- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
range rover footage screenshot - via Mat Burnham on twitterPolice chief says clip of Range Rover driver hitting cyclist with car doesn’t tell full story
Northamptonshire Police’s Chief Constable has confirmed that no further action will be taken against a Range Rover driver who struck a cyclist with their car, after CCTV footage depicting the incident was “reviewed and reassessed”. In a press conference yesterday, Police Chief Nick Adderley also suggested that the reviewed footage “captures a lot more” than the 27-second clip uploaded by the cyclist to social media.
Mat, as promised, this incident has been thoroughly reviewed. Earlier this morning I too watched all the video evidence, including local authority CCTV. The decision of the force stands and no further action will be taken. Happy to take this offline, your call? https://t.co/BA2roNWukl
— Nick Adderley (@NorthantsChief) August 9, 2022
On Sunday we reported that cyclist Mat Burnham, who posted a clip to Twitter of a motorist driving into him during a confrontation at a set of traffic lights, blasted Northants Police for what he called “victim-blaming twaddle” after he was informed that no action would be taken against the Range Rover driver because the victim placed himself “in front of the car” by dismounting his bike.
Burnham told road.cc that he believes the driver “took umbrage” at him for filtering past the stationary traffic before adopting the primary position at the junction. In the clip, after the driver sounds her horn, Mat gets off his bike and appears to shout at the motorist, who then drives into him.
Sharing a letter from Northants Police after reporting the incident, Mat said the confrontation was “confirmed as an assault” but that the motorist would not be prosecuted as the officer claimed that the driver had steered “to her right to try to avoid you”, and that the cyclist had “put himself in harm’s way”.
After the clip sparked a backlash from cyclists on social media, Northants Police’s Chief Constable Nick Adderley replied to Mat on Twitter, telling him that the incident would be “reviewed and reassessed”.
Yesterday, Adderley once again responded to the cyclist using social media, writing: “Mat, as promised, this incident has been thoroughly reviewed.
“Earlier this morning I too watched all the video evidence, including local authority CCTV. The decision of the force stands and no further action will be taken. Happy to take this offline, your call?”
For those of you not on Facebook here’s the clip of @NorthantsChief taking about the incident we’ve all been talking about pic.twitter.com/KhVZENziL6
— Richard S (@Stokesy1966) August 9, 2022
In a press conference held yesterday afternoon, the police chief elaborated on the review process and the decision not to prosecute the driver.
“The clip that has been put on social media by the individual is exactly that, a very short clip,” Adderley said, referring to Burnham’s original post.
“I thought it was right and proper, given the commentary the cyclist made, that [the incident] is reviewed and reassessed.
“We’ve done that. We’ve obtained all the CCTV evidence that was available on that road – it captures footage that happened before the clip that was shown on social media. And it captures a lot more than that clip actually depicts.
“I even reviewed it this morning [9 August]… and looked through it. I can’t go into detail because it is not right, at this stage, to go into any more detail.
“But what I will say is: If that cyclist wants to take it further, make your complaint. We will take it further and if you want to give permission for me to show all of that video footage, prior, during, and after, you give me that information – I’ll share it.”
road.cc has contacted Mat Burnham for comment.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
Latest Comments
- HoarseMann 2 sec ago
Driver injured after car flips onto its roofhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0g9rpp8x9o
- mark1a 17 min 5 sec ago
I don't think he wants to talk about it...
- Rendel Harris 46 min 34 sec ago
Ach, dinnae fret...
- Matt Page 54 min 30 sec ago
The Prevelo Alpha Three on the main feature image is 20".
- eburtthebike 1 hour 6 min ago
£100 bonus.
- chrisonabike 1 hour 14 min ago
To be fair if this is our usual revenant they've got form in rewriting history...
- chrisonabike 1 hour 15 min ago
"At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them ... we have to because some numpty destroyed the roll of names"....
- hawkinspeter 3 hours 20 min ago
Looks like some Barton Hill residents don't want the Liverpool Neighbourhood or at least not Marsh Lane to be a no-through-road:...
