A young stockbroker has been sacked this afternoon after joking on Twitter earlier today about hitting a cyclist.
Rayhan Qadar, a graduate at Hargreaves Lansdown posted this to Twitter at 8:05 this morning:
That tweet elicited a storm of criticism from other Twitter users. Qadar later apologised and claimed it had been "a bad joke on my part".
But that doesn't seem to have been enough for his employers.
A spokesman for the investment company told the Bristol Post: "One of our employees has failed to conduct themselves to the standards we expect of our staff.
"We find these online comments totally unacceptable.
"Upon becoming aware of this issue we have terminated this person's employment with immediate effect."
Qadar's initial tweet caused a swift and angry reaction from other Twitter users.
David Stewart posted: "You really are a #cockwomble, enjoy your visit from the plod"
Adam Whittaker said: "You know what's dumber than leaving the scene? Tweeting it for the world to see. I'll be following your case."
Annabel Staff said: "Dear oh dear, you ignorant prick, hopefully you won't have a job to get to by the end of the day, enjoy going to court #Scum"
Germain Burton said: "That's not funny you clown!"
And Greater Manchester Police had this advice: "If you hit a cyclist, you are obliged to stop. I suggest you call 101 as soon as possible, I will forward the details on."
A few hours after his initial post, Qadar claimed it was all a bad joke.
He tweeted: "My previous tweet about the cyclist was obviously not true. I did not hit cyclist. Not today. Not ever. A bad joke on my part it seems."
Followed by: "Sorry if anyone thought i actually hit a cyclist. Anyone who follows me on Twitter know 99% of the things I tweet is nonsense."
Mr Qadar told the Bristol Post: "“I am 100 per cent sorry. It was a joke gone bad. I didn’t think that would happen. I understand now that I can’t say things like that.
“If I did have an accident I would not drive away.”
Police are reported to be investigating.
The #bloodycyclists effect
Another driver who landed in hot water after boasting of hitting a rider on Twitter was trainee accountant Emma Way. On May 19 2013 Ms Way posted: "Definitely knocked a cyclist off earlier – I have right of way he doesn't even pay road tax! #bloodycyclists".
Norwich police investigated Ms Way even though she deleted her Twitter account. After the rider she hit, Toby Hockley, came forward she was charged with careless driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident.
She was eventually found guilty of failing to stop and failure to report but was cleared of the careless driving charge. Ms Way was fined £300, had her driving licence endorsed with seven penalty points and had to pay £337 in costs.
In between the tweet and the court case, she was fired from her job as a result of the adverse publicity the incident attracted.
Her lasting legacy has been the hashtag #bloodycyclists, which was appropriated by Twitter's cycling community as in this comment on the Qadar case:
Ooh. He's been dismissed from his job. Don't mess with #bloodycyclists!
— Borghert Borghmans (@StripyMoggie) January 6, 2015
48 thoughts on “Driver sacked after Twitter ‘joke’ about hitting a cyclist”
I don’t know… Seems a bit
I don’t know… Seems a bit of a harsh reaction to a stupid joke.
nowasps wrote:I don’t know…
Harsh, but given the industry he works in, entirely fair.
You don’t honestly think that
You don’t honestly think that it was actually a joke, and not him just making that up to diminish the seriousness of what he said?
I do think it’s harsh, though it does depend on what actually took place.
nowasps wrote:I don’t know…
Ummm let’s think this one through.
He tweeted to the world that he thought he’d knocked a cyclist off his/her bike (which can kill a cyclist BTW). He thought this was a) funny and b) worth tweeting. No one initially knew whether or not it was true. He works for a law firm which it seems has moral and ethical standards to uphold. He didn’t consider the implications of the tweet not the ramifications. Neither did he consider how the vulnerable road users i.e. cyclists may not find it funny nor consider it a joke.
What are the words I’m searching for? End. Bell.
Luminosity wrote:nowasps
Well yeah, but being an End. Bell. shouldn’t NECESSARILY lose you your job. In this case (providing the incident didn’t actually take place), I’d say it was completely up to the employer’s discretion whether to fire him or not. They chose to, which is completely fair enough if they find this sort of joke unacceptable (as they might given the nature of the company).
I guess all I’m saying is that I’m quite glad there’s no LEGAL precedent against this kind of bad taste, idiotic ‘joke’, providing nothing actually happened. Whether my employer would want me or not afterwards is another matter…
I’ve watch this unfold today
I’ve watch this unfold today on Twitter? I’m truly amazed that people still make the mistake of saying stuff like this.
Very swift ‘justice’ administered by his employers, I guess they must have considered it gross misconduct.
Greater Manchester Police had
Greater Manchester Police had this advice: “If you hit a cyclist, you are obliged to stop. I suggest you call 101 as soon as possible, I will forward the details on.”
Nice of GMPlod to stick their oar in regarding a possible incident in Bristol.
Keep up the good work.
Now, if only you keep a look out for me on the streets in Manchester.
Joselito wrote:Greater
I followed this on twitter and GMP were contacted after being informed that the chap in question also spends a lot of time in Manchester and the incident may have happened there.
