Lovely weather, if a bit cold. Still, shorts & ss jersey were fine. However, I must have been invisible, as two very close passes caused me to swear.
On Upper Tooting Road, there was a plaver, with a few cyclists stood at the side of the road with a driver, whose car was still in the middle of the road, part way through a manoeuvre of pulling out of a side road on the right. Not sure what happened, but I think I can guess.
Bit further on, I had yet another close pass - this time from a Lambeth-contracted Veolia bus. He then pulled in to the ASL reservoir at the lights. I stopped in front of him, and explained what he'd done (he didn't seem aware that it was an offence
), asking for more space next time he passed.
As I turned to get ready for the lights to change, another rider said that the same had happened to him. But I brightened up about half a dozen riders' commutes when I told them that, by pure happenstance, I have a contract review discussion with Veolia scheduled for later today.
Ironic, really, given that Veolia/Lambeth make so much of a deal about their drivers' cycle awareness training, and that they have warning signs on the back of the buses.
The driver's apology, of course, counted for naught when we came to the place where general traffic merges into the bus lane. Prat.
Hey ho. If I can't educate the driver about the rules of the road, he will at least learn that people riding bikes can be influential.
