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news
Near Miss of the Day 630: Police say “not enough evidence” to prosecute punishment pass driver
A lament we often hear from readers who submit clips to our Near Miss of the Day series is that when they sent it through to the police, they received little-to-no feedback, including which action if any might have been taken against the motorist.
That varies between police forces, of course – and today’s video elicited a detailed response from Gloucestershire Constabulary explaining why the driver behind what road.cc reader Richard described as a “punishment pass” in Cheltenham, complete with tooting the horn at him, would not be referred for prosecution.
“I have been riding well out from the kerb recently and when this close pass occurred, I had plenty of space to move into,” Richard told us.
“I didn't mention punishment pass in my submission but the officer concerned must have picked up my feelings from the title I gave my video: ‘210821 OE08 TKU black vw punishment pass evesham road’.”
He was told: “I have reviewed the footage and there is not enough there for me to prosecute the driver for careless driving.
“The driver could have given you more room but you have not had to take any avoiding action. We can speculate about why the driver beeped their horn at you but they have made you aware of their presence and waited until the incoming traffic had cleared before they overtook.”
On that final point, Richard told us: “I wonder whether the driver would have waited for a gap in the oncoming traffic if I had been closer to the kerb.”
If you’re a regular reader of this feature, you’ll be aware that many of the videos we publish show the opposite of that – a motorist overtaking a cyclist despite oncoming traffic, putting the rider, the occupants of other vehicles and, of course, themselves at risk, and the implication of the officer’s comment is that had that been the case here, action would have been taken.
The lack of action by police on the overtake didn’t come as a surprise to Richard, but there was another reason he decided to upload it.
“I wasn't expecting any outcome from the close pass aspect but I submitted it because when I checked on the gov web site it said that the car did not have a valid MOT,” he explained.
In response, Gloucestershire Constabulary said: “The MOT issue is highlighted on the computer and hopefully an officer will be able to stop the driver prior to them renewing their MOT.”
> 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
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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32 comments
“The MOT issue is highlighted on the computer and hopefully an officer will be able to stop the driver prior to them renewing their MOT.”
Translation: "We might do something about it if we can be bothered, but no promises."
If Gloucestershire Police won't enforce the law, disband them and sack their chief.
I have done some digging and the CPS charging guidance is found on this link, near the bottom of the page, https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/road-traffic-charging
There are examples of driving which has been held in stated cases to be careless driving including driving too close, though I expect that was tailgating (haven't looked).
It seems to me that the majority of this guidance does not take into account the vulnerability of the cyclist as a road user. These decisions are only going to change when the guidance changes I think.
So the officer is condoning the use of a horn in this situation?!
I'm the OP. I hope that's the correct abbreviation but any way, it was me. I submitted this to highlight the fact that there is no offence of a close pass. The police can recommend 1.5m as much as they like but there is no way to enfoce it. What has to be proven is that the driving fell below the standard of a competent and careful driver. I think it does but I suspect it would be difficlult to get a jury of drivers to agree. In their opinion I should have been obedient and moved in as soon as I heard the horn and let the driver overtake with oncoming traffic.
As to police being bone idle, I strongly disagree. This officer has taken the time and effort view the footage and to give me feedback. That is not lazy. It may be a misunderstanding of how cyclists should be treated on the road but that is a training issue and down to the police team responsible for it.
As to whether or not a warning letter would have been appropriate on this occasion, I think that it is warranted but it appears in this case its a prosecution or nothing. This is why I think that warning letters or words of advice are a good outcome from my submissions.
As to whether or not it was a punishment pass I would just point out that there was plenty of room to leave a decent gap had the driver wanted to.
As stated in the intro I would not even have submitted this, based on previous feedback, had it not been for the lack of MOT but I admit I had hoped for a more proactive approach on this which would have been karma for the driver and may have resulted in a change of attitude.
And finally as far as the sound goes, I did not swear. The noise is because of the road surface, the weather and the close proximity of the car, nothing has been edited. This standard of driving is what I have come to expect and it was no surprise. As I have said before, I keep quiet and submit the footage in the hope that eventually the law will acknowledge that this standard of driving around cyclists is completely unacceptable.
is the car horn bit "muted" because there was some rude language as all Im hearing is a burst of white noise when the car overtakes ?
also and I accept it may just be my take on this, but a punishment pass to me involves the motorist either deviating off their natural overtaking line, swerving in towards you, or leaving you the absolute bare minimum of space usually at higher speed, both designed to "punish" you by literally attempting to come as close to hitting you on your bike but just missing by enough, to scare you, to intimidate you.
if its just a pass thats a bit close, even if they beep the horn, thats not to me a punishment pass.
The cyclist is about 35-40% into the lane and there is nothing to stop the driver using the whole lane.
It's cm to spare so punishment pass.
well as I said I accept it may just be my take, but it just doesnt feel like a punishment pass for me, close pass yes, but punishment pass no.
Even if there was 'rude' language (which I doubt), I'm not sure why that matters?
If the police refuse a case on the grounds that the victim (even though they refuse to use that term) swore they are in error in law: firstly the actions of a victim after an offence has been committed do not count in mitigation (as they might if you swore at a driver and then they did something as a reaction), and secondly swearing is only illegal if it causes annoyance or threat to others, so if the police say they won't prosecute because someone shouted a couple of swears at a rapidly departing driver who clearly won't hear it they're just looking for excuses not to pursue.
if the police say they won't prosecute because someone shouted a couple of swears at a rapidly departing driver who clearly won't hear it they're just looking for excuses not to pursue
They're always looking for such excuses. They start with 'we're not going to do anything' and then think up (or cut/paste from the standard dodges list) some excuse no matter how stupid to 'justify' the inaction. The swearing dodge and the 'you didn't have to take avoiding action after the car came past you from behind at 50 10 cms away' dodge are just 2 pathetic ones from the repertoire. Lancashire mostly uses the 'no response whatsoever and refusal to reply to queries' dodge.