So they weren’t ‘sticking their oar in’, they were responding to a request from another twitter user who tipped them off.
Nice One.
Twitter is now safe
Nice One.
Twitter is now safe thanks to GMP whilst Rusholme is now also free of Double Parking U turners.
Feel a bit uneasy about this
Feel a bit uneasy about this causing cyclists even more grief in future.
If he really did not hit a cyclist – as he claims – or even come near to then a bit of a telling off would have been sufficient. Unlikely to do it again though by the sound of things.
nowasps wrote:I don’t know…
His employment is subject to his employment terms and conditions. If they are harsh, then he should behave better.
The police are welcome to give him a telling-off and just stop there. Just so long as they point out that glorying in driving into, and possibly maiming or killing someone (where the offender doesn’t stop to find out whether they did any of those things), encourages others to do so too; I call this the “Clarkson effect” in honour of the amount of road-twattery Mr C has encouraged over the years.
As for causing cyclists more grief in the future, making the act of using a car as a killing machine and then not caring is the thing that would have caused cyclists more grief in the future.
My worry is that in future, anyone squishing a cyclist will keep very quiet about it and not be found out.
What a muppet. So who is the
What a muppet. So who is the injured cyclist? Please step forward if you can.
He is an ambassador for his
He is an ambassador for his company on and off the playing field, it brings into question the type of employee they have within their establishment…and damages their perceived reputation.
Were the company a bit over enthusiastic in their handling of the situation? Perhaps.
It’s a pity though that other ‘establishments’ can’t (perhaps a conscious decision) reign in their employees in such a manner…@KTHOPKINS….
“He is an ambassador for his
“He is an ambassador for his company on and off the playing field”
Ambassador? Playing field?
Employees have a right to conduct their private lives as they see fit. The problem is that many people have no appreciation of their own (lack of) privacy where social networks are concerned, and social network users don’t benefit from inverse-square-law volume decrease that you get in the real world.
If this comment was made in a pub there would be no impact, even though a pub is a public place, because only a handful of people would have heard it. Worst case is that someone would have decked him for being a twat.
Lumen wrote:”He is an
Hear hear. I spent a good portion of last night in a couple of discussions trying to explain to people how I think it is wrong that an employer can interfere in something that should have nothing to do with them at all.
Sadly it seems that people these days seem quite happy to accept that your employer should be able to run your life as they see fit for their own benefit or protection.
Discredit your employer my arse. If that’s acceptable excuse without any direct reference to them (which it basically is now, they don’t seem to have to prove it) then we are essentially saying they can do what they want. Fark that.
LarryDavidJr wrote:Lumen
Hear hear. I spent a good portion of last night in a couple of discussions trying to explain to people how I think it is wrong that an employer can interfere in something that should have nothing to do with them at all.
Sadly it seems that people these days seem quite happy to accept that your employer should be able to run your life as they see fit for their own benefit or protection.
Discredit your employer my arse. If that’s acceptable excuse without any direct reference to them (which it basically is now, they don’t seem to have to prove it) then we are essentially saying they can do what they want. Fark that.— Lumen
Would you want to employ someone who has to go out and represent your company who repeatedly makes offensive and distasteful comments in public?
Would you want your wife/daughter/sister to come in to contact, potentially on their own, with a person who thinks that having a publicly accessible representation of themselves under the title of ‘Rape You’ is a good thing?
Let’s be honest, if this fella was a solid, hard working, conscientious asset to the company a one off comment on twitter probably wouldn’t be the final nail in his career coffin. I’m wagering, based on the shite that he had previously posted on his twitter, that the company are secretly pleased to say good riddance to bad rubbish.
farrell wrote:Would you want
No, but I don’t get to fire people because I don’t like them, or because they’re twats in their private lives.
If we were all held to professional standards of conduct 24×7 then nightclubs would only be frequented by the unemployed.
Quote:”He is an ambassador
They don’t have a such a right unless you sign the employment contract that says they do. Don’t like it? Go work somewhere else.
flobble wrote:Quote:”He is an
They don’t have a such a right unless you sign the employment contract that says they do. Don’t like it? Go work somewhere else.
Wrong. No matter what a contract says, you cannot sign legal rights away. This is not the problem here however. The problem is acceptance that an employer can do this in the first place, as there is no ‘right’ protecting you from it.
Go work somewhere else? If everyone else is allowed to do the same thing there won’t be anywhere else any different will there? But then, you sound like the sort of person who thinks someone should be able to fire any employee for any reason they want as its ‘their company’.
How was he representing his company? Just by the fact he was employed by them? Was he in a PR role? I don’t think so.
I’ll leave it at that for now. It always gets on my tits a bit when stuff on here goes way off the topic of cycling itself.
LarryDavidJr wrote:
How was
Was his name linked to his employer? The moment that happens then you are in a PR role.
Never write anything on social media that you wouldn’t say to someone’s face is the starting point. Whether you like it or not everyone does represent their employer and acting like a tit may well have repercussions.
LarryDavidJr wrote:
How was
Well, he wasn’t a freelance was he? I’ll admit I’m not fully immersed in the day to day activities of a stockbroker but I would imagine he has a case load of clients, so he therefore represents the company when he comes in to contact with those clients or indeed with any potential clients.
If he had been out in a pub at the weekend making these bollocks statements and a client (or potential client) of the company had clocked him and gone to his gaffer with a complaint he’d still have been in the mither. This isn’t a social media issue, it’s a ‘Don’t be a dick’ issue.
Although, if you
Although, if you coincidentally did get knocked off in Bristol today you’ve got a cast-iron chance at some compensation…
His former employers are
His former employers are stockbrokers not lawyers!!
http://www.hl.co.uk/
freespirit1 wrote:His former
OK, delete the bit about morals and ethics then 🙂
The Boss maybe a cyclist
The Boss maybe a cyclist :))
I live in Bristol, and
I live in Bristol, and although the standard of driving has improved over the past five years, there are still plenty of arrogant idiots who are callously indifferent to the safety of cyclists.
If this was a joke, then it was in extremely poor taste, and I applaud the company for taking such decisive and immediate action. Now all we’ve got to do is get everyone on board with CTC’s Road Justice campaign.
burtthebike wrote:I live in
Quite. And if indeed it really was a joke. Seems a strange thing to have thought of at a time when presumably he was on his way to work, unless it had actually just happened.
Am I the only one to think
Am I the only one to think his Twitter name is a little on the very dodgy side? Ray Pew? Really?
I think it’s right for his
I think it’s right for his employer to take action. Like it or not, your social media is a representation of the company you work for – even if that’s Tesco.
Having lost my uncle last
Having lost my uncle last June in a hit and run incident, you may understand I find this poor taste.When airing anything on social media its worth remembering people in situations such as myself maybe reading it.Hopefully this manchild has learnt that!
Let’s hope he can’t afford
Let’s hope he can’t afford his (probably very swanky) car anymore as he is unemployed and has to travel by bike :-))
Even Old Holborn is getting
Even Old Holborn is getting involved and abusing cyclists on Twitter… we must all be famous.
There’s a good chance that a
There’s a good chance that a fair number of these people are cyclists too http://www.hl.co.uk/about-us/board-of-directors#iangorham 🙂
Seriously career limiting move. If there was a version of the Darwin Award (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards) for careers, this guy would defo be a serious contender 🙂
Twitter/Facebook…..Vehicles
Twitter/Facebook…..Vehicles for the lonely.
Plasterer’s Radio
Says a bloke posting on another form of social media….
It’s just brought to his
It’s just brought to his employers attention that an employee has his face on a twitter account called r a p e y o u and had many more dubious ‘jokes’ than this one.
Quote:Well yeah, but being an
It was Very fast action by his employers .. perhaps this was not an isolated incident of this guy being a tit?
For all we know, he may have already been on ‘thin ice’ before today.
I seriously think all the
I seriously think all the commentors above have missed the important part of the story
“cockwomble” is my new favourite insult – it just rolls off the tongue
mad_scot_rider wrote:I
A true staple in the Armed forces insult armoury.
If he’s been there for less
If he’s been there for less than 2 years he is cannon fodder anyway.
Twitter storm over
Twitter storm over reaction… if I were this person’s employer I would have reprimanded them and then asked them to cycle to work for a month to experience what it’s like to ride in busy traffic. A much better PR story for the company too.
there is of course one detail
there is of course one detail we don’t know, what was his record at work like, was his dismissal a third strike?
You can say it was an over reaction, but if this was just another example of his behaviour then?
edit, and as pointed out above, his twitter name won’t help his cause, it does suggest a level of maturity.
It does sound as if he may
It does sound as if he may have been accessing his social media feeds at work, and therefore he has infringed the company’s IT policy. To get rid of him immediately smacks of this not being a first offence.
I must say that I do feel farrell has it about right.
And is ANYONE concerned for
And is ANYONE concerned for the cyclist he may or may not have knocked down and left for dead? If you are that cyclist and you physically can, PLEASE step forward.
As for the rest IDGAF. I’m pleased he got sacked. I was hit and run the driver was never traced mainly because plod CBA.
Now will his insurer void his car insurance or hike is premium? Oh please, oh please!
It’s karma.
It’s Bristol
Home of the
It’s Bristol
Home of the yoghurt weaving trustafarian “activist” and wannabe urban freedom fighter/casual arsonist, most of whom came up the hard way in fee paying schools, selective grammars and steiner day care for disruptive brats with lots of social capital
They fired him before they had the hippy rich kids in balaclavas turn up outside the offices with protest signs
MKultra wrote:It’s
Wow, you really are a bit special.
MKultra wrote:It’s
Still, beats living in S-o-T. I’d rather hack my own head off than live near there again.
A bit of investigation would
A bit of investigation would reveal that a lot of companies have policies on social media use and how staff should not make comments that could be taken to represent the views of their employer, it’s just a matter of some employers coming into the 21st Century and realising that if someone acts like a tw4t on Twitter or Facebook then they will probably act like a tw4t with customers. Simples !!