Near Miss of the Day 74: BMW driver in punishment pass

The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day feature shows a BMW driver in Surrey making a 'punishment pass' on a cyclist in Surrey.

As the footage shot by road.cc reader Andrew shows, motor vehicles coming in the other direction meant the motorist could not overtake him.

But the moment the road ahead was clear - or almost clear, since the distance to other vehicles approaching was minimal - the driver darted through the gap, making a very close pass on the cyclist.

Andrew told us:  "This punishment pass occurred when I doing my usual 17 mile commute to work, back in September. It happened near Brookwood in Surrey.

"I've covered in excess of 20,000 miles as a road cyclist and had many near misses and close passes in my time, but this was the most intimidating and yet unnecessary.

"I believe it was a revenge for filtering past the car a couple of minutes beforehand in traffic."

He continued: "At the time, back in September 2017, I did not report the incident to Surrey Police, because previous full reports had been ignored.

"However since then, I've learned that Surrey Police have since started to be more proactive on cycle safety and closes passes.

"As a result of this, I had a productive exchange on Twitter with the excellent @SurreyRoadCops Twitter account."

Most frightening close pass I've ever experienced. And why I wish @SurreyPolice wouldn't ignore 3rd party reports. @SurreyRoadCops

I have full video clip, including partial shot of the driver sat in traffic a few mins prior. 2017-09-14.#punishmentpass #cycling @roadcc pic.twitter.com/9kcZlP6EHs

— Andrew Ebling (@andyeb) December 7, 2017

He continued: "@SurreyRoadCops then followed up via Direct Message, saying that although the deadline for a prosecution had passed, they would still write to the driver concerned to 'give some advice about the dangers of close passing'.

"They also requested full footage to use for educational purposes. In addition, I've since learned that Surrey Police have launched a new online tool for reporting anti-social driving."

Andrew added: "Although the video in this instance pre-dated the above, I think it would be a good way to highlight Surrey Police's positive initiative in the area and raise the profile of this new means of submitting evidence and getting something done about the problem of anti-social and dangerous driving, especially in Surrey, where road cycling has become extremely popular."

Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.

If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.

If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).

Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.