Letter to First Glasgow

Below is the latter I have sent to First Glasgow in relation to this incident.

Edit: This letter was forwarded on to First Edinburgh as it was apparently one of their buses and drivers

Dear Mr XX,


Below, you will see an e-mail that I had previously sent to you in March 2010 and the reply that you sent back (then as Deputy MD). It was with regards to an incident that I had with a First Glasgow Bus whilst I cycled to work. I have also had some previous dealings with First Glasgow, some of which resulted in First taking part in a Give Cyclists Room campaign (http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/doc-has-a-cure-for-danger-on-city-roads-1.975448) Since the last incident in the start of 2010 I have had no reason to complain about the driving of your buses until I had an unfortunate incident on the 18th May at approximately 5:40pm.


The incident occurred on Milngavie Road with bus number 30741. This road has a cycle lane on it, one which is very poorly designed. If followed, it takes cyclists on a zig zag route in and out of the main traffic and it also directs cyclists into the door zone. The door zone is a bad place for a cyclist to be as all it takes is a parked cars door to open and the cyclist will be seriously injured or killed. Therefore I avoid it when I can. I also avoid following the zig zags in the lane as this creates it's own dangers especially when the cyclists and the traffics paths converge.


It is on one of these sections where I had the incident with bus 30741. The video of the incident is shown here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIYwzG3QqME). My intentions and line were obvious and there were no deviations from the direction I was travelling. I was aiming to re-enter the lane, although I intended to stay as far right in the lane as possible.This was a very obvious pinch point  due to the parked cars and zig zag of the cycle lane. Despite this the bus driver decided to continue with a very close overtake which left me no wriggle room to the left (I could not take my chosen position here or I would have made contact with the bus) and no wriggle room to the right. I dread to think what would have happened had the van door opened or I hit a pot hole.


I agree that the bus did remain outside the cycle lane during the initial incident, however, due to the nature of the lane, and the proximity of park cars etc, the bus should have either pulled out significantly further (if safe to do so) or remained behind me, which would have been the correct course in this particular instance.


Also as shown on the video, further down the road the driver decided that it was a good time to start pulling out as I passed his vehicle. Again a very poor manoeuvre.


Therefore, I ask that you investigate this incident and take appropriate action where necessary. I think it needs to be stressed in very strong terms to this driver, that this is no way to drive around more vulnerable road users.


I would also be happy for you to use this video and any other video I have in your driver training. In fact I would be interested to know what driver training you provide with regards to driving around cyclists.




Thank you for your help in the past and I look forward to hearing from you again in relation to this incident.


Best regards