Near Miss of the Day 816: Driver surrenders licence after sideswiping cyclist at 50mph

Maybe one day we'll put a piece together explaining how all 800+ Near Miss of the Day submissions were dealt with by the relevant police forces across the UK, but all too often it's no further action, a warning letter or an awareness course. Most rarely, to the point where we're even wondering if this is our first case, is when a motorist decides, for whatever reason, to surrender their driving licence to the DVLA.

That's exactly what happened after road.cc reader Garry was on the receiving end of a piece of driving in Sussex in June which was "potentially so serious that for the first time ever I reported it".

> Near Miss of the Day 815: "Again and again, drivers don't seem to get the message"

"I thought you might like to hear of what I feel is a happy outcome to a 'close pass' incident. I put that in quotes as I was actually hit," Garry told us.

"Back in June a motorist collided with me in Sussex. I was sideswiped but managed to stay on, the motorist stopped to apologise but I felt the incident was potentially so serious that for the first time ever I reported it.

"The section of road has a 50 mph speed limit and the car was travelling at around that speed so being hit by a wing mirror and feeling the sides of the car move along your arm and leg was a little unsettling."

Having reported the incident, Garry heard back from Sussex Police who told him, "The driver of the vehicle that hit you has surrendered his licence to DVLA and will no longer be driving."

"As such it is not in the public interest to prosecute him as he will not receive any points on his licence," the communication continued.

"Likewise a driving course is now not an option as he will no longer be driving. Therefore I will be issuing him a written warning which puts him at fault for the collision."

Satisfied with the outcome, Garry told us it "reflects well on both the driver and the police".

"A driver (not particularly elderly which might normally explain such an action) has acknowledged they are not able to drive to a safe standard and have removed themselves from the road. This is more than I could have hoped for as it achieves more than a few points or a course," he said.

> 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