Near Miss of the Day 854: Taxi driver hits cyclist with wing mirror at pinch point... blames rider for swerving

"One of those 'near misses' that didn't actually miss," is how our reader summed up today's Near Miss of the Day submission.

Riding along Newgate Street in the City of London, not far from the Old Bailey, the rider moved out to overtake the cyclists in front, only to have a cabbie's wing mirror hit his back as the professional driver attempted to overtake at a pinch point.

> Near Miss of the Day 853: Driver of lorry urging cyclists to 'Please take extra care near this vehicle' fined for close pass

"To this day I don't know how I wasn't knocked off," the reader told us. "I was hit by the wing mirror as the taxi squeezed by inside the traffic island. I was passing another cyclist at the time, so there was barely any space to move away. I've cycled for 35 years or more, many through London and experienced all kinds — but this was one of the scariest I've ever had.

"Usually if I report an incident I just carry on with life, and don't check up on it — life is too busy for me to worry about outcomes, especially when they're so unpredictable.

"But this one left me really shaken — I was still tense on the train, and I had actual flashbacks at night for several days after of the vehicle suddenly looming through a gap I hadn't thought existed never mind that someone would try to drive through — I was terrified that I was going to go under the wheels — and then furious at the insanity of it, as you can hear.

"As a taxi driver, he clearly knew full well that immediately after this junction it is a dual lane road. So, unusually, a couple of weeks later I did email City of London police to ask what the status was, since — as is usual — I hadn't even had an acknowledgement of the report.

"I had a brief response saying that they were prosecuting — but I never heard anything more after that — so presumably it didn't actually go to court. The most bizarre thing was then being tailed by the driver yelling all sorts of things out the window at me, including that he 'had it on camera' (I told him to save it for the police).

"He also accused me of swerving in front of him — which was complete nonsense  — I was rolling up to the red light when it changed. The cyclist ahead of me dropped in to the side and I picked up speed to pass the line of slower moving cyclists, but didn't change road position at all, as can be seen absolutely clearly in the rear footage.

"Once through the chicane and clear of other cyclists, I moved into the cycle lane and waved him on as I didn't want to him behind me or to have any further engagement with him. Without a doubt my worst experience on London roads, and probably the biggest threat to my life. To this day I don't know how the driver managed to get between me and the kerb without actually sending me over."

Acknowledging Rule 72 of the Highway Code, advising that cyclists should "ride in the centre of your lane, to make yourself as clearly visible as possible [...] at the approach to junctions or road narrowings where it would be unsafe for drivers to overtake you", our reader told us he now "religiously" takes primary position in situations like this to avoid a repeat.

> 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