A man has been fined after a cyclist riding on a busy cycleway in London was knocked off his bike by a Tesco delivery driver who turned left across his path but later denied he had been driving the vehicle.
The dramatic incident was filmed in May and has now been uploaded to YouTube by road.cc reader Chris.
It happened on Cycleway 8 – one of the original ‘lick of blue paint’ Cycle Superhighways that afford nothing in the way of physical protection – on Millbank, just after the junction with Vauxhall Bridge Road.
The driver could not have been unaware that there were cyclists to his left, with the start of the video showing around a dozen of them positioned in the advanced stop line area ahead of him as they waited for the traffic lights to change to cross Vauxhall Bridge Road.
Nevertheless, after the lights change, the driver passed Chris then turned left into a small cul-de-sac, knocking the front rider from his bike and, as this still image shows, the cyclist was very close to having his leg crushed by the vehicle’s nearside front wheel.
Chris told us that the cyclist was able to ride away from the scene, and that the case has only just gone to court – although incredibly, the driver refused to admit that he was driving the vehicle at the time.
“This meant the police could not charge him for driving-related charges as he could not officially be identified – despite the video evidence,” Chris said.
“Instead he was prosecuted for ‘failing to nominate driver. He was given a £300 fine, plus £332 in costs and six points.
“Despite the employee refusing to take responsibility for the crash, Tesco admitted liability in the insurance claim.”
Chris added that in a later part of the footage he captured, not shown in this edit (which has been uploaded and shared with the cyclist’s permission, “the employee states the cyclist had been in his ‘blind spot’.”
In October 2015, cyclist Julie Dinsdale lost her right leg when she was crushed by a left-turning Tesco lorry as she rode along London’s Old Street with her partner, mountain bike pioneer Keith Bontrager.
The following August, the driver, Florian Oprea, was fined £625 and had his driving licence endorsed with five penalty points after pleading guilty to driving without due care and attention.
Dinsdale said afterwards that she was “hugely disappointed by the decision of the Court which finds that despite the evidence that I was visible to the driver, he should not be handed a more substantial sentence given the impact his actions have had on my life.”
> Cyclist who lost leg ‘hugely disappointed’ by driver’s £625 fine
60 thoughts on “Dramatic footage shows Tesco delivery driver knocking cyclist off bike on London cycleway (+ video)”
As it was the (alleged)
As it was the (alleged) driver, not Tesco (who presumably are the registered keepers) that was prosecuted for failing to nominate presumably Tesco said the van was being used by X that day, and X is saying “not me, guv”.
FFS.
Ridiculous loophole. Should
Ridiculous loophole. Should be an automatic vehicle confiscation with a big fine at the very least if they can’t provide the driver details…they might nominate the driver if it’s gonna cost them 20 grand+…
This is an odd one.
This is an odd one.
The Tesco delivery manager didn’t want the charge, points and fine, so the driver decides, even though readily identifiable, to make it worse for themselves.
Watching the YouTubes of CyclingMikey and CyclingGaz, failure to nominate for phone use means 6 points and £800+ fine rather than a £200 one.
And properly adjusted mirrors on a small vehicle like that eliminate “blind spots”. The driver decided to place the rider in the blind spot by the decision to overtake.
The Tesco van has onboard recording.
I reckon that’s the driver
I reckon that’s the driver getting out of the passenger side . Takes him ages to get out, and the van is right over the wrong side of the road and up towards the bushes and wall.
if Tesco can’t say who was driving , take the penalty points up the ladder to the top of the tree . I’m sure if ‘Mr Tesco’ suddenly got 6 points on their licence because of some knob head van driver then they would be able to identify who it was …
I think its about time that
I think its about time that someone guilty of “Failure to Nominate” becomes “responsible for the actions of the driver”. Because ininstances like this some callous folk will smple be trying to be guilty of a lesser charge.
Reminds me of one a while back wih a Volvo driving straight into the back of a rider and leaving the scene.
Also the fleet manager will be keeping very strict records of who has responibility for what vehicle when, and these records should be used in evidence to identify the driver
Straight out the Donald Trump
Straight out the Donald Trump playbook.
londondailyphoto wrote:
I think he has minions to drive his vans.
Bollocks, of course
Bollocks, of course reasonable proof was available as to who was driving. Tesco have to have records of who is driving which vehicle at what time for a whole bunch of reasons.