- David9694 4 hours 8 min ago
"After a two-hour long meeting, the panel voted 9-2 to resolve that the majority of the panel supported the introduction of the charges but was ...
Add new comment
93 comments
Judging by his twitter feed, I think the Chief Constable might have underestimated Mat. I suspect an official complaint and the full footage will be forthcoming.
Lets hope so. Publicly threatening the victim is really not a good look.
I have no trust in the Police any longer.
I think we can all have confidence in Inspector Kevin, Andy Cox and Mark Hodson
There is a smidgen of hope for the general forces.
"Today's plum. Putting the false plates on your car when you’re a drunk, disqualified driver. Only putting the plates on for someone wanted on a recall to prison "
https://twitter.com/TaffMet/status/1557362909205958657
https://twitter.com/binstedman/status/1552649882858426368
Local cycling group on a ride last Sunday and confrontation with a motorist who drove over a bike before speeding off.
https://twitter.com/binstedman/status/1557005395016781824
Update on a post awhile ago on one of our group that got driven at and knocked off his bike. No further action as no independent witness = the other 6 in the group might be biased against the driver.
My experiences of Essex Police are mixed to say the least. No wonder there is scepticism about police action in regions around the country.
I'm off to buy a Range Rover as it looks like they can do what they like and get away with it? For the sake of clarity the whole footage has to be published so that we are all clear on what we as cyclists need to avoid doing otherwise it looks like RR drivers can do what they like?
Just think how bad it would be if the average Range Rover was reliable enough to be on the road 12 months of the year instead of having to spend weeks being fixed. Thank goodness for British engineering. I think though it's why they are so grumpy, they've got to get back home before the next breakdown.
I seem to recall at least one instance where a seriously injured cyclist had to door-knock for cctv footage as the police wouldn't do it.
And yet in this case ....
Because Northants police are desparate for something that will cover their backs and justify the original decision?
They appear to have dropped lucky and found something.
I wonder whether the police spoke to the driver before coming to their original decision and heard a tale of woe and intimidation. If so why did they take her word for it, and not seek CCTV beforehand?
This one took place in Northamptonshire not Essex.
Thanks LS, was reading Hirsute's post and got a bit lost. Now edited.
Well she was driving a Range Rover so was obviously telling the truth. Also, why would she bother lying to one of her friends in the police?
https://road.cc/content/news/263185-highgate-hit-and-run-driver-who-left...
I know this road well and it's not a route for cycling I would choose. This is a very busy road that's four lanes wide and just before the lights they're stopped at there is another set of lights that are heavily congested so there could have been a prior altercation at the first lights we haven't been privy to.
Also, reporting it as an assault, rather than through Operation Snap, then the police are going to review all available evidence and it appears in this case that they feel there is additional information not included in Mat's original report and video submission.
Of course, reporting it through Operation Snap is no guarantee of prosecution for had there been an earlier conflict this may have been included in the full video which would affect any decision to prosecute.
It's a road I'd avoid too, but sometimes roads like this are unavoidable.
There's a busy A road high street that I don't like riding on, but a short section of it is the only reasonable option for getting to the supermarket.
It's not illegal to ride on it or filter through stationary traffic to get the the front of the traffic lights. Yes it must be frustrating for a driver to have to wait behind a cyclist, but tough, they are driving in a town centre, they need to expect it to be busy and to get held up by people going about their daily lives.
They wouldn't think twice about waiting a minute at a pedestrian traffic light crossing for pedestrians to cross the road, or a couple of minutes waiting for other cars to cross their path at a traffic light controlled junction. Being held up by a bike is just the same.
Many would, though...
