Video: White van man puts helmet cam cyclist Dave Sherry in a headlock and allegedly threatens him with a torch

A road rage incident involving a white van man and Dave Sherry culminated in the well-known helmet cam cyclist being put in a headlock before allegedly being threatened with a torch.

The East London and West Essex Guardian reports that Sherry was cycling home from work on Leyton High Road on June 29 when he spotted the van driver talking on his phone.

Sherry – who has previously been described in the media as both a 'cycling vigilante' and 'Britain's most hated cyclist' – tells the driver he will be reported.

The man isn’t inclined to speak about using his phone at the wheel. He instead gestures up the road and tells Sherry to ‘hurry up’.

Sherry declines, saying: “No, I don’t want to go near you because you’re going to kill somebody on that phone.”

He adds: “14 days, you’re going to get a nice notice of intended prosecution, yeah?”

At this point the driver gets out of the van.

"Why are you threatening me?" he asks.

“I’m telling you,” replies Sherry.

The man appears to either reach for the camera or push Sherry. “That’s assault,” says the cyclist.

After a scuffle, the van driver appears to be restraining Sherry in some sort of headlock, after which the man briefly gets back in his van.

It’s not entirely clear what happens after this, but shortly afterwards the driver is asking for his keys back, while Sherry is asking for his camera.

The camera-keys standoff persists for quite some time and eventually the police arrive.

At one point Sherry tells a police officer that he was threatened with a torch that was in the driver’s side door.

Speaking about the incident, Sherry said: "I am used to dealing with these kinds of situations, but this is the first time someone has got hands on with me like that.

"On this occasion, he wanted to take things into his own hands, I had just finished work and I was thinking: ‘I really don’t need this at the minute’.

"There is just no need for it whatsoever., I said in the video that he was going to end up killing someone using that phone while driving.

"The problem is some people just cannot hear the truth I am the kind of person who will tell them it to their face. We all need to be accountable, but there are too many people who are willing to break the law on the road."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said both men had been spoken to. "Officers were called to Leyton High Road on Thursday, June 29 at 12.09pm to a dispute over a set of car keys. Both parties were spoken to and it was determined no offences had been committed."

Sherry has since posted a tweet implying that the vehicle was uninsured.