Agree that the offence of failure to nominate should carry a greater penalty – I completely fail to understand why this should even be an option.
Also, is it normal practice in London for Tesco deliveries to be double-crewed? I’m assuming its the passenger who gets out at the end of the clip, not the driver?
kil0ran wrote:
Exactly what I was going to say. Tesco must know who was driving, unless they’ve contracted it out to a delivery company, but whoever owns that vehicle had to have known who was driving. Maybe we need to picket Tesco?
Can’t quite understand how the driver wasn’t identified at the scene, surely the police were called and details exchanged? What worries me is that this will be picked up by loophole lawyers and used to avoid many more prosecutions.
Is it normal for Tesco
Is it normal for Tesco deliveries to be double-crewed? Because I’d imagine it’s the passenger who gets out at the end of the clip, not the driver?
kil0ran wrote:
No, usually a single driver. I have seen two make deliveries when there is a trainee. Might that be why Tesco’s are unsure which was driving?
Well, we know who got out the
Well, we know who got out the passenger side…
kil0ran wrote:
I was a customer service manager for Tesco for a couple of years, having responsibility for grocery delivery drivers.
All vans on a particular delivery round had a reference like ‘L56’ or ‘E99’ for example, this was because if they were running late then they had to inform head office where a national database was compiled every day to keep track of operations and because this reference (van) was allocated a mobile phone so drivers could be contacted if a customer did not receive their order for example.
Drivers were not allowed to answer phones whilst driving mind you as it was a sackable offence. Vans were usually single crewed and used sat navs but there was never enough working ones to go around all the drivers, so it is possible that a ‘new’ driver would have someone more experienced in the van with them for a day or two to show them the route.
Also Tesco were using more and more agency staff to drive the vans as they were payed less than Tesco staff, so it is possible that Tesco would not have had a clue who was driving the van, as staff could change on a daily basis and there was a high turnover of staff as drivers got fed up of customers giving them grief and a lot of the agency drivers could not speak much English because many of them were Eastern European, especially in the London area for example, so you sometimes never got to know their names.
Some of the agencies Tesco used were pretty dreadful, but supplied cheap staff and potentially they may have not known who had been sent to drive what van on any particular day and as Tesco didn’t have a clue who they were when they turned up in store to do the driving, things could easily get very confused believe me.
This may sound odd but Tesco are the biggest grocery delivery company in the world and the big delivery ‘warehouses’ in London may have a lot of vans going out every day, I can’t remember exactly how many but maybe 80 to 150 vans as its a big area to service.
I no longer work for Tesco – I handed my notice in for a number of reasons as you can imagine – too much stress mainly!
How did anyone know if they
How did anyone know if they held a valid licence if they had no idea who was on shift?
This was a contractual
This was a contractual obligation of the agency as the drivers were not employees of Tesco.
Tesco would request a certain number of drivers to be supplied and the agency would supply suitable licensed staff.
When I was working for Tesco we never checked the integrity of agency staff, it was down to the agency to do all the checks – it is quite a common arrangement in all sorts of industries.
It is certainly possible that someone could turn up and pretend to be someone else I suppose, this has been happening with UBER drivers according to news reports, not that I am suggesting Tesco allow this but I never had a clue who was who with the agency staff to be honest as they changed so frequently.
If agency staff were any good, then Tesco would after six months or so offer them a full time job as a Tesco employee, they nearly always said yes as the pay was a lot higher and they got perks like staff discounts in store and more holidays for example.
Only then would we ask for proof of qualifications like a driving license and also proof of being legal to work in the UK.
But like I say, this is common practice across all industries who utilise agency staff and no doubt the likes of ASDA, Morrisons etc all work the same way.
Fine answers and thanks for
Fine answers and thanks for giving them.
Did the agency staff have to sign out the vehicles?
I hope they were sacked by
I hope they were sacked by Tesco for refusing to nominate.
Were there 2 people in the van given a person exited on the passenger side?
In which case it would have been clear who was driving.
As others have already stated
As others have already stated here, the driver cannot be prosecuted for ‘Failing to Nominate’. Only the Owner/Keeper of the vehicle can commit that offence and I doubt he is an ‘owner-driver’. I would like to think Tesco’s keep detailed records of who is driving which vehicle & when. That aside, there can be absolutely no excuse for the extremely poor standard of driving by this professional driver. Clearly, his driving has fallen far below the standard required of him; which is how these cases are decided upon, therefore should have been looking at Dangerous Driving.
