CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Black cab plate 860.
I was heading along Haymarket Terrace taking primary in the outside lane (taxi rank on inside lane, oncoming traffic should have prevented overtaking).
As I approached the station and the island with the traffic lights this guy decided to overtake me far too close. He got to the red light at the same time as me. Utterly pointless.
As usual, "you were weaving all over the road" and "I'm a cyclist too" excused his stupid driving.
Private Hire outside Platform 3 in Linlithgow, parked on the double yellow at the very corner of the road into the station. When I told him, "that's a double yellow" he pointed to his cab number as if that legitimately put him above the law.
Then he had a go at cyclists for all the supposed laws that they supposedly break. Of course there were no other bikes in view apart from mine, and I was currently blocked in behind an illegally parked car. The relevance of this tangent was never revealed.
I should have taken a photo of his cab number, on the car, on the double-yellow, with the driver walking away from it, but I was in a hurry to get my train. My train was of course cancelled.
Here's the video from this morning's close pass. Y823 BSG is getting reported.
Reported W309 PSX for aggressive driving on Princes St at the Waverley ped crossing. Drivers seem determined to get past before that narrowing, regardless of whether there's anything to be gained from overtaking.
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At about 4.45pm this afternoon (Sat 5 Mar) I was on my bicycle in the right hand lane turning right off Waverley Bridge to Princes St. Once on Princes St I needed to position myself to get across the tram lines approaching the narrow point for the pedestrian crossing, so I moved slightly to the left to get a safe angle to cross the leftmost tramline. The taxi driver behind me saw this as an opportunity to overtake me - a very dangerous thing to do in a confined space and where I needed to immediately move back to the right to cross the tramline - and pointless too, as this is a congested bit of roadway with traffic lights only a few yards ahead. I crossed the tramline and as I went through the narrow section he followed close behind me revving his engine aggressively, despite me shouting at him to stay back. After I pulled over to the left, when it was safe to do so, he overtook me, then I caught up with him and challenged him about his behaviour. He said only that I was "wobbling all over the road". This shows a total lack of understanding of how a cyclist needs to manoeuvre in order to safely cross the tramlines, and in any case in no way justifies his pointless and dangerous attempt to overtake there, and his aggressive driving. This is not the first time this sort of incident has occurred at this location. Drivers in general, and taxi drivers in particular, need to be aware that cyclists have to jog to the left to cross the tramlines there, and that overtaking is unsafe there under any circumstances. If they don’t understand why a cyclist is taking a particular action, they should assume that there is a good reason and give plenty of space, not behave aggressively.
@Colonies_Chris W309 PSX has been reported many times by myself and others on this forum, and elsewhere if you google that registration. It may be worthwhile mentioning that in your report / follow up emails.
Thanks. When I get a response, I'll mention that. But last time I reported a taxi that had been reported before, they just used the excuse that it might not have been the same driver.
Let's be fair, its highly possible that the same cab could be driven by multiple drivers. HOWEVER, that should be part of CEC's/PS's investigation. A primary part. It should never be pointed out to the complainant that it may be a different driver, it should however be confirmed whether it was that cab's Driver A, Driver B, Driver C etc.
Perhaps it should be a condition of license that the driver of the vehicle has to be recorded whenever it is on duty.
Council may not have this power but perhaps lobbying Central Taxis/CityCabs to enforce this would work?
Two black cabs and a private hire turned right immediately before / after me onto Manor Place from Melville Street, a cyclists only right turn.
The third, who was behind me, then attempted to overtake me on the wrong side of the road on Chester Street racing towards a light turning red. Despite flooring the Ford Transit-grade diesel engine to maximum warp, he never had a chance of making it and had to hit the brakes hard and pull across in front of me to avoid running into the Private Hire which had bothered to stop at the red.
I jumped off the bike, pushed across on pedestrian green, then went off on my merry way.
its highly possible that the same cab could be driven by multiple drivers.
I had a look at the taxi licensing conditions:
The licence holder shall keep an up-to-date record of the names and addresses of all licensed taxi drivers employed by that licence holder or in a contract or vehicle leasing arrangement with that licence holder, together with the dates and times that each driver was in charge of the licensed vehicle.
So the excuse "don't know who was driving the taxi at the time" is a breach of the licence conditions.
Very quick response to the complaint I made on Monday about cab 860, Y823 BSG.
I refer to your email dated 5th March 2016, concerning the conduct of a Taxi driver licensed by the City of Edinburgh Council.
This matter was passed to the Cab Inspector at Police Scotland. The relevant driver has now been traced and interviewed by Police Inspector Smith and the detail and nature of your complaint put to the driver.
