Near Miss of the Day 906: Walkers Crisps van driver makes close pass on cyclist

A cyclist who caught on camera a very close pass from the driver of a Walkers Crisps van has been told by police that the driver was issued with a warning letter.

Barry, the road.cc reader who was on the receiving end of the close pass, told us that it happened shortly before noon on 23 April.

“I was cycling along Bickershaw Lane in Bickershaw near Wigan when a large Walkers Crisps van passed extremely close to me,” he said.

“I have had other close passes whilst out cycling but this was a bit to close for comfort it really startled me.

“I felt this was a case of inconsiderate and irresponsible driving and had to be reported to the police,” continued Barry, who reported it via Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Snap Portal.

He has subsequently been told that the footage was reviewed by a Roads Policing Officer, and that “a Letter Of Warning was sent to the Driver/Keeper of the vehicle.”

In its email, the force added: “Your help in taking the time to make us aware of this matter is greatly appreciated and will improve the safety on the roads of Greater Manchester.”

Barry said that he had also emailed Walkers Crisps “and provided them with the video footage but they have not got back to me yet.”

We have also contacted the company and will update this article with their response should we receive one.

> 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