Which is why he has “failed
“Clearly, his driving has fallen far below the standard required of him; which is how these cases are decided upon, therefore should have been looking at Dangerous Driving.”
Which is why he has “failed to Nominate” as it caries a lesser punishment
I doubt it, unless the police
I doubt it, unless the police and the CPS took it VERY seriously, and being the met, they very rarely do, it would be driving without due care and attention, 3 points and £100 maybe?
The problem is Tesco almost
The problem is Tesco almost certainly record who is supposed to be driving a particular van,but almost certainly cannot guarantee they actually were.
It wouldn’t be the first time a organisation who thought it recorded its employee allocations, discovered they were woefully inadequate in light of an accident.
I suppose all the dash cam
I suppose all the dash cam footage was lost too the audio of which could have been interesting!
Makes no sense at all that
Makes no sense at all that the option not to nominate is there for TEsco
“The Road Traffic Act 1988 also places a duty on a body corporate to keep a record of who was driving a specific vehicle at any given time. Should a body corporate be found guilty of the offence and the offence occurred as a result of negligence or connivance of a person within the company, that person can also be held individually liable and subject to penalty points and a fine.
A conviction for failing to provide driver information will result in 6 penalty points and a fine of up to £1000. The police may also continue with the original alleged offence on the basis that there will be an assumption that the registered keeper would have been the driver of the vehicle at the time. This would obviously be difficult for them to prove in the absence of any other evidence. Failing to provide driver information is a strict liability offence and you may be convicted even if you do not receive the request for information.”
https://www.ashfords.co.uk/news-and-media/general/what-is-failing-to-provide-driver-information
How did Tesco not have to show who was driving ?
Who else at Tesco got points ?
The whole video was obviously
The whole video was obviously staged as the cyclists were all waiting at the red traffic lights, and we all know that all cyclists ignore traffic lights!
Seriously this is an outrage. If this really is the state of play then there is a serious loophole that is open to outright abuse.
The excuse put forward by the
The excuse put forward by the driver is utter BS.
Firstly, he would have seen the cyclist as he passed them, just prior to making the turn, so the judge should have called BS, secondly…. the driver was fully aware that the cyclist was there, why else would he have driven onto the wrong side of the road on the entry into the cul-de-sac.
Having been involved in accidents before I would be making sure that I have undisputable proof of who is driving by way of helmet cam footage (Provided they stop).
It would be interesting to see more of the footage, to see if there were any other Tesco employees there at the time. If there were no other Tesco employees there, then how can there be ANY dubiaety about who was driving the vehicle.
I believe that a failure to
I believe that a failure to nominate should mean an individual being given double the tariff of the offence for which they are accused of. That way there is no benefit for not nominating.
If its in respect of a company failing to nominate than they should receive a substantial fine of say £10,000.
It all sounds a bit draconian but they need to remove the benefit of keeping your mouth shut.
Not being a London cyclist
Not being a London cyclist how are these blue painted superhighways supposed to work? Traffic will need to turn left so who has right of way? If I was a driver and had to use a wing mirror to spot a gap in amongst a stream of cyclists (ie cyclists have right of way), it would be a nightmare. In Bristol any cycle highway (generally) is segregated and you give way when crossing a side road. I would never undertake a moving vehicle and only in a hatched line cycle lane if there wasn’t a side road where the vehicle may turn left. Crap cycle infrastructure?
Shades wrote:
Right of way is the wrong term here. Right of way is a legal term regarding who can use a path, route, road etc… So in theory they both had equal right of way. Right of way doesn’t dictate who is more important or who has to give way.
What you mean is priorty. In this case the turning vehicle should give way to the cyclsits in the cycle lane. If you indicate and wait, people will either move around you or stop to let you go.
But if you knew that you were
But if you knew that you were turning left in a couple of hundred yards, would you overtake the riders off the lights, guaranteeing that there won’t be a gap for you to spot?