Thanks for the reply Rendel. I was beginning to worry, when a 40-tonner passes within inches and my life flashes before my eyes - just remember, "Don't swear, DON'T SWEAR!"
If you look at my near miss here:
https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-almost-run-down-impatient-peugeot-d...
you'll see I use some extremely robust language (not proud of it but it was as close to death as I've ever been I think) and the police still took it to court - it wasn't the language that, unbelievably, saw the defendant acquitted, that was the magistrates falling for a series of lies that were demonstrably impossible by the laws of physics!
Oh wow, yes. I had seen that clip before on here, didn't know your name at the time. Shockingly close, makes me twitch when I see it. I don't understand why it's not classed as dangerous driving, considering the risk factor.
I used to naively think, if you send really bad driving in to the police they will discipline the driver? Now I see it can go to court and become some sort of 'joke' legal battle with the defendent acquitted. As you say, the police still took it to court regardless of the fruity language, but I can't understand how they get away with it.
https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-could-be-prosecuted-close-pass-vide...
because when I read a description that says car toots its horn + punishment pass, Im half expecting this kind of video (warning the rider in this video does use nsfw language) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr4ZQjl_vho
and I just wondered as when the car passes in this video the sound levels completely blow out, whether we'd missed the full use of the horn part of the pass because the rider had maybe sworn loudly but wanted the video still to be shared to a family friendly audience, even if it would have been a perfectly understandable reaction and has no real bearing on the pass.
but as Bungle_52 confirmed, they didnt swear, it was just road noise, and the horn use bit were the few beeps earlier in the video.
Ah, apologies. I see what you mean now, I thought you meant they'd edited the audio to hide the fact they swore (which they didn't apparently) and that the guy possibly swearing was more important than the actual close pass.
Incidentally, this is why I believe it's a 'punishment pass'. The rider is central in the lane (perfectly legal) and the driver behind wants to overtake. They beep because they think the cyclist should be in the gutter, and now they have to pull out more than they would like to. To (revenge) punish the cyclist, they will drive really close as if to say, "you should move over to the left, there would be more space then". I've had it happen to me, just as on the video, when riding primary.
Genuine question: are the police taught to talk / write like this about events in the past? It seems to transcend force / geographic boundaries, so is it institutional, and is there a point to it? E.g.
"you have not had to take any avoiding action" and "they have made you aware"
when the more natural constructions (to me at least) would be:
"you did not [need to] take any avoiding action" and "they made you aware".
Did they? I can't find the words "anti-cyclist", "workshy", "tea", "doesn't drink itself", or "tossers" anywhere at all in the report.
And I did ctrl f.....
still quiet in the nursing home then. Someone bring this man his tablets. Hes going off on his police thing again and the other inmates are getting restless.
Hi Nic. Missed you. Good holiday?
Ive been in prison for running over cyclists in my police car.
You're winding me up you little tinker!
Not a chance in hell a copper'd end up being prosecuted, least of all for that.....
Good to have you back
Well, I'm supporting Badger. We've had this 'you didn't swerve or brake, so it wasn't close enough' tripe from Essex before. It just shows how thick and idle the police are, and how they hardly know which bit of the bike is the top, so little appreciation of cycling or cyclists do they have. The stupid b*****d police can't even put their limited intellects to the task of imagining what it's like being close-passed at 50- the offending vehicle has gone into the distance before you can register anything other than fright. I really b****y hate the b****y police.
I never knew Captain Badger had children. Thats sunny Cheltenham where Goucestershires finest do theer work not Essex.
I didnt know people cycled in Essex I thought you all drove around in hi spec sports cars bought on the never never on the way between your spray tan visits and expensive hair cuts.
So the lesson is swerve widely when punishment passed so it looks good for evidence purposes? What happens if you're already in secondary? Bunny hop onto the kerb to make it look good?
By the same logic do people not get done for assault if their victim doesn't flinch when a hammer is swung at them when they are not looking? Or do the police apply different standards?
I think I preferred the ignorance of not knowing versus the despair of the "explanation".
Don't ever go onto the pavement, worse than swearing for getting your own collar felt by the rozzers.
"We have the vehicle showing as not having an MOT, but rather then proactively stopping it being on the roads until proven fit, we just hope they drive past a Police car, and the person inside can be bothered to stop them for it."
I suppose that is the same reason you see so many illegal plates (or the growing trend is no front plates), illegal mufflers, illegally tinted windows and all other sorts of non-compliancy allowed to drive around passed the Police with no stopping them.
There was an abandoned vehicle left near me. VED was ok but the mot had expired. When I asked the police to do something they said they could do nothing unless an officer witnessed it being driven. Even though it was dumped just off a main B road the police drive up and down on every day.
In your case, the police might have a point. Normally abandoned cars are the responsibility of the local council. And, as I understand it, the law requiring you to have an MOT only applies to using a vehicle on a public road. You can't SORN it and must still pay VED whilst it is stored on a public road, and you can't renew the VED without a valid MOT so there is inherently a time limit, but no offence is commited by the car simply being there without an MOT.
"but you have not had to take any avoiding action"
"The attempted robber did swing a sledgehammer at you but you have not had to take any avoiding action"
"the person who took an irrational dislike to you in the high st did try to punch you and missed but you have not had to take any avoiding action"
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