Dear Sir or Madam
I wish to make a complaint about whoever was driving your vehicle MV55 EMJ at approximately 3.15pm today, Friday 10th June. He was male, with cropped dark hair, a dark top, and had a bluetooth earpiece on his right ear.
At about 3.15pm today I was cycling on St Mary's Street, heading towards the junction with the Royal Mile and then on to the junction with the Cowgate and up the Pleasance. St Mary's street is hilly and cobbled and the cobbles are very uneven. It's not easy to maintain a straight course on cobbles so uneven, so I was having to adjust my position to ensure I didn't come off the bike. In addition, there were parked cars at the kerb, so as advised in the Highway Code (rule 67), and in Cyclecraft (the government approved training manual for cyclists), I was in the centre of the lane to ensure I would not be hit by an opening door of a parked car.
I became aware of a lorry behind me, revving its engine. There was no room for me to move to let it pass, and the lights ahead were red, so I continued on my course. When I stopped at the red lights at the junction with the Royal Mile, the lorry driver shouted something at me. I asked him to repeat it and he said "keep to the left." I told him that there were parked cars so I couldn't move further left. He told me that the Highway Code says cyclists should keep to the left. I tried to explain that the Highway Code is clear that cyclists should position themselves so as to ensure their own safety, which in this case meant staying out of the "door zone." He then tried to tell me that I only had the right to be ahead of him at a junction if there was a red bx painted on the ground - an ASL box. I pointed out that I'd been ahead of him all the way along the road.
The driver continued to shout at me, aggressively and angrily, telling me to read the Highway Code and basically that I had no right to be in his way. When the lights changed we proceeded to the next set of red lights (at the junction with the Cowgate) and he revved his engine and made me feel threatened all the way along the road. When the lights changed and we both proceeded up the Pleasance I was in fear for my life as to how closely he might overtake me - in the end he did give me enough room.
I am disgusted that a man protected by a huge lorry would seek to intimidate, bully and harass a woman on a bike. I am very concerned that a professional driver has so little knowledge of the rules of the road, and that he thinks it's appropriate to bawl from the cab to express his impatience at having to wait ten seconds to get to a red light. Make no mistake, had I not been in front of him, he would still have got to the light on red.
As a regular cyclist in Edinburgh I have developed a reasonably thick skin, but your driver's behaviour was a disgrace. He doesn't know the Highway Code, he thinks it's ok to express his unjustified impatience by yelling at people, and he thinks vulnerable, squishy cyclists should risk their own safety to allow him to get to the next red light a few seconds earlier. I trust that you will ensure he is reminded of the parts of the Highway Code relating to cyclists, perhaps starting with Rule 67 and then 211-213, and that you will make it clear his behaviour was unacceptable. You might wish to know that I will be posting a copy of this letter and any response on internet cycling fora I use, so that other cyclists can take it into account when choosing their timber suppliers.
I await your early response
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