Not-so-Near Miss of the Day 899: Illegal e-scooter rider crashes into cyclist – but police refuse to try and track down culprit

A cyclist who was seriously injured when the rider of an illegal e-scooter crashed into him in south London has been left fuming after the Metropolitan Police Service refused to attempt to track down the culprit, despite the victim’s Member of Parliament urging them to do so.

The incident that left road.cc reader David with a broken shoulder happened at the end of June last year as he rode along Cycleway 7 on the A3 Clapham Road, with the footage posted to YouTube.

“As you'll see, it was quite an impact,” he told us. “The e-scooter rider disappeared off into the nearby Tesco and then rode away.”

While it is legal to ride hired e-scooters available under pilot schemes in a number of UK cities including London, with riders required to hold a driving licence, it is against the law to ride other e-scooters here other than on privately owned land.

But in this instance, the Met told David that they would not pursue the case, despite him telling them that it might be possible to track down the rider, who after the crash went into a nearby shop.

“Sadly the police weren’t interested, saying that as he was unlicensed on an illegal scooter they wouldn't be able to find him,” he explained.

“I pointed out the fact that he clearly went into the Tesco and came out with a bag of shopping, so could potentially be identified if he paid by card. Of course they just closed the case.

“Even the efforts of my local MP went nowhere with the police, who just blamed the government for allowing retailers to sell e-scooters.

“I ended up having a metal plate fitted in July and then removed in December,” David added.

“The shoulder still doesn't function properly and the pain hasn't fully gone yet.

Obviously I'm also out of pocket due to the damage to my bike and other belongings.”

> 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 Twitter or 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