(22 Mar 2016, 7:51 pm)Dan wrote On Friday, I was on the A1231 loop, to join the A1.

I was in the left hand lane, trying to merge into the middle lane, to carry on the A1. I was running alongside 7618, an Arriva MAX Gemini. It appeared to be running light from Belmont to pick up its usual duties on the X12 to Durham for Middlesbrough, with the destination set as such. I wasn't in a position to speed up, to get in front of the bus, as there was a car in front. Likewise it wouldn't have been particularly safe to slow down to allow the bus to go into the left hand lane, as I had a queue of traffic behind me.

As we were making no progress, given that the driver of the bus wouldn't slow down to give me a gap to get in front of him, the driver decided to merge left with me running parallel to him.

I was forced to slam my brakes on - as did the drivers behind me - and I felt quite lucky to come out of that situation without a single bump. The driver seemed to be of the mindset that he could do whatever he liked, because he was in a big bad bus.

I forgot to send an e-mail to Arriva, but find their Customer Services team is appalling anyway, so don't usually bother. Andreos1's complaint reminded me of the experience.

If you weren't in a situation to slow down, therefore the cars behind you wouldn't have been either, therefore the bus wouldn't have been able to pull over at any point.  Had I been the X12 driver in said situation, despite wondering why am I on the A1231, I would have stopped in the outside lane, applied my handbrake, put my hazards on and read a book until the rush hour traffic had ceased and then continued on my journey when the road was clearer.

EDIT: I've just realised you meant that you were on the A1 at the time - on the Birtley exit slip road, trying to merge onto the A1.  Therefore, since you were trying to merge onto the A1, technically you should have backed off to allow traffic on the existing carriageway to pass and merge safely .

EDIT 2: I'm not condoning the actions of the X12 driver as he shouldn't have cut across, but I'm saying the situation could've been avoided.  Also, I'm not saying all Arriva drivers are perfect, because trust me I know they're not .