Near Miss of the Day 103: Overtaking lorry driver forces cyclist to brake

The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a lorry driver in Leeds overtaking a cyclist, forcing him to brake to avoid being squeezed between the trailer and a row of parked vehicles.

It’s also an example of something we regularly see in our readers’ submissions for the feature – a motorist who will needlessly put a cyclist in danger, with the lorry driver in this case having to stop at a set of traffic lights immediately after the dangerous manoeuvre.

It’s also worth noting that the trailer of the lorry has one of those stickers on it warning cyclists not to ride up the inside, though that works both ways of course, with the driver in this case putting the rider in exactly that position.

The footage was sent to us by road.cc reader Rob the Commuter, who also provided a detailed description of the incident. Here’s what he said:

I was close passed by a Chris Wright rig in Rawdon on my way into work this morning. At the point that the driver came past, there was no oncoming traffic, so he could have given me sufficient room.

I would have been caught between the parked vehicles and the side of the trailer but braked quite hard to make sure the trailer had cleared me before I arrived at the parked vans.

At the point I started braking, I had no idea how close the truck was going to get (it was too close for me to fit safely between the trailer and the parked vans as it turned out).

In any case the traffic lights ahead were on red, so as soon as he passed me he had to stop. It wasn’t as if I was holding him up.

On the full version of the video it can be seen that there is a long stretch of clear road before we arrived at the parked vehicles, so he could have come past then, quite safely.

On the other hand, if he had eased off earlier, it would have saved me the close pass and saved Chris Wright haulage a bit of fuel and brake lining.

The tractor was a Foden. The reg on the trailer was N555CWB.

From where I was sitting, this was quite tight. If a door opened on one of the parked vans and the trailer had been beside me or the trailer had been a touch closer, I would have been killed.

I have contacted the haulier. On the basis of previous experience, I have no expectation of any action from the police, so I have not formally reported it. I have however asked if they might consider a close pass initiative here in Leeds.

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.