Today, delivering the mail ,i came up against my first Lane Rage.
Driving up a long lane, with a slight bend in the middle ,i met a small car (think it was a Peugeot),we both stopped,i looked in my mirrors to see if a/anyone was behind me and b/ where the nearest pull in was.
There was no one behind ,but it was a long way back to a layby ,so as i was in a Sherpa and he was in a small car i thought that he could reverse back, and after a short pause this he did.
Using his mirrors he kept weaving in the road in and out of the verge, then gave up and looking over his shoulder he shot back to the junction at the top.
When i got there i was the usual smiles and thank you's and to my surprise i got a torrent of abuse, why had i not reversed was one of his questions with the derogatory comments removed.
I replied that ,well i was going uphill you are supposed to give way to me,(is this right as i have always believed ? as a bloke at work disagrees).
Boom !! he shot out of the car and went for me.
Believing that disgression is better than valour, i dropped the clutch and sped away.
Well that was the idea, actually the Sherpa sat spinning it wheels asthmatically whilst he ranted at my door and ever so slowly we drove away.
OOOh he was a nasty man and the first i have met in four years of working with Royal Mail
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Should've cracked him.
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Should've cracked him.
should have whacked his silly little car and then got the camera out to "prove" it was his fault
he is at this moment probably writing a letter to your line manager moaning so lets hope his letter(s) get lost ;-)
and yes you should give way to uphill vehicles especially commercials as they could burn a clutch or break the propshaft by setting off loaded
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Should've cracked him.
Open the door VERY rapidly with your foot as he is 3 feet away......never fails............well both times it hasn't.
very best regards to those who stand up for themselves in the face of morons.........MD
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I replied that ,well i was going uphill you are supposed to give way to me,(is this right as i have always believed ? as a bloke at work disagrees).
Never heard of that, but stand to be corrected
Believing that disgression is better than valour, i dropped the clutch and sped away. Well that was the idea, actually the Sherpa sat spinning it wheels asthmatically whilst he ranted at my door and ever so slowly we drove away.
Hahaha. Wheel spin from a Sherpa, must have been a wet road. I've got images similar to the recent TG episode where they tested vans, with James May attempting a 0-60 sprint in a similar contraption....
OOOh he was a nasty man and the first i have met in four years of working with Royal Mail
Above all, sorry to hear you had a bad day at work, but at least you got away ok (albeit slowly)
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Can be a bit upsetting that sort of thing.
Roberson's attacker sounds like one of these wallies who regard giving way as a sign of weakness or some sort of moral defeat. Having done the right thing, and made heavy weather of it, he worked himself into a lather and behaved like a pfd.
Like the growing number of people, women as well as men, who walk straight at you on the pavement, or wander about backwards expecting others to avoid them.
We may all have to carry weapons soon.
'Never killed a man who didn't deserve it, ma'am.'
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I believe you are right in that the vehicle going downhill should give way and reverse to the nearest passing place. The thinking being that it is easier to see the road when reversing uphill. I seem to remember there being a suggestion that giving way to vans etc with limited rear visibility is a good idea.
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I have to say this a unique thread. Its the first time I have ever heard of a PO van stoppoing let alone giving way. Usually you can plot a PO van's progress by the cars in the hedges.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Usually you can plot a PO van's progress by the cars in the hedges. ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
PMSL :-)
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The Highway code gives advice about giving way to vehicles travelling uphill in rule 133, see;
www.highwaycode.gov.uk/12.htm
Number_Cruncher
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Plenty of this around the Herts lanes. Only today on a lane that in precious few places has a centre line did a skip truck force me to a sharp stop as it came towards me past a passing place to the point where there was precious little room for two cars to pass each other, let alone a truck. I think there might have been a contributory factor in this case: the driver was dialling his mobile with his right hand. Lunacy, sheer lunacy.
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I live in a rural area with many lanes which I drive along regularly. The general rule is 'might is right' - the probability of a vehicle stopping to give way is inversely proportional to its size. God help you if you come up against a skip truck because they don't stop or give way for anyone. The PO vans (also Sherpas around here) are driven as if pursued by all the demons in Hell.
