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Deliveroo Riders - Do they get any training?

I fairly consistently see Deliveroo riders (cyclists and moped alike) breaking traffic rules and cycling heedlessly around Bristol.

I'm curious, do Deliveroo riders get any training about how to ride when out on deliveries? Are Deliveroo (as a company) responsible for the behaviour of their couriers - or do they use the fall back "they are all self-employed so it's up to them".

Deliveroo riders are, in general, the worst behaved road users I see on my commute; riding on the pavement, on the wrong side of the road, jumping red lights, riding at night without lights - pretty much everything the Daily Mail accuses every cyclist ever of.

I fear I'm generalising, however, I have witnessed and overwhelmingly poor display of road use from these riders (mopeds included). The other thing I have noticed when commuting (by bike) is Deliveroo riders seem to struggle to see around their large backpacks and are, therefore, unable to check over their shoulders when changing lanes.

 

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Canyon48 | 6 years ago
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A couple of my friends ride for deliveroo (more skint uni students!).

They are safe club riders, so I don't imagine they are idiots when doing Deliveroo. Unfortunately, that isn't the experience I've had of most Deliveroo riders  7 

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srchar | 6 years ago
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I complained to Deliveroo after one of their riders swerved across an entire traffic lane for no apparent reason and ended up leaning on me at about 35km/h. I have no idea how we both managed to get away without coming to grief. No apology, no fucks given. Deliveroo said they couldn't trace the rider, even though I gave them the exact time and location, so they clearly don't give a toss either.

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DanaColby85 | 6 years ago
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I rode for Deliveroo for a year in 2016. There was no training as such. We shadowed a working rider for an evening, and if we passed that test, the induction process involved watching a five-minute 'training' video online.

My experience (in a university town) was that most of the riders seemed pretty decent and clued up - they might push their luck now and then but most of them did nothing blatant. However, the pressure to be fastest with deliveries - and therefore not be demoted in the rankings to get orders - meant that a few did indeed indulge in some mild red light jumping, but mainly the transgressions were more going up one way streets the wrong way, and skimming over pedestrian-only streets or going along footways for a short while. 

I enjoyed my time there and made some good friends. It was a fun, if minimally-paid, way to earn some cash for simply riding a bike round my home town. I don't recognise any of the riders now as I cycle round town - clearly the turnaround is high. I can't say I've noticed the behaviour of today's riders as different either way to how they behaved when I was there.

 

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Boatsie | 6 years ago
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In Ukraine, 1 litre sports bikes are ridden, absent of helmeted riders knowing it is illegal yet also illegal to be pursued by a police person.
In Napal, it is illegal to wear a helmet as a pillion because the police want to visual whom is on the motorcycle because 2 man assault teams would ride the streets: 1 man pilots, 1 man carries.
In Eastern Russia, the taxi cabs are near pitch black windowed. Although as a passenger, it is near impossible to view outside, when in the cab, the passenger is asked to lay down during the journey because motorcycles will ride between the traffic, the pillion bearing an automatic weapon. Although tourists are forbidden, if a visitor is sighted in a cab, ....grab what they target and gone..

Hence, maybe.. Being couriers are riding souped up autos and need to ride lidless per bobbies identify clarification purposes. Lol.

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ChetManley | 6 years ago
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Mixed bag in Cambridge, seen some that are fine, others that were atrocious.

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EK Spinner | 6 years ago
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Its always the problem with unregulated deliveries, driver/riders insentivesed to make more/faster deliveries, or paid per drop and greedy people will take risks, sometimes with thier own safety, sometimes with the safety of others.

Taxi drivers/Small van multi drop delivery drivers often behave in similar fashion

Go back a few years and look at lorries prior to the Tacho

Even with Tacho in place some drivers of larger vehicles can be the same, they have specific depot arrival times to meet (the company may have gauranteed delivery times with thier client) hence some of those not willing to sit in a Q for roadworks (but sometimes that can be a lack of driving hours to get home so the tacho is a double edged sword)

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kil0ran | 6 years ago
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Seen moped riders at the local MaccyD's riding off without helmet on, guessing they're targeted on time spent at the store as they seem to wait to put them on at the traffic lights just up the road.

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Rod Marton | 6 years ago
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I've always assumed that the logo on the backpack is a stylised two-fingered salute. They certainly ride accordingly...

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
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You'd think not being able to do a shoulder check would dissuade them from running red lights, crossing lanes, mounting pavements and back down to rejoin the traffic...

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Boatsie | 6 years ago
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They should be riding fixies and getting beat by flash multiple ratio fast bikes risen by muscular machines that have stolen their girlfriends.
Because then, when the bad guys and the coppers chase them, they can ride backwards. Ohh, and no brakes thanks. Lol

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brooksby replied to Boatsie | 6 years ago
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Boatsie wrote:

They should be riding fixies and getting beat by flash multiple ratio fast bikes risen by muscular machines that have stolen their girlfriends. Because then, when the bad guys and the coppers chase them, they can ride backwards. Ohh, and no brakes thanks. Lol

You know, that sounds very familiar...  3

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Mia Mars | 6 years ago
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No training whatsoever. And yep, they use the same 'they're self employed' excuse. They don't really care tbh, as long as they make money they're fine with whatever the riders do. From what I can tell, the situation is the same in pretty much every city.

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Canyon48 replied to Mia Mars | 6 years ago
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Mia Mars wrote:

No training whatsoever. And yep, they use the same 'they're self employed' excuse. They don't really care tbh, as long as they make money they're fine with whatever the riders do. From what I can tell, the situation is the same in pretty much every city.

 7

It's pretty poor of Deliveroo IMO.

I'm all for bicycle couriers, just not rubbish/dangerous ones.

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