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news
Near Miss of the Day 784 updated: Even Mr Loophole can’t see a loophole here
A motorist who landed himself a bill of £4,500 when he turned down an invitation to undergo a driver awareness course after making a close pass on a cyclist got no sympathy from celebrity solicitor Nick ‘Mr Loophole’ Freeman – with the lawyer tweeting that “the driver was in my view, too close re new Highway Code.”
We featured the video, filmed near Bridgend in south Wales, on Tuesday as part of our Near Miss of the Day series, with the driver, who also failed to pay a fixed penalty office, convicted of driving without due care and attention at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court.
The story was picked up by the mainstream media, and in his tweet Freeman said that the motorist had been “Ill advised not to accept the course offered. Drivers should be aware that due care carries an unlimited fine plus 3 – 9 penalty points and discretionary ban.”
The driver was, in my view, too close re new Highway Code. Ill advised not to accept the course offered. Drivers should be aware that due care carries an unlimited fine plus 3 – 9 penalty points and discretionary ban. #cyclistshttps://t.co/1KQteBpYY0
— Nick Freeman (@TheMrLoophole) June 16, 2022
While the incident took place last September, so before the Highway Code changes implemented in January that Freeman referenced in his tweet, at the time drivers were still advised to leave cyclists at least as much space as they would when overtaking a car.
Company director Wayne Humphreys, quoted in the Daily Mail, continues to protest his innocence, however, and said the case had left him £4,500 out of pocket including his own legal fees.
“Taking into account the cyclist and his bike there would have still been at least four foot space,” he claimed.
“I find it absolutely incredible this has happened. I don't know whether to appeal it or not. It will probably just cost me more money.
“This has already cost me about £4,500 with the money for the court and the solicitor.
“It doesn't make sense to me,” added the 77 year old, who has held a driving licence for six decades.
The footage was originally submitted to GoSafe, which co-ordinates Operation Snap on behalf of the four police forces in Wales.
A spokesperson said: “GoSafe received footage of a white Audi overtaking a cyclist on Pant Hirwaun, Bridgend on Wednesday, 15th September 2021, without leaving enough space to perform the manoeuvre.
“The driver, Wayne Humphreys, from Pontyclun, was contacted and offered a course. The What's Driving Us course is offered to drivers/riders as an alternative to prosecution for the offence of driving without due care and attention.
“Mr Humphreys failed to accept this course and later failed to comply with a fixed penalty notice. This resulted in him appearing in Cardiff Magistrates Court on 8th June 2022. He was found guilty of driving without due care and attention. He received 4 penalty points on his license, given a £1152 fine, £620 costs, and a £115 victim surcharge.
“GoSafe regularly receives similar submissions through Op Snap and has worked closely with drivers and cycling groups to develop Operation Close Pass, which looks to educate both drivers and cyclists on how to stay safe on our roads. This includes promoting one of the fundamental things to remember when overtaking a cyclist, to reduce your speed and always leave 1.5 metres between your vehicle and a cyclist, whenever safe to do so.
“Despite this, unfortunately, GoSafe continues to receive regular Op Snap submissions relating to close pass incidents. This outcome shows that these submissions are taken seriously and given the appropriate amount of attention, as we continue to work towards ensuring that our roads are safer for everyone.
“If you have information on close pass incident or other possible road traffic offence, you can submit the details, along with supporting footage, to GoSafe using Operation Snap.”
Dave, the road.cc reader who submitted the footage, told us: “From all of my correspondence with South Wales Police they have been great with dealing with close pass videos.
“They have provided good feedback on most the videos and are quick to respond if they need more information.”
It’s the second Near Miss of the Day video we’ve featured from South Wales in recent days in which a driver opted not to take an awareness course or pay a fixed penalty notice and landed himself with a hefty fine – with the other instance also being picked up by the nationals, including The Sun.
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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23 comments
As Mr Loophole states, the right course of action was to take the course. It's ~£80, and provides an opportunity to learn something. i.e. you may feel aggrieved that you didn't have a choice, but you've paid for some training and personal development.
Going to court, even if you win, will cost you a lot more than £80 in legal fees for nothing more than a feeling of vindication. However, that feeling will quickly turn to frustration about the money wasted in clearing your name.
