. It’s a question no one knows the answer to. As people say, if you want to kill someone and get away with it, hit them with your car.

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