Cyclist wrongly told by police that close pass driver couldn’t be prosecuted – because rider swore following near miss (+ video – includes swearing)

I am the cyclist in the video and would just like to express my gratitude to Simon and road.cc for publishing the story.

I'm currently waiting to hear back from South Wales Police after asking for an explanation. The motivation isn't about getting the officer punished, although the advice he gave me was absolutely shocking, I just want the police to take these extremely poor examples of driving seriously before I, or other vulnerable road users become statistics.

I noticed a comment by sparrowlegs suggesting that this should be easy pickings for the police. I completely agree with that. I think all close passes should be prosecuted. In some cases, the driver may see the footage and realise how bad it was and they may learn from it. Other drivers may never get the message and in those cases, they should lose their license for a fixed period. The third time, how about a permanent ban? Cyclists are not the only victims of the selfish tw@ts who drive like this all the time, but the police and the courts seem to have too much tolerance for dangerous driving. The sentences that some people get for seriously injuring or killing others on the roads is laughable and is an insult to the victims as well as their families.

I've a court date in July to give evidence against this guy; my, ahem, somewhat robust language certainly hasn't been mention by the police!

https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-almost-run-down-impatient-peugeot-d...

Good on him for persisting with this. Of course it's ridiculous to suggest that someone endangering another's life should escape prosecution because of the victim's entirely understandable reaction.

I had a nasty close pass at night (no. 194 on here if you're interested) where I called the driver a c*nt purely out of fear and anger at nearly being killed. Police went ahead with a warning letter. Frankly, I think she got off lightly, given the brake check and aggressive reversing towards me after the close pass but hey ho.

I wonder if they treat knife stabbing victims with the same logic: We would prosecute, but you were caught littering the pavement with your blood.

As the commentaery says this comes accross as victim blaming.

If the cyclist swore at the driver BEFORE the close pass then the police could say the driver was provoked.

If the cyclist swore AFTER the close pass then the driver provoked the cyclist and although the swearing is regrettable it is understandable. Being sworn at is not a common cause of death.

There could be only one possible response to the police; Bolox.

Having submitted over 100 close pass clips to South Wales police, a lot without any bad language, I fully understand why you're angry that they fail to do anything. I was sure their "Operation Snap" video submission system was just going straight to a recycle bin as I never heard anything back, however, the last 3 submissions I've made (2 within 5 mins on the same road) I've received the following response:

The digital recording submitted by you has been reviewed and we are satisfied that one of the following actions is necessary to proceed with this matter

1- Warning
2- Conditional offer of a diversionary course
3- Conditional offer of fixed penalty
4- Proceed to court (if you are required to attend court you will be notified nearer to the time, by our witness care team)

Hopefully they aren't just fobbing me off, but they won't inform me of what the outcome is unless I'm required to go to court. Only time will tell

Surely stuff like this is easy pickings for the police? Video evidence of the driver putting people at risk means 100% chance of a successful conviction? I mean, they could be knocking hundreds of these out a day and making a mint.

But no. The lazy feckless wastes of tax payer money still find an excuse not to prosecute.

The footage was probably reviewed by some glass-backed sick note who was only going to be there another few weeks unless the doctor signs them off for another few months.

For me, get rid of more of the lazy fuckers. The streets are awash with drugs and crimes such as street robbery, car crime and burglary are now classed as virtually victimless and not worth investigating. 

Not in the least bit surprised. Mant police officers are lazy, and cannot be arsed to do their job, to uphold the Law. I have given up reporting near misses to them, there is always an excuse as to why they will not prosecute, too busy, not in the public interest, not close enough, blah, blah, blah. Lancashire Police are the pits, if other forces are as bad, then God help us.

The most rabidly anti cyclist person I know is a North Wales Police Officer. Has often said cyclists shouldn't be on the road and he'd knock them off if they get in his way.

What hope is there with these sorts of attitudes?

Presumably in many, many crime cases the victim uses "bad language" after becoming the victim of the crime, so if that was a valid criteria, then few crimes could ever be prosecuted...

The interesting thing about this story:

CPS do not make charging decisions for careless driving, police do. only dangerous driving offences require CPS approval - and most cases of close passes are unlikely to meet the CPS charging threshold for "dangerous" for a number of reasons. 

In other words the CPS are irrelevant for the vast majority of driving offences which are summary only and police chargable. 

You're unlikely to need to speak to the CPS about their decision not to prosecute (victim's right of review) but you can ask to speak to the officer's sergeant to request their rationale for not prosecuting. 
 

You couldn't make this shit up.

I hope the officer faces disciplinary action for his attitude of 'I can't be arsed to do my job'.

That twat has done similar to me when out riding - I remember the number plate very well vn05 cpv. Shame I didn't have a camera for that incident - but I guess it would have been rejected because I used similar language nick. Sometimes I despair at the pit of absolute excrement this country and its inhabitants have willingly sunk into. I have ridden all over the world and the UK, closely followed by the US, are without doubt the most selfish and disrespectful drivers...

Police are f***ing ar*******