Near Miss of the Day 501 (UPDATED): HGV driver said he had to cut corner because of fast oncoming traffic

*Update (November 24): The driver has been suspended by his firm, pending further investigation*

*Update (December 4): The driver has left the firm following a disciplinary process*

Today’s breath-taking near miss sees the driver of a builder’s merchants lorry cutting the corner when turning into a side road and almost flattening a cyclist in the process. The manoeuvre itself is only half the story however.

The incident occurred on Thursday on Stoke Road in Sonning Common, at the junction with Gravel Hill.

Secret_squirrel writes: “I had some new kit arrive – ironically a fluoro gilet – and an hour to kill so I thought I would take it for a test ride. Turns out all the fluoro or lights in the world means nothing if the driver doesn’t look or has some very iffy looking wing mirrors.”

Secret_squirrel said that even after he stopped and shouted, the driver continued, forcing him to get out of the way.

“When I challenged him on his driving, he replied that his view had been blocked by the silver deflectors on his wing mirrors, and that he had to turn quickly as the oncoming traffic tended to be fast. 

“After exchanging a few more words, he left without leaving any contact details.”

Secret_squirrel has submitted the footage to Thames Valley Police and also to the business in question. He was told that the firm would investigate which driver was involved and get back to him.

“The white 4x4 driver was really nice,” he added, “as was a lady from a nearby house who offered me a cup of tea.”

> 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