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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To report driver?

68 replies

MiffedMummy · 11/01/2018 23:47

I was driving home today with DD in the car, I had a goods truck for a well known department store right up my arse to the point if I had stopped suddenly then I feared they'd have gone into the back of me and crushed the car (there was a truck in front of me). They then started flashing me, I assume wanting me to get out of the way. We were in the middle lane, I couldn't get into the left as that takes you to a slip road off and he could have overtaken me in the right hand lane.

I am able to get into the left lane after the next junction and I then see them get quite close to a truck in front.

WIBU to report him to his employer?

OP posts:

StrictlyPannnn · 12/01/2018 08:22

I'm assuming he wouldn't have been flashing you if you were driving reasonably well so what were you doing?

Fucking hell.

Lethaldrizzle · 12/01/2018 08:24

Piffle what a loada piffle. How can you make the assumption that her driving was at fault? She had a vehicle in front of her. Motorways are full of aggressive driving twats. Flashing your lights at someone is meant to be used as a warning, nothing else. Tailgating is one of the major causes of accidents.

Zampa · 12/01/2018 08:30

I'm assuming he wouldn't have been flashing you if you were driving reasonably well so what were you doing?

Round here you get flashed for driving at the speed limit! There are some very entitled people on the road.

Nothing bad happened. But if OP has been forced to do an emergency stop, the tail-gating vehicle would have run into her. An HGV can go over the top of a small car and crush it.

OP I would definitely contact the company concerned. Nothing may come of it but it could alert the driver to think more about his behaviour.

thetemptationofchocolate · 12/01/2018 08:31

I have twice reported drivers to their employers when I've been shocked by their dangerous driving. Both times the person I spoke to on the phone was not happy to be told about it, but I doubt anyone got the sack.
It is odd how many people you see driving like idiots, with their company name blazoned all over their vehicle. Not very good for business I shouldn't think.

BigGreenOlives · 12/01/2018 08:33

Sirzy yes, it was a transit van not a lorry. The junction is a notorious accident site.

maxthemartian · 12/01/2018 08:36

I reported a driver to Ocado for merrily browsing their phone at 70mph. Ocado took it very seriously.

SoupDragon · 12/01/2018 08:36

there's no responsibility on car drivers to drive appropriately?

So, the OP is driving at a speed appropriate for the traffic in front of her and in the correct lane given the left lane was exiting, a truck is driving up her arse and flashing her and it is somehow her fault??

SoupDragon · 12/01/2018 08:38

You wouldn’t necessarily need a registration number to report them as the operator probably has a fairly good idea who was driving on a particular road at a particular time. Lots of vehicles have trackers now too don’t they?

bruffin · 12/01/2018 08:40

Dh reported a similar situation recently. Dh was on just above the speed limit and couldnt move over but eddie stoppard driver was harrassing to go faster. He then made a crude gesture at dh which was uncalled for.
There was a report box on the website.

Kelsoooo · 12/01/2018 08:41

I've reported two driver's in my time

One, wasn't even me he nearly ran off the road. I was just tootling along behind. And watching it unfold. And then saw he was on his phone chatting away, oblivious to the fact he'd nearly driven the Audi off the road on no less than three occasions, and forcing said Audi driver to come to an almost stop on a motorway.

Spoke to the owner of the company and he was livid. Hopefully the driver did get fired, it was a matter of time before he caused an accident.

If you're convinced you're doing it for the right reason, report to his company.

QueenUnicorn · 12/01/2018 08:47

Report, tailgaters kill and probably wont stop tailgating until they do.

saladdays66 · 12/01/2018 08:47

Sounds like you were being a middle lane hogger, OP. You must have been driving pretty slowly if a lorry wanted to overtake you!!

Am confused about the left lane taking you to a slip road - was there no option to stay in the left lane and not go off the slip road?

Pantah630 · 12/01/2018 08:52

If you were up behind a truck, is it possible the one behind was flashing to let you out first? [unusually optimistic mood]

DGRossetti · 12/01/2018 08:57

Rear-facing dashcams are handy in cases like this.

Rememberallball · 12/01/2018 09:00

Saladdays66, we have some roads round here where the left lane becomes an extension of the slip road by the type of markings (short white lines close together) and by the fact it’s marked either by overhead gantry (M25/A3 junction) on junction signs (a couple of junctions on the A316 in South West London such as the A312) or in the road itself. In those examples, unless you are taking the junction/changing road, you should move across into what is effectively the middle lane to continue straight ahead on the road already being driven when you get the notification of the change - this would also stop the queues that build up because someone tries to change lanes as the road splits!!

