Addison Lee on Cyclists

I wasn't that surprised to hear recently of Addison Lee head John Griffin's opinions on cyclists, after I had my own run in with one of their drivers in August 2010. At the time I wrote the following complaint, I heard nothing in reply.

Sir/Madam,

I was cycling home on Friday night/Saturday morning and encountered one of your drivers just before 1:30am at the junction of Abbeville Road and Trouville Road. He slowly cut across my path and seemed to stop in the junction. I wasn't particularly bothered and cycled around him onto Trouville Road and then turned into my house. As I was unlocking my front door the same minicab drew up and the driver shouted "Next time I'm going to beat you motherfucker!"

After driving down the street the minicab turned round and I walked out into the street to see what he wanted. He continued to shout at me for not having stopped for him. I explained that it was my right of way but he said that "that doesn't matter". He then drove off and I took a picture of the back of his cab using my mobile phone.

Considering that I was at my front door, ie, he knows where I live, I take his threat very seriously and would like your assurance that he will not come back and "beat me". I would also like to know what measures you are going to take to make sure that he does not threaten someone else who may be less able to defend him/herself than a 30 year old 6 foot male. I do not know how seriously the police will take a single threat of this nature, but considering all the information I have it surely would not take much to trace the driver.

I would describe the driver as 40ish, with lank greasy hair, tanned completion and a fairly thick, possibly Spanish accent.

Looking forward to your reply, Jamie Kitson

Mixing It Up

Apologies for the long and tedious post, believe it or not it was requested.

So back in August the company I work for was purchased by another company. The list of benefits we were given included the Cycle2Work scheme.

If you're unaware of the Cycle2Work scheme, it's a government initiative offering tax breaks on the purchase of bikes. It's effectively a loan from your employer which you pay back over 12 months from your pay packet before tax, and you don't pay VAT, which means that you save roughly 40% on a new bike. The down side is that after the 12 months you don't officially own the bike. I believe the normal practice is that you then buy the bike for 6% of the original value of the bike.

Now the Cycle2Work scheme shouldn't really be counted as a benefit as it's open to all employees, no matter who you work for, but I imagine that putting my head through a brick wall would have been easier than trying to get it through my previous company's admin staff. Then there was the news that the new company chose to only offer the Cycle2Work scheme through Evans, certainly not the cheapest cycle shop in the world, and something that shouldn't be necessary. Evans also do the scheme a little differently, your company pay them direct and then Evans send you a voucher for the price of the bike. Companies should usually directly give you a cheque for the value of the bike.

So in September I got copies of the forms I needed to fill in and went off to Evans to choose a bike (so I'd know how much to apply for). Originally I had in mind a single speed/fixed light-weight hybrid, and the Charge Plug immediately caught my eye. Once I'd decided that single speed/fixed were pretentious I had a look at the Tap but decided that with the saving I was going to make I might as well go with the more expensive £800 Mixer. Evans didn't have any Mixers in at the time, but I figured that the Cycle2Work voucher would a little while anyway.

After a month or two I went to HR to enquire about the non-appearing voucher, unfortunately English isn't her first language so it took me three attempts over several weeks or months before I understood that the forms would not be processed until we had signed our new contracts in December. Meanwhile the Mixer was still on order so I wasn't too worried.

The voucher arrived some time in February, by which time the Evans' website had started a cycle of naming a date when the Mixer would be available then going back to "contact us for details". Eventually I called Evans who said they couldn't tell me any more than the website, but amazingly gave me the phone number of their supplier when asked. The supplier was very helpful, telling me that the problem was a lack of the Shimano Alfine rear hubs, but Evans should be getting two Charge Mixers in the following week. I called Evans and practically begged to have one of the two and my wish was granted. Unfortunately by this time Evans had put the price of the bike up to £900 and I forgot to see if they'd do a price match as some people were doing it for considerably less.

So was it worth the wait? I suppose so. It's a bit heavy, especially at the back and the gearing could be a bit higher (I usually start in 4th or 5th and regularly get up to top gear, 8th), but the Alfine hub is apparently much superior to the Tap's Nexus. The disks are pretty nice too, my first.

After having a look at all the stickers on the bike I am a bit confused as to who actually makes it. I would have thought Charge make the bike, Evans sell the bike, but it doesn't look that simple. There's the Hot Wheels sticker, who are apparently distributors. Then there is Infinity who I think make the frame. Alex Rims and Continental tyres take care of the wheels. Shimano of course do the gears and breaks. Then there is the Ghetto of Nunney Castle, who I think might test the bike.

UPDATE: I finally got around to weighing my bike, on bathroom scales, so it's not that accurate, but the Charge Mixer weighs about 14kg.

Simply Cycle To Work

This post is dedicated to my friend Kai, who loves stuff which isn't nearly as simple as it could and should be.