Shades wrote:
This wasn’t a segregated cycle highway, it was the major road, with right of way over traffic joining and leaving it, so I’m not sure why you bothered to post this comment as it has zero relevance. Neither did the cyclist undertake a moving vehicle. Did you watch the video at all?
eburtthebike wrote:
This wasn’t a segregated cycle highway, it was the major road, with right of way over traffic joining and leaving it, so I’m not sure why you bothered to post this comment as it has zero relevance. Neither did the cyclist undertake a moving vehicle. Did you watch the video at all?— Shades
My comment/question was in the wider context of how these lanes work, not specifically related to the incident. Why are there always pedantic kn#bs (trolls?) on these discussions? (fogot, it’s the interweb – yes I did watch the vid).
It’s pretty simple. Give way
It’s pretty simple. Give way to traffic going straight.
If it’s a bus lane, give way to the bus, segregated cycle lane give way to the cyclist, none segregated cycle lane and you want to turn left but they are too close to not cut them up give way to the cyclist, oncoming traffic give way before you turn right.
This is the same if you are in the middle lane on a motorway and have seen your exit and there is a car in the inside lane, let them pass before you move. Don’t just cut them up.
Am i the only one who thinks
Am i the only one who thinks that as the one who’s the most vulnerable, the cyclist should be more aware of what’s going on here?
Since this is the internet and everything on the internet is black or white, i now have to point out that I’m not saying that it’s his fault.
I do hope so.
I do hope so.
I’m not sure what you think the rider should have done. He did not have the same point of view as we do in the video. He’d have seen the truck pull alongside him, still travelling apparently too quickly to make a 90 degree turn. From the moment the driver braked and switched on his indicator to the moment of impact was a whole two seconds.
There’s not much point writing “I’m not saying that it’s his fault” when you have just written that the rider should have been more aware.
gsk82 wrote:
I don’t know if they “should”… It’s hard to judge from a video, but it seems that the driver turned off so suddenly and without warning that it would be hard to react even if you observe the van carefully.
However I see your poin; from own experience if a van half passes me but then slows down and doesn’t quite overtake, I would certainly expect that trhe driver is rubbish and might suddenly turn or pull into the bike lane, so I’d slow down and try not to cycle next to them.
But then all cycling videos from London look like extremely aggressive, competitive cycling that we don’t really have up here.
Do you think that the less
Do you think that the less vulnerable should be less aware??
gsk82 wrote:
That’s like saying “attractive ladies/gentlemen should be more aware of rapists”.
Really? This isn’t like a
Really? This isn’t like a ‘Third Person’ view on a video game. You are looking at the situation from a camera a couple of meters back giving you an unrealistic view of what the cyclist who was hit would see. So no, he could not have been more aware of the impending hit at all.
I assume you are trolling
I assume you are trolling because your point is absolutely ludicrous.
The cyclist becomes accutely aware pretty much as soon as humanly possible but there was absolutely nothing he could have done to avoid the collision.
Perhaps you could enlighten us as to what you would have done differently?
I have rewatched the video
I have rewatched the video several times, and at best the driver brakes and indicates at the point where the back of his van has only just passed the front wheel of the cyclist. And about 2 seconds later is the point of impact.
And given the cyclists speed – around 20mph by my guess, even with the best reactions in the world, had he applied full braking force he would have still have hit the side of the van.
And should a cyclist slow down and expect every vehicle that starts to pass them is blindly going to cut across their path, perhaps doff their cycling cap to the superior drivers as they acknowledge their presence?
Your point is akin to someone driving in the inside lane on a motorway on the approach to an exit sliproad expecting that some bell end is going to attempt the suicide entry to the slip road from lane 3.
gsk82 wrote:
yes.
(as in: yes, you are the only one)
The cyclist had been in his
The cyclist had been in his blind spot? The blind spot of the man definitely not driving?
The only blind spot is in his
The only blind spot is in his memory of the cyclist he over took 5 seconds before. Flick and go, that is all that is required, right?
The ‘blind spot’ claim is
The ‘blind spot’ claim is bollocks. Iveco Daily vans have large twin mirrors, the bottom mirror is a wide view anti blind spot mirror. Even if they are not set perfectly for the driver, it is impossible not to be able to see.
What a disgusting example to set by Tesco.
How can the driver say it was
How can the driver say it was not him driving when the videio clearly shows his face, Im sure Tesco knew who was driving that truck that day and time. It also the drivers resopnability to be aware of what in his blind spots
You mean the passenger”s face
You mean the passenger”s face.
