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news
Near Miss of the Day 862: Cyclist guesses motorist wanted to intimidate him with last-minute swerve
This one came with a warning of "police indifference" from the road.cc reader who submitted today's Near Miss of the Day clip, after no further action was taken to this alarming piece of driving because... there was no record of the report, and then it had been incorrectly dealt with by a trainee, meaning the 14-day window had passed.
Reader Steven was left to assume this driver's last-minute swerving manoeuvre had been an attempt to intimidate him, having initally thought it might have been to avoid a pothole.
"The video was shot as I was cycling south into Brookmans Park in Hertfordshire at the end of March," he explained. "On a reasonably quiet road the oncoming 4x4 suddenly swung across the road towards me before pulling back at the last moment. I turned in to avoid it and initially thought it had swerved to avoid a pothole but there was nothing there.
"I can only assume that the driver wanted to assert his dominance over cyclists by either trying to scare me or make me fall off. I did an online check and the Toyota isn't taxed, nor did it have an MOT.
"What was disappointing though was the subsequent reaction from the police. I submitted an online report on the force website and got back an automated email saying someone would be in touch within 48 hours. Nothing happened so I used their query to find out what was happening.
"Again an automated response that a member of the appropriate team would be notified and they'd get back to me. Again nothing. I finally used the complaints page, which did elicit a response from a real person who initially said that there was no record of the report, and then that it had been incorrectly dealt with by a trainee.
"However, it was now more than 14 days since the incident so nothing more could be done. Twice now I've been knocked off my bike by a car pulling out at a junction and the attending police did nothing. Now they won't even pretend to look at video footage.
"Last year in London I was kicked in the face by a delivery driver who was trying to smash my phone when I took a photo of him blocking the pavement on a blind bend. The attending police officer told me that it wasn't illegal for delivery vehicles to park across the pavement and that I had aggravated the situation by taking a photograph. You can't win.
"Don't expect any help from the police if you don't drive."
> 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
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
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It's owned by the same company. It is hyper-junk.
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I've worked my way through a gifted box of these, and the review tallies exactly with my own experience.
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44 comments
It depends on the company/policy, some have a clause stating that the policy becomes invalid if the VED lapses, some don't. I believe (but I can't swear to it) they are still obligated to pay out third-party claims in such a situation but will then take action against the driver to recover their losses.
Generally not actually true as this is basically banned under UK law.
(Usually) The insurer can only 'refuse' if the lack of an MOT was relevent (i.e. mechanical failure that MOT would have detected) and they would still be liable to third parties (though could persue their client for any payout) rather than the MIB (if only because it limits later messes if validity of insurance is taken to court - you don't end up with the MIB having to recover from insurer if a court determines the insurance was valid).
It does likely drastically reduce the vehicles value and would end any claim for a rental vehicle (no loss of amenity because the vehicle wasn't (legally) drivable in the first place) and of course this is regardless of fault; I.e. if someone smashes into and writes off your parked car you (should) get a smaller payout without an MOT.
Surely the lack of ved and MOT invalidate the insurance. MOT is the concerning one though, could be multitude of defects hiding.
Is this Lancashire ?!
I thought I'd missed a trick there, but the videos I'm getting have the plates obscured. How did you ascertain this?
Edit: Sorry- missed the statement within the incident description! Does have the flavour of a No MOT vehicle reported to Lancashire Constabulary and ignored, though. BMW AF11 XVU's MOT expired 2.6.22- first identified and reported on 18.7.22. This is it on 4.4.23 not very far from where I first saw it. In Lancashire, offenders don't have to worry about being caught by ANPR cameras, because police officers haven't been able to understand the operating manual, in the same way that they weren't able to find a body in the river because it was hidden at the bank by reeds.
I have mentioned before, in respect of LC, if you contact them via email with the subject line containing "COMPLAINT", they seem to fall over themselves in getting back to you and letting you know what they are doing AND following up, to ask if the matter has been resolved to your satisfaction.
It may not work in every case but I'm sure there must be stats for complaints that LC would rather see be lower than higher. Worth a punt?
I'm Pavlov's dog - no mot or ved I just think lancs !
I'm not sure I understand this quoted 14 day rule? Does it just apply to motoring offences caught by the public on camera? So if you can avoid being tracked within 14 days (dirty number plate) you get away scot free.
If it is just motoring offences it applies to, if the will was there this could surely be prosecuted under non motoring criminal law. I can think of a few offences that would apply. So I tend to agree with the suggested corruption possibility.
It applies to some motoring offences where the person was not stopped by police at the time - they have to be given notice within 14 days of intended prosecution. Doesn't apply if there was an "accident" (that's the language of the legislation). It could perhaps be prosecuted by other means (e.g. assault) but sadly police have to prioritise and consider whether there's a realistic prospect of conviction - it's not necessarily just about 'will', but pragmatism and best use of limited resources.
Hmm I wonder if they fell off their bike or collided with the curb if it would count as an 'accident?'
Thanks quiff, useful clarification.
As before, and this is an accident - taking avoiding action is an accident.
Normally, not attributing to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence is a good maxim. But with all the corruption coming to light in the Met recently, there is a good chance that their neighbouring force the Hertfordshire Constabulary is pulling the same sort of tricks. I'd say it is 50-50 that their systems are just that crap, or that they are covering up for a copper who deep-sixed the initial complaint because the driver is a friend or family member of theirs.
No time limit on assault or threatening behaviour as far as I know.
(Edit) Or was this a 'proactive' attempt to ensnare the driver??
Squeaky bum time.
All it takes is oil on the road and that would have been death.
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