A London cyclist who was overtaken by a ‘bully’ bus driver has been caught on camera switching off the vehicle’s engine in revenge.
The video shows a rider being beeped by a 159 bus in Brixton, south London, before being overtaken without much space.
The cyclist, who was wearing a helmet cam, followed the bus, and opens a flap marked ‘emergency’.
He presses a button and cuts off the bus’s engine.
The video’s owner on YouTube says: “Bus driver makes aggressive close pass, cyclist takes revenge.
“Or as they say in my town: Bully gets owned!”
One commenter said: “Embarassment to cyclists and not recommended”, while another said “Think this revenge has more of a negative impact on the [bus] riders than the driver.
“The driver is getting paid either way, the riders might be late. ”
But another said: “This needs to be a thing for dangerous bus driving.
“A 30 second stop-go penalty imposed immediately.”
A Transport for London spokesman told the Evening Standard that, although it is not illegal, using the emergency stop button could endanger passengers as it cuts off all power including to disabled-access ramps.
34 thoughts on “‘Close pass’ cyclist gets revenge on bus by hitting engine kill switch”
This is ever-tempting,
This is ever-tempting, however it does very little to make the tens of people on that bus or the very many people watching the video think anything positive about cyclists.
turboprannet wrote:
I wouldn’t look at it in quite those terms as I still disagree with the whole “cycling community/collective responsibility ” thing, I nevertheless agree that the only people it’s going to inconvenience or annoy are the passengers; I doubt that the driver really gives a monkey’s…
brooksby wrote:
But the perception of collective responsibility is a reality. I feel myself to be open-minded and not prone to stereotyping people – but I still see a taxi and take extra care in observing his movements… expecting the unexpected. The same for white vans, and buses come to that. We have to be aware that a large number of folk see a cyclist and tar us with the same brush as matey-boy above who hit the kill-switch. Not to be recommended, however tempting. Surely.
Should definitely be ‘a thing
Should definitely be ‘a thing’, ideally coupled with filling the area in expanding insulation foam. Close passing with a bus is completely acceptable.
The cyclist (Evo Lucas) is
The cyclist (Evo Lucas) is usually quite a good cyclist, but this is a bit of a let down.
It’s the cyclist equivalent of a punishment pass. It doesn’t help our cause and just cements joe publics view of cyclists.
If the bus had caused a collision and was trying to drive off, I could understand it, but this was overkill.
WillRod wrote:
Sorry Will not me being a bad boy.
Can’t wait until tomorrow’s
Can’t wait until tomorrow’s episode, when a cyclist sticks a banana up a taxi’s exhaust.
Anyone seen that video where a ‘cyclist’ nicks a motorcyclist’s keys and then gets battered senseless?
More to the point, why is he
More to the point, why is he carrying a track pump on his bars? Hasn’t he heard of CO2?
Empty lane, no traffic ahead,
Empty lane, no traffic ahead, absolutely no reason for bus to encroach into cyclists lane, dangerously close deliberate pass, coupled with signalling of premeditation and intent by blowing the horn…assault by any legal definition. (Except it’s a cyclist…so.) If anybody else had disarmed an aggressive individual throwing their weight around in a public place armed with a dangerous piece of machinery they’d be hailed as a have-a-go hero!
Fair play to the cyclist.
I think tampering with the
I think tampering with the bus is overkill really. The driver was driving aggressively and shouldn’t go so close, however the cyclist shouldn’t be taking up the whole lane either as there are no parked cars on a red route, so no dooring danger (which is the usual excuse I hear). Personally I would keep to the left of my lane once I’m out of the lights and across the junction so I don’t impede the flow of traffic.
Applecart wrote:
The rider is perfectly placed and no one should harass or bully them out of the way. Faster vehicles have to wait for slower ones, end of.
Applecart wrote:
How can you impede the flow of traffic when you are the traffic as well?
Also, please direct me to the part of the Highway Code that states that cyclists shouldn’t be taking up the whole lane, or are you just making up your own rules?
On the day it will be the
On the day it will be the passengers who suffer, however the driver will be embarrassed and might, (might?) think again about close passes if he knows this can be done again.
However, no one commented on the motorbikers weaving in and out of traffic, he was just as close and going faster.
Leviathan wrote:
The passengers would have had a much longer wait (on the bus AND in court) if the cyclist had ended up under the wheels of that bus.
Yes, the motorcyclists were pretty gung ho, but they do tend to know how long and wide they are. (No excuse.)
If the cyclist bottles it and loses his balance, or has to swerve to avoid a pothole there are 11 meters (and12.5 tonnes) of bus between the front and back wheels. Also…’professional drivers’ supposedly regulated above and beyond the usual standard of competence so that they may carry the public. I recall that the loss of my PSV license was considered a real and job-losing threat, and I was only a conductor.
pockstone wrote:
What is a ‘conductor.’ Did you get hit by lightening?
Leviathan wrote:
Sorry Leviathan, your photo tells me that you’re not so young that you don’t remember bus conductors! (Or can it really have been so long ago?)
PS. Lightning!
pockstone wrote:
Ha. I do know what a conductor is, but having lived in Newcastle and Manchester I don’t actually remember ever being served by one (I did walk to school in the late 80’s, but even then you paid the driver.)
lightening
ˈlʌɪt(ə)nɪŋ/
noun
a drop in the level of the uterus during the last weeks of pregnancy as the head of the fetus engages in the pelvis.
Leviathan wrote:
I’ve been hit by a few things -especially as a bus conductor- but fortunately never that!
