Near Miss of the Day 717: Bang on the side for coach driver who commits extremely close pass towards oncoming cars

Many of our readers’ submissions to Near Miss of the Day are reported to the police and, in instances where the perpetrator is driving a vehicle owned by their employer, the relevant company. Some, like Tuesday’s Near Miss, don’t receive any response at all, while others – like today’s edition – are acknowledged, but perhaps not in the way the cyclist intended.

Today’s video, sent to us by road.cc reader Stephen, shows a very impatient coach driver committing an extremely close pass through a town, forcing two oncoming cars to brake sharply and earning a bang on the side from Stephen in the process.

Stephen told us: “I am still amazed it happened on the approach to a junction with oncoming cars who had to take evasive action, in a 20mph zone and lastly on a pedestrian crossing.

“I will not show the rear view, as it really is scary as it shows him trying to pass on several occasions and being approximately three feet off my rear Bob Yak wheel.

“Even the Transit driver took evading action early on. The only good thing about it, is it happened to an experienced cyclist and not a child from the village college.”

Stephen reported the incident, which took place in September 2020, to Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police, as well as the coach operators and the local operators’ licensing authority, but has yet to hear a response from any of those bodies.

He has received some form of acknowledgement from the coach driver in question, however.

“I have been given the bird by the driver on occasions when he passes me during his local route, so something must have been said, or perhaps he is just proving he has seen me!”

> 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