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"Might is right" does seem to be the rule.
I have a stretch of single track on my way to work every morning. There are few passing places and more often than not I find myself having to pull on to grass verge to allow space for a monster 4WD to go past. I drive a lowered MX-5; there is nothing less suited to rough verges. Heaven forbid that the driver of a Discovery should get his tyres dirty.
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That's how my last car, the Corolla, got written off - silly 'Lady' in Peugeot 106 decided that, despite her being at her passing place (single track road), and me 3/4 from mine, that she had right of way .... cue slippery road and two cars into each other !
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Recently took a trip on the DUWK amphibious WW2 truck/boat in London. See www.londonducktours.co.uk/gallery.htm
There was gridlock and the driver went down a narrow backroad only to come face to face with a London Taxi that wouldn't reverse in the face of this huge yellow truck, reversing for the DUCK wasn't and option and the taxi driver was unimpressed that we were using his ratrun. We had about 20 people shouting at the taxi driver and it took 15 mins before our driver decided to drive over his taxi. He soon moved.
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Yes I have done the DUCK tour, its one big wagon for sure and I am sure its a pig to drive.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Yes I have done the DUCK tour, its one big wagon for sure and I am sure its a pig to drive. ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
duck and pig? sounds like a pub
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Off topic, but I used to work in an office overlooking the Thames and noticed on a couple of occasions these things being towed in. A later chat with someone from the Thames RNLI revealed that this was not uncommon.
Ex Eastern European military barges, apparently, not trhe ex WW2 US jobs that were frequent sights in Nofolk.
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Bedfordrl: Are you in Bedford?
I live in Luton (South Bedford) and the drivers are incredibly aggressive and ignore the Highway Code. I frequently have to hoot to warn someone not to change lane because I am in it. (What else can I do to avoid a crash.) They rarely signal, and simply drift across lanes regardless. Only last week I received a two finger salute from a young woman in a new BMW X3. 100m later she zoomed past, horn blaring, right arm out of the window, repeatedly giving a one fingered salute. The one fingered salutes went on continously for the next few miles. I did not respond. I found it odd that someone with so little self control was driving a very expensive vehicle.
It seems to me that some people are on a very short fuse and one tiny little 'transgression' (as they see it) and bang, they explode with righteous anger. They are best ignored if possible. Why get involved in someone else's weirdness.
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I had a case of lane rage years ago. I was driving a large commercial vehicle on a narrow country road, pottering along at a safe speed. I saw a car approaching and between me and that car was an obvious passing place. So I continued with the intention of stopping at the passing place. However the car reached it first but didn't stop, instead driving right up to my bumper. The driver ( whom I knew vaguely and is now a well-known novelist) rudely insisted that I reversed my truck.
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Leif
The incident I reported above happened near Kimpton on the Peter's Green to Kimpton Road. You can sample country-lane madness to your heart's content in the zone bounded by Luton, Hitchin, Welwyn and Harpenden. For this reason I no longer use the road between Kimpton and Harpenden, and a long time ago I resolved to stop when in doubt -- if there is a collision, I'm going to be stationary.
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No, i own a Bedford RL, which is the army version of the S type, or of the same family as the Green Goddess.
4.9 litre or 300 cubic inch straight six petrol with four wheel drive and oodles more presence than your average Euro jelly mould,and live/work in Hampshire
Regarding the previous comment on the wheel spinning,one problem with the Sherpa (and the Bedford) is that they are meant to carry heavy loads ,so the back axle is always light and they struggle for grip unloaded.
The round i am using the Sherpa on (i am a reserve so i do all the rounds in the office whenever needed) is usually done with a Vauxhall Combi,its rear door is not shutting/sealing properly and is letting in fumes, thus is off the road at the moment.
So the Sherpa is called into action and it slithers on corners,hates hills with loose surfaces and tight corners.
The reason they are driven as though persued by the hounds of hell is when you have got them moving you keep going.
But on a damp rounabout you can power slide the back end around and the bench seat is handy for more mail in the front.
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