Leviathan wrote:
Or he, and every other driver that sees this, might make sure to force the next rider completely off the road so that they can’t ride up behind and do it again.
Leviathan wrote:
I too thought that the motocyclsit was worse than the bus.
Really don’t agree with this
Really don’t agree with this because it’s unfair on the bus passengers. If the driver is driving badly, complain to TfL (though I’m aware that probably won’t get you anywhere, its not right to make the passenger suffer for the behaviour of the driver).
I note though that Applecart is still pushing his crackpot theory that cyclists should always be in the gutter or the door-zone (nice weasel wording to imply that avoiding the door zone is an ‘excuse’ for taking primary, as if it’s inherently a wrong thing to do that needs excusing).
Wasn’t even close to being a
Wasn’t even close to being a ‘close pass’, bus driver gave him almost the entire lane before moving across, and even then there was plenty of space.
He is a cunt, he has
He is a cunt, he has committed at least one offence by interfering with another vehicle. He also then cuts up the van at the end when he pulls out to pass the bus. But more than both of those actual offences he has pissed off more road users and the next sensible cyclist they come across have to deal with that anger.
Hope the Police get off their arse and charge him.
I guessing that because the
I guessing that because the emergency engine stop button was pressed will mean a report will have to be made, which may lead to an investigation, and a viewing of the video evidence from all of the cameras on this modern bus. Probably more of an investigation than would have been made if a complaint had been sent.
Using a 12.5 tonne behemouth to intentionally threaten a vulnerable human being is wrong, and with a few more heinous attacks like on the London bridges and in Finsbury Park, may well come to be viewed as what it is and was intended to be, an act of terror.
I do really hope for better standards of driving from our “highly trained” and “professional” drivers.
What a pr*ck that cyclist is.
What a pr*ck that cyclist is. He should have pulled over to the left of the lane rather than ride in the middle and to commit the offence well that’s going to help other cyclists isn’t it. What a pen*s.
Twowheelsaregreat wrote:
is there any position the cyclist can take where another vehicle (the bus in this case) can fit in the lane with him? No.
at the start of the clip he is in lane 3 of 4 as lanes 1 and 2 do not go where he is going, to cycle on the left here would be dangerously close to any vehivcles using the lane on his left. In fact he would then be blocking two lanes, in order for the bus driver to feel he was talking up less space.
By the time the other lanes had seperated, the driver had already started being agressive and he could reasonably expect the bus would try to squeeze through in the same lane with him if he was on the left.
Throughout the whole video the entire lane to the right of the cyclist was available for the bus, but the driver chose not to use it.
Who is creating the problem in this situation, because I can’t see how the cyclist could do anything different withut endangering himself. Was the e/stop use overreaction? maybe, there had after all be sufficient time for cooling down in the pursuit.
But again, causes only inconvenience while drivers actions, as usual, cause danger.
wycombewheeler wrote:
is there any position the cyclist can take where another vehicle (the bus in this case) can fit in the lane with him? No.
at the start of the clip he is in lane 3 of 4 as lanes 1 and 2 do not go where he is going, to cycle on the left here would be dangerously close to any vehivcles using the lane on his left. In fact he would then be blocking two lanes, in order for the bus driver to feel he was talking up less space.
By the time the other lanes had seperated, the driver had already started being agressive and he could reasonably expect the bus would try to squeeze through in the same lane with him if he was on the left.
Throughout the whole video the entire lane to the right of the cyclist was available for the bus, but the driver chose not to use it.
Who is creating the problem in this situation, because I can’t see how the cyclist could do anything different withut endangering himself. Was the e/stop use overreaction? maybe, there had after all be sufficient time for cooling down in the pursuit.
But again, causes only inconvenience while drivers actions, as usual, cause danger.
— Twowheelsaregreat
Yes. This!
Twowheelsaregreat wrote:
Blah. Wh*t a cunt y*u are.
I cycle through that junction
I cycle through that junction every day. TFL has it marked as one of the most dangerous. Traffic goes left to Tulse Hill and straight on to streatham. The lights are not phased for each direction and so there is a free for all and cyclists going to streatham are often cut up and endangered by drivers in right lane needing to cut across lane to the left because buses impede them. I have seen 2 cyclist knocked if there bikes precisely because of this. That’s what make what happened here so surprising because that was hardly a close pass. Not idea given bus driver could have continued in lane before coming over. It’s also uphill. I think rider would have been better off reporting driver to Garage/TFL with footage.
I cycle through that junction
I cycle through that junction every day. TFL has it marked as one of the most dangerous. Traffic goes left to Tulse Hill and straight on to streatham. The lights are not phased for each direction and so there is a free for all and cyclists going to streatham are often cut up and endangered by drivers in right lane needing to cut across lane to the left because buses impede them. I have seen 2 cyclist knocked if there bikes precisely because of this. That’s what make what happened here so surprising because that was hardly a close pass. Not idea given bus driver could have continued in lane before coming over. It’s also uphill. I think rider would have been better off reporting driver to Garage/TFL with footage.
Fwiw couldn’t give a f@§k
Fwiw couldn’t give a f@§k either way.
Didn’t look particularly
Didn’t look particularly close to me; I’d say that at least a dozen vehicles pass me closer than that every single ride I take to and from work. If it’s worth anything, it’s a flap of teh hand (largely to tell the drivers behind not to get so close when *they* pass).
Richard D wrote:
You seem to be telling us that your approach isn’t working for you?
WW is spot-on but I have no problem with the engine stop being used on vehicles that are being driven intentionally dangerously. If anything he’s done a public service.
I had to laugh
I had to laugh