I have been considering buying a new bike recently and the fact that my new company subscribes to the Ride 2 Work* scheme, coupled with the recent failure of my front brake cable** and the stars aligning meant that the auspicious time of bicycle purchase was upon me. The government's cycle to work scheme is advantageous as an employee pays for cycle equipment out of their gross pay over the course of a year, not only saving whatever income tax*** they would pay (ie, roughly 30%) but also by staggering the payment over a year. So I visited HR to ask how one could go about joining the scheme. I was told that the paper work wasn't ready but that as I was so in need I could run it past my big boss. He was busy but I went to a cycle shop after work to have a look at bikes, assuming that I could buy a bike and basically just pass the receipt on to my employer. After chatting with the assistant**** in the shop about the scheme I was again reminded of the rule that nothing is simple that can be made complicated by bureaucracy. Here's how the scheme actually works: You find out which shop your company has joined up with. You chose a bike from that shop. You record how much that bike costs. You fill in the following forms: Employee Registration, Employee Salary Sacrifice Agreement and Purchase Order. Finance (hopefully) approves your request. Your work informs the shop's head office. They send back a voucher. You collect bike. This, according to the first sentence in section 1.2 of the bumf I now have "couldn't be simpler". I beg to differ.

* As I have discovered this name is important, as it indicates which company you can buy your cycling equipment from, Ride2Work is the Evens Cycles scheme, other cycle to work schemes are available.

UPDATE I don't think this is true, in theory the scheme just allows your employer to give you an interest and tax free loan to buy a bike, however in practice companies such as Evans manage to lock companies in to their own schemes by making it simpler for them.

** Yes I am still using it. I came across the bridge of death this morning to find firemen trying to free another cyclist from beneath another lorry.

*** Actually it's better than I thought, you not only get income tax and national insurance off, but VAT too bringing the saving up to about 40% in my case.

**** When I said to the assistant that I would save whatever tax I pay, say 30%, he replied, well, it could be 50%. That's right, I am in the top tax bracket. Not.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Walking to work this morning I passed two police cars, one parked on double yellows and a cycle path marked with an uninterrupted white line (that's important) the other in a bus lane/bus stop. And no, they weren't answering an emergency, they were stopped at what I think is a police dog handling unit.

Red Light

I recently heard some cyclist spokesman say that cyclists run red lights for safety. Yeah right.

From Behind

I had a cyclist run into the back of me today at the lights. A very apologetic Frenchman by the sound of it. He didn't have any breaks. I hate to think what might have happened if I wasn't there.

Mirror Mirror

Unusually I clipped someone's wing mirror today. My rubber grips are slipping off the ends of my handle bars, so it wasn't a hard knock, but the plastic of the mirror broke away. The guy was actually winding his window up as I slowly reversed to apologise and offer him my details. He wound the window back down and started muttering about fucking bikes. As I was apologising and checking the damage I noticed that the mirror had already been broken and taped back in place with electrical tape. Usually people calm down once they realise that you are appoogising and that indeed cyclists are human too, but this old boy was still muttering about cyclists not having insurance as I cycled off, having fixed his mirror. At least as well as it was fixed before I arrived.

Poop Now, Think Later

On my way home there is, for cyclists, a rather difficult junction. The road peels off to the left while the road heading straight on widens to two lanes. Getting in my right hand lane a bit early before the road widens to two lanes means that for about 2 meters drivers are unable to overtake me just before two sets of lights, one of which will always be red. Said driver might then poop their horn, and their passenger might even shout out of the window. My response might be to cydle (ha) up beside them, mainly just to make the point that overtaking me was pointless, but also to ask why I would want to indicate when I am already in my desired lane. Occupants of the car then may either look quite scared, or alternatively get out of the car with a baseball bat.

Point Taken

As a cyclist I have lights which I habitually run and lights that I don't. As I was cycling home the other day I spotted a nice set of greens beyond the reds in front of me. A quick glance round and I spotted a police motorcyclist just as I crossed the line. Having stopped he drew up alongside me and pointed menacingly explaining that the council spends thousands of pounds on the green cycle boxes, so I should use them. I didn't make the point that usually it's difficult for cyclists to use them, filled as they often are with scooters, motorcycles and cars.

Blues And Twos

Cycled past one of those ridiculous 4x4 Porches this morning. The paramedics were just pulling the cyclist out from underneath. It had happened very close to a fire station, and one of the firemen was having a heated discussion with another cyclist.

Taxi I (There will be more, no doubt.)

I cycle around a taxi doing a three point turn in the middle of the road. I barely look at him, but as I pass he beeps his horn and shouts "Piss Off!" I wonder if he was being pro-active, getting one in before I did, or maybe he'd confused me with his mother-in-law, either way, I really don't think I deserved it.

First Post!

About to turn right I move over to the centre of the road, the car behind me, incensed at having to drive below the speed limit for 45 nano seconds, and obviously under the impression that cyclists should wait on the left before turning right into overtaking traffic. I turn around, still moving, and make the classic shrug motion, as he passes me on the left he shouts some lame insult like "Idiot!"