Near Miss of the Day 916: Cyclist detached from group during club ride gets close passed by motorist... who's let off with a warning letter from police

A cyclist who was on a club ride in north Essex was close-passed by a motorist before a blind bend, however, the police decided to proceed with just a warning letter, leading to the cyclist and a cycling campaign raising questions about how will "driver behaviour improve if there are no consequences for poor driving".

The incident took place on Birchwood Road, just north of Colchester, last Saturday as Nick was at the end of his club run. He told road.cc that he and other club riders often use the road to get out into and back from the quieter country roads in North Essex and South Suffolk.

So this only got a warning letter, nothing will change with driver behaviour if there are no consequences for poor driving pic.twitter.com/aqbTHSmI6i

— Nick (@TheFatPuncheur) September 29, 2024

Nick, chair of VC Revolution, a Colchester-based cycling club, said: "I had got detached from our group waiting for another rider before they turned off, and as I was riding back to my group was passed by this driver, who also close passed the other group up the road but I didn’t get footage. 

"Myself and the [club] committee take our riders' safety extremely seriously and have invested a not-so-insignificant amount into Cycliq cameras to all groups have video recording.

"What is frustrating is Essex Police and their Safer Roads campaign. Submission which most other forces would take action on are either no further action or warning letters which does nothing to change driver behaviour, and their outcomes are far below other forces

"The majority of drivers are patient and wait for a safe opportunity to pass but not all," he added. "It's frustrating given the number of KSI’s on our roads that Essex Police don’t deem driving like this to warrant further action."

Nick shared the front camera footage of the close pass as well, noting: "Almost like it’s just the easiest way for them deal with it. Looks like they’re acting on it, but not doing a thing... At least they gave empty space 1.5m."

pic.twitter.com/DkOPpyeAfR

— Nick (@TheFatPuncheur) September 29, 2024

The police force's decision to send the driver a warning letter after this close pass has even drawn criticism from Colchester Cycling Campaign, who said: "We have written to the Essex Police Chief Constable, Roger Hirst, and the chair of Safer Essex Roads about the poor performance of the Extra Eyes service. Cyclists across Essex have lost confidence in the service and Essex Roads Policing's ability to punish dangerous drivers."

Twitter user Ride Primary TVL said: "Policing has been so poor since cops stopped riding bikes that some people think warning letters, and awareness courses are suitable for careless or dangerous driving. That's a minimum of a 3 point fix penalty offence."

Camera cyclist CyclingMikey also chimed in, saying: "I get a number of emails and messages about Essex Police dropping 3rd party allegations that the Met Police would almost certainly have prosecuted. It's my impression that Essex Police are failing to meet their obligations and are substandard on this issue."

Colchester Cycling Campaign replied: "Frustratingly, they were okay until a couple of months ago. They claim to have been impacted by some regulatory changes, but this doesn’t seem to have impacted other forces like West Yorkshire."

> Near Miss of the Day 910: Cyclist "let down" by police response to shocking close pass by speeding driver

Cyclists have previously expressed their discontent with the Essex Police, most recently in our Near Miss of the Day series, when a cyclist who was on the receiving end of a shocking close pass from a speeding driver with a traffic island approaching that left him "shaken" criticised the force for offering the offending driver the choice of points or a fine as punishment. 

road.cc reader Tony, who goes by the name CykelTony on YouTube, said: "I was approaching a traffic island by the entrance to a country club when I was shockingly passed at high speed by this driver, coming incredibly close to my right-hand side and cutting back in front sharply to make the traffic island. I was shocked at the recklessness, and shouted at the driver.

"It's one of the few incidents that truly left me shaken, I found myself having to stop a couple of times afterwards to collect myself and calm down, as it kept replaying in my mind.

"I reported it to Essex Police as soon as I got home. After chasing for the result, they stated the driver will be offered the choice of a driving course or points and fine. 

"I felt let down by this and did write to them to complain about the outcome, but to date have not received a response."

> 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