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Footage from a cyclist’s London commute sent Twitter into a bit of a meltdown last night (and no, before you ask, it wasn’t Jeremy Vine), after a taxi driver was filmed taking up a decent chunk of the Blackfriars Road cycle lane in Southwark.
Taxi drivers love the Blackfriars road cycle lane so much they want to use it too. pic.twitter.com/i8cRlMnLx1
— Timothy (@westcountrytim) May 4, 2022
I did think he might have broken down, but as it’s right outside a hotel I think he couldn’t be bothered to drop passengers either on the drop curb section on the road or down the side street at the Taxi spot. pic.twitter.com/tghUGRALrn
— Timothy (@westcountrytim) May 4, 2022
Needless to say, the cabbie came in for quite a bit of stick from baffled Twitter users:
Oh wow! Sometimes think they will come out a side street and take a load of cyclists out. Have never seen this!!! @London_Cycling @psimonk @theJeremyVine @willnorman @roadcc
— Railton LTN (@RailtonLTN) May 4, 2022
I see loads of pavement parking but never this!
— Railton LTN (@RailtonLTN) May 4, 2022
This is a hard section to pull out in a car, it’s really hard to see. That taxi will be totally blocking the view for drivers crossing the lane (never mind being a direct danger to cyclists)
— Zoe Kennedy (@zoekennedy) May 4, 2022
That very same cabbie would likely whine cyclists don’t use them.
— Monsieur_Growl (@growl3d) May 4, 2022
Got their hazards on. Doesn’t count. Means you can park anywhere you want.
— Damien Byrne (@dtb80) May 4, 2022
I think they’re taught to do that as part of the knowledge
— GaryEast (@GaryEast13) May 4, 2022
Took this about an hour later, he’s started a trend! pic.twitter.com/vnT3KrcGFP
— Rob (@krunties) May 4, 2022
However – and perhaps just as inevitably – some motorists came to the driver’s defence, pointing out that the cabbie may have been unloading a wheelchair at the time the footage was filmed:
That was at around 5.20 this afternoon, during the rain. It looked like he’d just unloaded a wheelchair from what I could see. Probably didn’t want to block the road and dump his passenger 20 yards from the front door in a downpour. You’d know that too, seeing as you filmed it.
— A.J. Stranger #UTAG (@AStrangerJ) May 4, 2022
Should be in Meymott St. then, by the side of the hotel. No justification for driving in a dedicated cycle lane.
— Sam McLeod (@DeepsMcLeod) May 5, 2022
The street to the side is the more direct access point….
— Brazel (@Brazelephantman) May 5, 2022
What do you think? Did the driver, as one commenter claimed, have “no excuse” for parking in the bike lane, or can it be justified in certain circumstances?
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