During the interview the driver was shown the CCTV video, and appreciates your concerns and has taken Inspector Smiths corrective advice on board. The complaint has been recorded and will be referred to in future should any further complaints be made against the driver.
Out of interest, would a FoI request be able to show how many drivers currently have complaints recorded against them?
That is a very good result, Stickman. Shows the benefit of video evidence, I guess. Though I'd have more belief the system works if there was evidence of taxi license rescindments for multiple offenders.
Just received a response to my complaint against W309 PSX.
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I refer to your email dated 5th March 2016 concerning the conduct of a Taxi driver licensed by the City of Edinburgh Council.
This matter was passed to the Cab Inspector at Police Scotland. The relevant driver has now been traced and interviewed by Police Inspector Smith and the detail and nature of your complaint put to the driver.
The driver understood your views, and we have recorded the complaint on his file, and will be referred to if any further complaints are received against this driver.
Furthermore, regarding the other incidents on Youtube, these were another driver who has since retired.
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Well, good that they've responded quickly, but is it really credible that the two previous incidents were another driver who just happened to be as aggressive as the current one?
Hmmm.
Two separate complaints made over a weekend and responded to very quickly, both involving "Police Inspector Smith", both with the same outcome.
Am I being overly suspicious about this?
Sounds a bit suss to me
I'd be of mind to test the veracity of the communication by seeking more detailed feedback directly from Police Inspector Smith
Could be an old boys club feedback loop
Yes, I've asked for Inspector Smith's contact details.
I'd be amazed if the polis delegated to this was of Inspector seniority - think it's more in the context of Cab Inspector. Probably some poor PC who's got on the wrong side of his Sarge will have drawn the short straw of being lied to by fat-headed coronary candidate incompetent cabbies.
http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/0/94309E74C54AF32780257634003D56D7?OpenDocument
"At a meeting with the new Cab Inspector Frank Smith and Derek Bridgeford of the Scottish Taxi Federation, Mr MacAskill said..."
Googling throws up a lot more articles and documents. Would be a pretty odd conspiracy to invent a cab inspector when it's so easy to check and it'd be far easier to fob you off with a stock reply.
I doubt the conspiracy theory here - I've had a recent response along the lines of "we've tried repeatedly to contact the driver, but his family have now advised us that he has died. I know this wasn't the response you'd hoped for..."
Although perhaps in some of my less charitable moments...
Robert
Fair enough.
Kudos for the prompt investigation then!
Thanks jnty - I find I must retract my previous cynicism.
Please be warned with the following links - it's like the Chipwrapper comments section writ large...
http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15647
So I was wrong on the following:
1) Inspector Smith is a real police Inspector
2) Removal of taxi license does seem a genuine possibility
I was right on:
3) a subgroup (of indeterminate size) of Edinburgh cabbies are thoroughly unsavoury people
I don't think I'll ever get in a cab again after skimming that forum!
I don't know why they don't all fit cameras and be done with it. If they really think people would go to the bother of making false accusations then a camera would be the best defence.
@Roibeard It's at times like this that a dark sense of humour can get me into bother, but that's a good one.
White black cab X993 CSC, which swooped around to my right going along Morrison Street yesterday evening despite the rear of a bus turning onto West Maitland St blocking the right-hand lane: it swooped back in a few inches in front of me, then swooped to the left to go into the jug handle. Its driver was questioned through their open window if they really thought the zero-time-saving manoeuvre worth being reported for.
I know not all taxi drivers are the same ;-) but had one pull a manoeuvre today that is pretty common amongst their type.
I'm travelling north on Ogilvie Terrace signalling to turn right at the junction with Harrison Gardens. Another cyclist is turning left from Harrison Gardens onto Ogilvie Terrace. All good, until a taxi driver appears on the scene wanting to turn right from Harrison Gardens onto Ogilvie Terrace. Naturally the taxi driver decides he can't wait to give way to the other cyclist, so cuts in front of him whilst glaring in his direction. But to avoid a collision he drives his machine on the wrong side of the road directly at me. I stopped and quickly retracted my signal hand before it went through his windscreen.
Of course, being a taxi driver he then stopped 20m further on and double parked.
London cab SM60 ZHP for the record, though I didn't get the taxi licence number.
You don't have to be an ignorant oaf to drive a cab, but it appears to be common nonetheless.
City Cabs Edinburgh's Facebook says "the driver in question has now had his license suspended" in relation to the cyclist-assaulting carelessly-driving employee they've been publicly supporting.
Colonies_Chris, which youtube videos were you referring to? I think one of them might be mine, in which case I'm glad to hear that the driver has since retired.
Welcome Frenchy.
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