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news
Near Miss of the Day 69: Lorry driver makes close pass - but police take no action
Our latest Near Miss of the Day video features the driver of a lorry making a very close pass on a cyclist in South Wales - but police decided to take no action.
The lorry belonged to furniture retailer Arthur Llewellyn Jenkins, which has branches in Cardiff and Swansea.
The video was submitted by road.cc reader John, who told us: "I reported it to South Wales Police (SWP) who told me that there was no evidence of an offence, if I had swerved that would have proved it was too close or if an oncoming car had reported the incident then he would have committed an offence according to the PCSO who rang me.
"I contacted the company and sent the footage they spoke with the driver but he told them he had enough space to overtake and the company seemed happy with that, he even complained that I had earlier filtered past him dangerously whilst he was stationary at traffic lights."
John also did a bit of digging around about how police in Wales handle such incidents. Here's what he discovered. "I have also found out recently that when submitting incidents via the new OPSNAP website Dyfed Powys Police handle the initial processing of the incident for SWP.
T,hey then advise if it's prosecution or a warning letter but SWP are the only Welsh force not issuing warning letters to drivers.
"Speaking to the Dyfed Powys officer he has been advising that the recent close pass incidents I have reported have resulted in a warning letter being sent to the driver but SWP won't send them even though they are currently running a close pass operation in Cardiff."
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.
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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11 comments
I got knocked off in Menston, Leeds, by a Volvo that without warning, pulled into the bike lane and stopped. I carry enough lighting for cup final night at Wembly, but some how he wasn't looking. I ended up crossing the pavement and came to rest in the shrubbery. I had the whole thing on film, but when I reported the accident, the Police refused to accept the video disk. They did however track the driver down from the registration number and obtained his insurance details, name and address for me.
Apparently the driver told the Police that he thought he might have cut me up a bit. Obviously the Police had no evidence, so that was that. Case closed.
Some time ago I witnessed an artic turn left across a bike lane without looking or signalling. There was a cyclist beside it at the time. It was a VERY close call. I sent in the video, but nothing happened as far as I know.
It seems to me that the Police are too busy to concern themselves with the safety of cyclists.
But then, one of my children was robbed the other day, so where would I want limited resources to be focussed? Hard to call.
By the sounds of it the police recorded your incident on an accident report. So regardless of whether or not they decided to prosecute the driver for offences(very unlikely unless his driving was particularly shocking) this will help you in some small way and you can still claim for injuries/losses via a solicitor and more than likley you will win substantial compensation for your inuries.
The police won't routinely take drivers to court after accidents where insurance companies/solicitors can provide the necessary remedy to those deserving compensation.If they did, the courts would be overrun with cases of this type.
I have been knocked off a bike 4 times by car drivers in the past 5 years ,all of whom were wholly to blame for the collision. I have 'won' every case through a solicitor and been compensted accordingly. 3 out of the 4 accidents were reported to the police yet none of the drivers were prosecuted . And It was not because the police 'don't care'-that's just the way the system is these days.
And it would be the same outcome if a driver in similar circumstances ran into you while you were driving a car - prosecution again would be most unlikley.So not really true to say as a generalisation that 'the police are too busy to concern themselves with the safety of cyclists'.
Very dangerous close pass - hope the police take action. Personally I may have taken a stronger secondary position in those traffic conditions. One can see that the cyclist is almost on the iron work.
Poor driving, poor decision making too.
It needs to be challenged back. Also send a copy of the picture from the Highway Code section 163 and also any photo you can find from any SWP promotional stories about their close pass operation, ask them to compare and contrast your footage with their own photo.
Can only assume the PCSO has never ridden a bike in the circumstances shown.
Insult at best. Pursue by lodging a formal complaint against them for not carrying out their duties as public servants.
As I have commented before on Close Pass oprations; the police are only interested when a member of the force are endangered, they could not give a toss about any other cyclist.
Opinion x Repetition != Fact
..especially when the opinion is over-generalised bollocks, something the world is so desperate for more of.
Not true at all.
I have reported two close passes captured on video to my local police force this year and they have taken action in repsect of both incidents. Both drivers were sent on driver awareness courses as an alternative to prosecution. Decent result in my opinion.
In the example shown here I would not accept the response given so far by South Wales police, as already stated. . This needs to be pursued and should result in some further action being taken against the driver.
If the use of bike cams was more widespread and we kept reporting these incidents then it might help move things in the right direction where driver education is concerned.
Get in contact with the Traffic Process Office of South Wales Police - if they are anything like those in the West Midlands, they will take action. A PCSO is not best placed to make a judgement.
Not in my experience. I have reported TWO close passes to WMP this year - BOTH caught on video, with the car clearly identifiable. On both ocasions the car - or an occupant of it - was close enough to make actual contact. Lord knows how I was able to stay upright the second time - the whack on my hand left a red mark for several days.
I am not aware of any action having been taken in either case.
Have you gone back to them with a request to be updated. They will not tell you what has happened unless you ask.