SoupDragon · 12/01/2018 09:02

Sounds like you were being a middle lane hogger, OP. You must have been driving pretty slowly if a lorry wanted to overtake you!!

She was behind another truck FFS!

Shattered04 · 12/01/2018 09:05

I had this when I was on the M1 in the left hand lane in roadworks with an average speed cam of 50mph. I was already doing 52mph and there was a huge truck a safe stopping distance (as measured by my car's adaptive cruise control via its LIDAR sensor) in front of me. I'd have had to have gone above the speed limit in order to overtake the lorry in front.

However, the massive Argos lorry decided I shouldn't be there (or he didn't like the fact I left a safe stopping distance to the lorry in front) so he drove literally a few feet off the back bumper and kept flashing. I couldn't have pulled into the right hand lane even if I wanted to as there was no visibility. He was perfectly able to overtake, but thought he'd just harass me instead.

I really wish I'd reported it now, it went on for about ten miles and I was really shaken up. But it was a long cross-country drive and I was just too tired when I got home and the next day and had a lot of other things going on in my life at the time.

SandyDenny · 12/01/2018 09:06

Some of you who are assuming the OP was in the wrong maybe don't do a lot of motorway driving, yes, there are inconsiderate arsehole drivers but in my daily commute I see way more poor driving from lorries. Why slate the OP and think she was in the wrong, I could give you multiple instances when I've been driving at the proper speed and had lorries nearly in the car with me.

You should definitely ring the company, it won't matter if you have the reg, they know where their lorries are. I know of more then one person who's rung for similar and had a positive reception from the lorry company.

MrsSylviaTietjens · 12/01/2018 09:11

I’m concerned that some of the posters on here suggesting the op was driving badly have never heard of the concept of a filter lane.

SoupDragon · 12/01/2018 09:11

Am confused about the left lane taking you to a slip road - was there no option to stay in the left lane and not go off the slip road?

This is the A22 exit from the M25. It’s a little more confusing than the OP as there are 5 lanes at this point. The left lane is exit only and is marked as this for half a mile. The next lane across is also marked for exit but you can go straight on at the junction like a “normal” slip road.

artisancraftbeer · 12/01/2018 09:13

@saladdays66 a lot of roads in London have a left hand land which acts as an extension of the slip lane and peels off - if you want to go straight on you have to be in the middle lane. It also isn't a motorway do lorries are allowed to overtake on the right hand side (a40 and a406).

There's also a 50mph stretch of dual carriageway near me that lorries never ever do at 50 and tailgate people who do. It's very satisfying when the patrols are out...

Ohyesiam · 12/01/2018 09:34

Lorries can't use the third land, but if you couldn't access the first lane due to slip road then it's unreasonable to expect b you to move.
If you felt in danger, report.

Eliza9917 · 12/01/2018 09:43

Why didn't you move in to the right hand lane OP, overtake the first truck and then move back over?

That's what its there for.

Eliza9917 · 12/01/2018 09:47

Actually, lorries are supposed to leave a certain amount of distance between themselves and the vehicle in front, for stopping distance, so apart from general tailgating he was probably breaking other rules specific to lorries as well.

bellagood · 12/01/2018 09:48

I am torn. Coz on the one hand I wouldn't want to be responsible for a man getting the sack, but on the other hand, why should he get away with driving like a tit.

I have driven down the M6, from the Stoke/Stafford region to Birmingham NEC/airport many a time in the past, (going to concerts and shows and to the airport.) And every fecking time, I get lorry drivers on my arse in the middle lane, trying to shove me along, and make me go faster. But I can't coz there's too much traffic in front (and at the sides!) It is very intimidating, and scary.

Nah feck it, report him! (to his employer,.) The more people report these twits, the less they will do it - eventually!

Not sure about 101 though. Someone I know rang them a couple of months ago, because a man 'apparently' deliberately ran into her with his trolley in Tesco's, and 'hurt her hand.' (No marks or scratches were anywhere to be seen!)

The call handler told her off for wasting their time, and said this number is for CRIMES - albeit non-emergency ones - not for ridiculous petty scuffles in the supermarket, that resulted from 2 people not looking where they were going, and where no-one was even remotely hurt!

So do be careful if you ring 101. It's for crimes, not for a reporting a lorry driver driving too close to your bumper, you not being able to prove it, and no-one coming to any harm.

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