The driver is in reality not
The driver is in reality not denying being the driver here, the offence is under S.172 RTA 1988. The registered keeper of the vehicle (assume Tesco) would be formally requested to “”give information as to drivers identity” Failure to do so within 28 days is an offence – the penalty is a fine and minimum 6 points. No endorsement for limited companies. On the civil liability side clearly Tesco did the right thing and accepted their driver was at fault – hard to argue with !
Who got the fine and points
Who got the fine and points then ?
Anyone can be required to
Anyone can be required to identify a driver if it is “in their power to do so”. Section. 172(2)(b).
That includes the ‘passenger’ in this crash if it was two people who got out.
Tesco seem to have a bit of
Tesco seem to have a bit of history:-
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/cyclist-sues-for-100k-after-she-s-run-over-twice-by-tesco-driver-a3648141.html
http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2016/09/26/tesco-investigates-video-showing-home-delivery-van-almost-hit-cyclist/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/flying-crates-tesco-delivery-van-12807513
I’ve also nearly been wiped
I’ve also nearly been wiped out by a left-hooking Tesco delivery van.
Tried sending the video to Tesco and the police. Police not interested, as no contact. Tesco came up with an increasing list of excuses as to why they couldn’t view the video and then just stopped responding at all.
I still have the video.
This particular van has on
This particular van has on board video recording, the notice is just below the insulting and nonsense blind spot thing.
I saw a Tesco’s van take to the pavement to gain a few seconds in queing traffic (Brookwood, I never understood how drivers did it every day), if he had not been so apologetic I would have reported him.
Ok , driver fucked up , but
Ok , driver fucked up , but if I was riding , I would have slowed down as soon as that van came alongside . Ride defensively, ride smart . Maybe it’s my experience when I used to be a cycle courier, but that was written in the stars . You have to be aware . You cannot assume anything . Just make sure there is a space in front of you to stop and you should be fine . Not had a crash ever on my road bikes ( sub 4 kilos yeah baby ) . Rode all over Europe etc .Been close on more than one occasion but my spider sense seems to help me . You start to understand the flow of traffic ,the sound of traffic etc with awareness , Just because you have the right of way or your in the right doesn’t mean your going to get it. Rely on yourself not others.
Xena wrote:
Probably because you were never moving, since you couldn’t go anywhere while there was a vehicle in your vicinity.
Just stopped by to compliment
Just stopped by to compliment you on how great you are – that’s the point you wanted to get across, right?
But Xena, you weren’t riding
But Xena, you weren’t riding or using your imaginary spider sense on your Yeah baby road bike. I’m not surprised you’re on a baby bike, you can’t go faster than walking pace otherwise how do you get to cycle quicker than that anywhere when riding in London (as crash was)? There are vehicles along side continuously on busy roads.
Blaming victims for drivers
Blaming victims for drivers as you put it fucking up won’t protect you from drivers fucking up – not matter how much you think you can control a situation you can be on the recieving end of someone elses mistake.
I dare say you already have, so try to remember what that is like before you, gratify yourself again by reassuring yourself this couldn’t possibly happen to you and bragging about your (non existent?) set of wheels.
Xena wrote:
Bully for you. Nominate yourself for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
I thoght the name rang a bell
I thought the name rang a bell – the following is Xena from a few days ago – the brake-check video. What was that old saying – “I have strong principles, but if you don’t agree with them, I do have others” –
“Police don’t give a shit , they are just another bunch of revenue seekers for the government. Don’t forget they turn up after the crime has been committed, but woe if you have a rear brake light out or drive 1 mph over the speed limit , then your treated like you have murdered someone . I mean most people who join the police do it for the power trip. I respect people not a uniform . Most encounters I’ve had with the “fuzz ” they have been arseholes on a power trip and I told them so.
That driver could have killed that cyclist. But no money in prosecuting him . That’s the truth. I’d love to know what would have happened to that driver if the cyclist was a copper ……. just had a thought ,i wonder if the driver has a couple of mates in the right places, wouldn’t surprise me . If that was another car instead of a bike ? “
Wow youre a star (Sarcasm!!).
Wow youre a star (Sarcasm!!). Look closely and the vans indicator flashes just twice before it started turning, no chance of the rider reacting to a one second split. He knew he was along side cyclists. If you had the react to every vehcile by slowing when they are along side you you’d never get anywhere!!
Then he denies it despite video evidence. I’d like to think Tesco stopped him driving in future he’s a complete danger to anyone else on the road. What a shister!