International truck operator Pete White, who has a strong social media following, this month published on Twitter a hair-rising dashcam video of a taxi dangerously turning in front of a lorry – sparking no shortage of debate.
The clip was not recorded by Mr White’s dashcam, but was forwarded by another lorry driver.
The video shows a taxi forcing a lorry to slow down and stop on the motorway.
Look at this Turnip. PK19VFP
Not my video. But I’ve been sent this to share.
M23 today. Good job the artic was empty and could stop in time.
That company is a huge airport transfer company. I hope they see this. Very unprofessional. @AddisonLeeCabs pic.twitter.com/o7JdkN05KN— Pete White (@PeteWhite5000) January 16, 2023
As you can see in the video, the taxi driver’s manoeuvre was extremely dangerous.
The post quickly went viral and the operator of the Addison Lee Taxi company, whose cab caused the incident, apologised openly on the social platform:
“Hi Pete, thank you for taking the time to raise this to us, I am very sorry to see this happen. We have been made aware of this incident, and I would like to assure you our driver management teams are dealing with this now,” said the company’s Twitter account.
However, it wasn’t only the taxi firm who noted the post. Police were quickly tagged by some commentators, and the officers also found the footage “remarkable”.
Surrey Police wrote to Mr White that the coordinates from the video showed that the incident had happened on the M23 by Smallfield, Surrey. However, it seems that police need an official report about the incident to take any further steps.
Surry Police Twitter reply:
While most social media users agreed that it was a dangerous manoeuvre from the taxi driver, it didn’t take too much time for some on Twitter to turn against the trucker.
“There’s definitely more to this than just that video. Artics are great at flying up inside lanes undertaking people and preventing drivers who are indicating from changing lanes when they need to get over for an upcoming exit. Something like that may have happened here,” Smudger01979 wrote.
And the some of the Twitter crowd supported this opinion immediately:
“Did the person who sent it to you to also include the previous few minutes or rear view? It is conceivable there is more than one dangerous driver here and context for what came before this incident would maybe be useful,” RobJPickering claimed.
One Twitter user even demanded longer footage proving that the lorry driver had not done anything to irritate the taxi driver, claiming “some random driver doesn’t just pick on any old truck”.
Original Source: Trans.info
Regardless of what previously has or has not occurred, the taxi driver pulled a dangerous maneuver that could of resulted in a catastrophic accident. His taxi licence should be revoked.
I’d like to see that driver with a 3 yr driving ban and a lab ban for life.
there is always more to this like what dangerous road conduct did the lorry driver do.
An Addison Lee vehicle is not a TAXI but a private hire vehicle, therefore, the driver is NOT a taxi driver and neither is Addison Lee a taxi company.
There is no reason for taxi driver to do that, even if lorry driver make him to change lane or slow down. You can stop a 1.5t car way faster than a lorry. He just put himself in a massive danger …
Private hire vehicle not a Taxi
I hope Smudger realises that artics can’t fly about or undertake people who are driving according to the law of the land.