Alas, Mr Humphreys felt that being right was more important than personal financial cost. Whilst he maybe absolute in his beliefs that he did nothing wrong, at least three separate entities have judged it differently; at some point he has to acknowledge he might have this one wrong.
I feel for him, his pride and stubbornous has cost him dearly. It's not the cyclists fault he is in this pickle, this is all his own work.
it is an AUDI... arogance levell 10000000.. he or she will pay double or multiple just to proove that it is the audi's right to do whatever they want
If you thought the BBC piece was bad you need to have a look at the bile and vitriol being spouted by Rowan Pelling at the Telegraph, in a puff piece entitled "Blame cyclists for stoking the flames of the road culture war"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/16/blame-cyclists-stoking-flame...
or if you have twitter have a look here https://twitter.com/AdamBronkhorst/status/1537673769472380929
BBC piece? where?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61815609 our local council run promote cycling organisation, promoted it saying it was a very interesting article
Thanks.
If that's 4 feet of space, then the other drivers are leaving about 20 feet? It's dangerous driving.
The telegraph comments are pretty funny: "I'm a cyclist, and I would be fine with that distance"
One claimed bike cameras make cars look closer than they really are...
Been listening to Meat Loaf - "Objects in the rear view camera ..."?
“Taking into account the cyclist and his bike there would have still been at least four foot space,” he claimed.
There's not even "4 foot space" between the door of the vehicle and the edge of the road....there might have been as much space from the driver's shoulder to the cyclists shoulder...
Even if there was a four-foot space, that's 1.2m or so. 1.5m is five feet, near enough. How's that petard, Mr Humphreys?
I've given this some thought and I'm not sure if the guidance of allowing 1.5m space when overtaking a cyclist could be interpreted as leave a 1.5m gap between the cyclist and your vehicle or leave a 1.5m wide gap on the road for the cyclist.
This may have been what the defendant was trying to argue and looking at the above it looks like he left 4ft between his car and the verge!!
I hope courts do not interpret the 1.5 m gap as being 1.5 m from the edge of the road as quite often need to move more than 1m from edge of road to avoid potholes or debris, and would not want someone speeding past my elbow claiming I had 1.5m to my left!!
I've given this some thought and I'm not sure if the guidance of allowing 1.5m space when overtaking a cyclist could be interpreted as leave a 1.5m gap between the cyclist and your vehicle or leave a 1.5m wide gap on the road for the cyclist
Clearly not very effective thought, and it's obvious to any reasonably normal member of all hominin species since Homo Heidelbergensis
Maybe I wasn't clear enough - I have always understood the intention is for 1.5 m from cyclist, and it is what I want as a cyclist, but the wording of the HC rule leave enough space as you would a car and allow 1.5 m could be misinterpreted, as I believe this driver may have thought that leave a road space of (almost but not quite 1.5m) was enough, given that many car drivers overtake other cars with a gnats whisker between their wing/door mirrors! Its when you see the picture in the HC and supporting material like the cycling UK close pass mats that this is clear, but how many drivers read the HC cover to cover, they probably just get snippets of the rules quoted by the daily Heil. Just thinking that if that is the case here then part of the education should be explicit leave a 1.5 m gap from the cyclist!
In context, that clearly means leave 1.5m between you and them, because if you only left a car 1.5m on the road you would hit their offside.
Does this help explain it better then ?
No, even that is wrong. The arrow marking 1.5 m should start even with the cyclist's right elbow or knee, or the end of the bar. The width of the cyclist is entirely missing from the diagram.
Much as it does help explainthe 1.5m for the hard of tinking, I'm not a fan of those mats, with the .75 m from the kerb dimension, the riders position in the lane should not matter.
On a pedantic note, metres should be a lower case m, not uppercase which is for Mega in the SI system of units.
I think I see why the driver was confused now - they thought they were supposed to leave 1.5 em.
The driver seems to be generally confused anyway. Their claim of leaving 4 feet of space is laughably ridiculous.
Hey dont blame me for the quality of the thing, its CyclingUKs work not mine, I offered it up,as even with its faults, some might say are mere pedantry to point out...it fairly simply explains the concept, which was the main point. Argue amongst yourselves on the detail to it.
Don't worry. They'll replace them with imperial mats soon.
As one wit pointed out on fb, one imperial measurement to be reinstated would be the scruple, as there is such a shortage of them in government.