Is this lorry driver a bully or intoxicated?

[jotter22]

"Au contraire , the vast majority of HGV drivers are highly skilled professionals"

So highly skilled that it takes them 20 mins to overtake each other on a Dual carriageway !!

You can't rush precision!......Kno8

Tony.

 

[219]

"Au contraire , the vast majority of HGV drivers are highly skilled professionals"

So highly skilled that it takes them 20 mins to overtake each other on a Dual carriageway !!

That is a result of their pay and conditions , whereupon any loss of progress hits them in the pocket .

Oh , and don't forget that there are a good many foreign truck drivers on our roads now , some of which do have lower standards than our guys do .

 

[bob6600]

I take it you have never driven a lorry!

Tony.

Correct. I do sympathise with them to an extent however I used to travel a lot on dual carriageways/motorways and saw a big lack of respect for other road users. I now very rarely travel but when I do, it seems to have got worse.

The driver of the car was partially at fault but adding the wrong from the truck driver did not make a right.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

That is a result of their pay and conditions , whereupon any loss of progress hits them in the pocket .

Oh , and don't forget that there are a good many foreign truck drivers on our roads now , some of which do have lower standards than our guys do .

I understand that, however, very few of us travel on the sort of roads that cause the overtaking issue just for fun. We all have somewhere to go and don't need the time added to our journeys any more than lorry drivers do.

I shouldn't need to get home later just because their industry is poorly managed

 

[E55BOF]

Car driver needs his 4rse kicked. So does the lorry driver, for cutting it too fine, but I can understand his frustration with the t1t in the middle lane holding him up. I always try to avoid slowing lorries down if I can; I'm conscious that they drive for a living, and I don't.

 

[carat 3.6]

I'd like to see the footage leading up to that, might explain why the car was cruising in the middle lane with it's hazards on.

 

[Scott_F]

I have to agree with the OP to a certain extent HGV driving used to be a profession with courteous and professional drivers, now because of incidents like this they get tarred with the same brush as white van man. There is no doubt that HGV driving, particularly Class 1 has deteriorated and again this is probably due to the lack of relevance the current test has to real life conditions.

Most large firms used to have their own fleets of HGVs and employed drivers on decent terms and conditions.

Now, the majority of them contract the work out to "logistics" firms (such as Wincanton who are quoted in the article) who in turn use agency drivers (such as the one involved in this incident) on zero hours contracts with no job security and rubbish terms and conditions.

And whilst it doesn't justify this sort of behaviour it's the main reason why standards have deteriorated.

 

[StuartK]

I'd like to see the footage leading up to that, might explain why the car was cruising in the middle lane with it's hazards on.

Exactly.

It turns out the car driver is involved with a dash cam company. Coincidental that

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

"Au contraire , the vast majority of HGV drivers are highly skilled professionals" So highly skilled that it takes them 20 mins to overtake each other on a Dual carriageway !!

I'm sure there's a reason for the overtaking, one lorry approaching another at a lesser speed than him, rather than slowing down and changing down gears (thus making the situation longer to travel back up to speed) the driver will (safely) pull out to keep the flow, it's more beneficial than we think

-----

Been doing at least 5 hours travelling per day since August on this contract recently to London and back and you do sympathise for lorry drivers sometimes

And there are some serious inconsiderate ****holes that glue themselves into the middle lane, I have lost count the amount of times I've thought about side swiping them in anger in the back of my head

Shame on the lorry driver for colliding, but had dashcam man be driving properly, this could've been avoided. The guy is a risk-assessment in himself

 

[daveenty]

If you Google Matthew Stockdale you'll find a lot of interesting comments.

One of the first links is digital spy forums and then have a look at the several pages on PH.

My personal stance is that he's an attention seeking **** with a major problem, but the wagon driver should not have reacted as he did, even with the hassle he was getting.

 

[developer]

Where's Ronnie Pickering when you need him?

 

[daveenty]

Where's Ronnie Pickering when you need him?

Who's that?

 

[carat 3.6]

 

[Wheelsnuts]

Ronnie would have had no need to call 999. The lorry driver would have avoided him like the plague.
Seriously, I have no sympathy for either driver.

 

[markjay]

You are hammered by a lorry... and you have the registration number... and webcam evidence... why would you give chase while calling 999?

Report the incident and let the police do the chasing (or not).

I sympathise with him for being on the receiving end of a bully lorry driver, but I don't understand what he was trying to achieve by giving chase.

 

[renault12ts]

I don't understand anyone doing 50 whilst travelling in the middle lane of a three lane motorway.

 

[grumpyoldgit]

"A driver who says he was "deliberately and repeatedly rammed" by a lorry has criticised police for failing to respond to his calls for three hours".

Strange to be criticising his ex colleagues...

His 'Background' can be found here: Matt Stockdale: Background

A short extract from the above background "We have a proven track record of holding bad drivers to account on behalf of concerned motorists who are fed up with drivers who flout the law, who put others at risk and have now chosen to record their journeys with a dash cam".

 

[daveenty]

Another example of Matt Stockdale's driving and road safety techniques can be found HERE

Some of the comments below the article are "interesting" and tend to agree with what most are saying about him.

 

[ss201]

Many years ago, I hitched a lift from a lorry driver. Nice enough bloke, good driver, driving a flatbed truck with no load. Got stuck behind a slow car that was hogging the middle lane. Truck driver sat patiently behind in the middle lane for miles, keeping a safe distance, waiting for the car to pull into the inside lane. Eventually, he flashed the headlights to encourage the car driver to move out of the way - which were rewarded with a repeated two finger salute. Truck driver said nothing, remained patient. Eventually the car moved across two lanes and pulled off the motorway. The truck driver followed down the slip road, overtook the car before the roundabout and made it stop on the hard shoulder.

Truck driver got out of the cab, opened the car door, pulled out the driver and smacked him in the mouth. He then got back in the truck, drove back onto the motorway and carried on with his journey. Said nothing either to the car driver or to me.

After about 15 minutes he said "I don't think he'll do that again".

No dash cams or mobile phones in those days!

I'm pretty sure he wasn't Ronnie Pickering.

 

[219]

"A driver who says he was "deliberately and repeatedly rammed" by a lorry has criticised police for failing to respond to his calls for three hours".

Strange to be criticising his ex colleagues...

His 'Background' can be found here: Matt Stockdale: Background

A short extract from the above background "We have a proven track record of holding bad drivers to account on behalf of concerned motorists who are fed up with drivers who flout the law, who put others at risk and have now chosen to record their journeys with a dash cam".

I saw that page , it was also interesting that the BBC article described him as ' a former special constable ' and couldn't help wondering if he saw himself as some sort of self appointed traffic cop ?