I had a bizarre incident this morning. I was coming back from an early morning ride and was attempting to cross a busy main road to turn into my road (which happens to be no entry from that direction). I stopped at the
curbkerbside of the road to wait for a chance to cross and after 10-20 seconds or so, I spotted my chance as traffic on my side was clear and the other side was slowing down for the light-controlled junction. As I cycled across, I attempted to pass in front of a slowing Bristol City Council van (the vehicle in front of him had stopped) and the driver decided to squeeze the gap I was aiming for! As an experienced gap navigator, I managed to thread my way through safely and then heard the driver shouting "IT'S NO ENTRY!!" which to be fair was correct. As I cycled round to my back gate, there was another cyclist who had performed almost exactly the same maneouvre as me, though she only had to deal with the van being stationary - she made a comment about how the driver must be having a bad day already.So it's "confirmed as an assault", but Nick Adderley's comments suggest that the cyclist has done something prior to the start of the clip that "justify" that driver committing assault (so, self-defense). I'm no legal expert, but there's not a single thing that I can think of, that the cyclist could have done to "justify" that response, that wouldn't also have the cyclist in police custody - we're not talking about a few broken Highway Code rules here, the driver must have had genuine reason to fear for her life in order for such a disproportionate response as ramming him with a Range Rover to be considered "reasonable".
Release the footage, I'm dying to see how they've justified this.
I was initially confident that it was simply just a case of police apathy, but now I am having nagging doubts as to whether there is something more.
From the clip that was shown, and the description given by Mat, the response by the police seems entirely unwarranted. Which points towards the cyclist filtering, getting in front of the motorist, then reacting to being beeped. But when you add to that what seems to be a veiled threat by the CC to say if you want to make a complaint go ahead..... which I'm reading as "if we prosecute the driver we will be prosecuting you for an offence" its now looking like something else happened.
Was there an altercation in the run up to the incident, which could point to the police being reluctant to prosecute the motorist on the basis that the motorist was just trying to extricate themselves from a potential conflict? Or was it that there was something that happened after the clip in retaliation? Or both. We just don't know.
If I was in that situation, given the comments made by the CC at the very least I would assume that the chance of the driver being prosecuted is now effectively zero I would be erring towards uploading the entire footage from before and after the incident online if I was confident that I had done nothing wrong to clear my name.
And social media will no doubt be asking.... if there is nothing to hide why is the footage not being shared.
Or was the driver of the Range Rover one Mrs Adderley?
Who can tell....
From the response of Chief Constable Adderley, it certainly seems he is confident there is more to it than the clip shows. He clearly feels that the additional footage shows something that gives a clear defence to the driver. I am no lawyer but the only thing I can think that could meet this would be a defence of self defence due to an earlier confrontation or out of shot gesture / action that would be seen by a reasonable person as putting the car driver in fear of their immediate safety if they were to remain on scene. If the cyclist disagrees then it seems up to him to either agree to the release of the whole footage or offer further explanation.
I hope some further information is forthcoming as my concern is that a large number of social media posters seem to be under the impression that him blocking the carriageway is justification enough to run him down and that combined with some seeing any cyclists in front of them as blocking the road will lead to a further deterioration in cyclist / driver relations.
I've interacted with some of those and they see no issue with driving at him as he is an obstruction. Then adding as a vulnerable user he should get out of the way.
Exactly my concern and why I feel clarification of some kind is needed from the CC as either a statement of what generically could lead to a decision of NFA in this situation or preferably the release of the full footage with commentary. I feel the current situation is undesirable as it leaves the anti-cyclist lobby emboldened to dream about flattering any cyclists who dare to encroach on the space in front of their vehicle.
Seems a perfectly reasonable response to me.
"You might be in the way of my motorised vehicle, but at least your bum looks nice"
Thanks, so kind! Don't tell my wife you said that!
Bloody autocorrect! I meant to type "Flattening" of course.
Now this is the way to go! Creep out those lycra creeps!
...Except affecting the conversational style of Jimmy Savile will probably get you in far more trouble than driving into someone just at the moment.
Way I read it it sounds like they're saying "we think you were threatening the driver / smoking crack and jumping red lights / clubbing baby seals in earlier footage and if that emerges it won't be to your advantage"?
Who else thinks that was going to end with "make your complaint if you think you're hard enough"?
I think they need to release the whole footage, if it so radically changes the narrative.
Otherwise they look a bit incompetent and/or institutionally velophobic...
So does this mean that when protesters glue themselves to the road, disgruntled Range Rover drivers can gently run over them?
Pages