Companies that Hinder Cyclists – Unipart

Unipart’s Driver broke the law and treated cyclists with contempt. But the company made a positive response when it was pointed out
This van is blocking a small cycle lane impeding a lot of cyclists who use this route to avoid traffic on the main roads.

Monday 14 June, Club Garden Road, Sheffield around 6pm, still there at 8am the following day.

This is a well used cycle route, it’s not impossible for cyclists to get round the van with care but it slows them down and makes life awkward, forcing them onto the pedestrian space, Cyclists coming down the hill towards the camera are normally able to come through here at a good speed with no trouble. Because of the van they have to slow down to a very slow speed and weave through a narrow gap because somebody has parked in a hostile way, something that no motorist would accept.

Unipart are a well-known car parts company, I thought maybe they are instinctively anti-cyclists, or maybe they just employ rude, unobservant and stupid drivers.

However they quickly responded to say that they would talk to the driver and hope to avoid future problems.

Are they breaking the law?  The Highway Code says:

You MUST NOT stop or park on:
a tram or cycle lane during its period of operation
a cycle track

So that’s clear.

You  might think that it’s easy enough to pass on the left but actually the van obscures the view of the phone box beyond, you have to squeeze past the front of the van to re-enter the cycle track to the right of the phone box. The clear area to the left leads to a drop kerb. Also the van obscures your view of any cyclists that might be coming the other way.