Near Miss of the Day 924: "I bloody love having a truck driven at me," says cyclist after hat-trick of close calls

A cyclist who reported being on the receiving end of "a hat-trick of near misses" within the space of a few seconds has questioned Essex Police's decision to take no further action against the drivers.

road.cc reader Jason was riding along "the usually very peaceful" Thorrington Road in Great Bentley, Essex, on Sunday, enjoying the sun on the "lovely old-school village green", a route often used by local cyclists on their club runs.

In a video shared on YouTube [below] a first driver is seen overtaking, Jason explaining that while it felt close it was more of "a possible near miss" and one he let go as "the sun was out, there was blue sky" and he "felt happy".

"A few seconds later and I noticed a huge black truck waiting to turn onto Thorrington Road from a side junction," he explained. "The very nature of the green means that there is clear visibility all around. I had right of way. I kept on cycling. I was shocked when the truck [driver] pulled out."

Jason said it felt like he had "attempted to push me off the road".

"The hat-trick of near misses came a few seconds later when another car [driver] did a close pass, all for the sake of gaining a few extra metres ahead of me at the next left-hand turn," he continued.

"I reported the bully boy truck and the second near miss to Essex Police via the Extra Eyes website. The only praise I can give Essex Police is that they have a speedy turnaround when it comes to delivering an outcome."

That outcome was no further action taken in both of the reported cases, Jason explaining that he has contacted his local MP, Sir Bernard Jenkin, to "see if he can get any reasoning out of Essex Police as to why this type of dangerous driving is deemed acceptable on our roads".

road.cc will also contact Essex Police for comment on the incident.

> 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