Near Miss of the Day 730: ScS driver narrowly avoids oncoming vehicle during close pass on 50mph road (video includes swearing)

The solid white line, 50mph speed limit and oncoming vehicle did not put this driver in their company van off squeezing past a cyclist.

road.cc reader Lew told us it "happened last month on my commute to work", just inside the Warwickshire County border with Leicestershire, close to the M69 approaching the village of Wolvey.

"The climb I am on has a solid white line as it approaches the brow of the hill because there is a junction on the left and the road starts to descend again after the junction. It is a 50mph road but I can climb it at around 15mph. Two drivers cross the white line to pass me. The first driver doesn't put anyone at risk but the second driver forces the oncoming driver to move to the edge of his lane to avoid a crash.

"Once I stop shaking my head you can see why there are solid white lines on that piece of road. A driver is approaching on the other side of the road and another driver is pulling up at the junction. As the driver on the opposite side of the road comes level with me the driver of a ScS company van starts to overtake me. The driver doesn't cross the centre line of the road."

Taking the footage to the driver's employer the road.cc reader was disappointed to eventually hear back from a Technician Network Manager, only to say:

I identified the driver from your video evidence and I’ve spoken to him backed up by an email, asking him to follow the law of the land and be courteous to other road users. He is sorry that he has caused distress. 

I have also sent the details from the government website regarding amendments to the rules concerning cyclists and pedestrians to all of the Technician network to support these changes.

"I though ScS should have taken a stronger stance with the driver," the cyclist explained.

"I have reported other drivers to their employers for similar incidents and I have seen those drivers change their driving behaviour. Sometimes being reprimanded by the employer has a greater effect than a warning letter from the local constabulary. 

"I eventually saw the vehicle again and recorded the registration number but by then it was after the 10 day reporting period for Operation Snap." 

> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?

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.

> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling