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news
Near Miss of the Day 860: Van driver almost takes cyclist out — business owner threatens defamation case after getting review bombed
A cyclist was pedalling down Brighton Road in south London when a driver with a business van hooked left and cut across him with a dangerously high speed, and when the cyclist posted the video leading to the business getting review bombed, its response was more threatening than apologetic…
The Croydon-based cyclist, who goes by the name of CycleGaz onTwitter, is a cycling campaigner and frequently documents cycling in London (‘the good times and bad’).
The incident took place in August last year, when he was cycling on the (wait for it) cycle lane in Brighton Road. As he was about to reach the junction at Riddlesdown Road opposite the Royal Oak Centre, a lorry van swerved to take a wider line and maintain higher speed before cutting across left in front of CycleGaz.
CycleGaz had to slam down on his disc brakes, which left marks on his tyre. He said: “If I was not hyperaware, on a bike with hydraulic disc brakes, and extremely experienced at using said brakes, this would have resulted in a collision that would have left me with serious injuries.”
He told road.cc that he had reported it via the Met police website and received a standard response after a few days that a Notice of Intended Prosecution had been sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle. When he requested an update in March, he was informed that only a Driving Awareness Course had been issued to the driver.
This is what I'm worried about. The junction needs to be fixed so nobody gets hurt!
— CycleGaz™ (@cyclegaz) April 12, 2023
Yup, was planning on carrying on around, not turn left.
— CycleGaz™ (@cyclegaz) April 12, 2023
I wouldn’t be. My partner was was crashed into (in her car) side on by a vehicle running a red light. She needed to be cut out and required surgery. Driver got awareness course. But on the same junction there’s a camera that if you go over the white line a fraction, 3 points £90
— Mark Brotherhood (@MTBrotherhood) April 12, 2023
One reply also pointed out that his heart rate, which is visible in the video, jumped to 146BPM after the close pass, increasing from the 129BPM when he was cycling, despite a pause in the physical effort.
Amidst all this, the business to whom the lorry belonged has got caught up. After CycleGaz posted the video on social media, eagle-eyed viewers were quick to point that the van belonged to a certain Carpet Supplies, and thus began the exercise of review bombing, despite CycleGaz requesting people not to do it.
This post is intended to highlight the poor actions of the Met Police and to flag the dangerous junction.
Please do not contact or review the company in question.
— CycleGaz™ (@cyclegaz) April 12, 2023
> Near Miss of the Day 859: Driver cuts across cyclist at speed, narrowly misses front wheel
However, the business instead took a quite interesting approach, threatening the reviewers with defamation cases.
Under one one-star review, it said: “We kindly request you remove this false review in relation to the flooring business, you have not purchased or received any service from the company.
“Your comment is in regards to a closed civil matter and not to the services that carpet supplies limited have offered. Should the review not be removed the review and your details will be included in the defamation case being raised against the individual who posted the video should he not remove it from all online platforms as requested.”
However, CycleGaz has denied that he received any information of a defamation case from the business owner.
> 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
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 1 sec ago
Like flying the Union Flag upside-down?
- hawkinspeter 6 min 6 sec ago
There's discussion of that here: https://road.cc/content/news/uk-government-review-motorists-caught-out-c...
- hawkinspeter 10 min ago
Also to reduce the likelihood of payments by insurance companies if they can show that a cyclist victim wasn't wearing a helmet or wearing it...
- Homebaker 36 min 31 sec ago
I have done it but whilst making you feel better, apart from the occasional sore hand, it always inflamed the situation. ...
- hawkinspeter 6 min 27 sec ago
There's discussion of that here: https://road.cc/content/news/uk-government-review-motorists-caught-out-cycle-lanes-308187...
- eburtthebike 1 hour 15 min ago
Six months too long.
- IanMunro 1 hour 36 min ago
It's astounding that people managed to ride bicycles at all before bike fitters started selling their services to the public..
- David9694 2 hours 58 min ago
Essex campaigners welcome Extra Eyes initiative to catch bad drivers https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/24297908.essex-campaigners-welcome-e...
- Eton Rifle 3 hours 14 min ago
Yeah, I know it's not ALL about aesthetics but, Christ that looks horrible. ...
- Nick T 5 hours 54 min ago
As a motorbiker as well as cyclist, that side nod is how I greet other riders
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42 comments
Astoundingly dangerous driving, and the business should be grateful that the driver only had to do an awareness course: I'm sure most people here would like to see them banned for a year and fined maybe £1k.
As for the threatened defamation case "Publish and be damned" as the Duke of Wellington said. I'm sure that it's just a threat with no intention to carry it out, but if they do, then I'm sure the readers of this will be only too willing to donate to your defence. It cannot be defamation to publish the facts, and unless they are claiming that the video was falsified, there is no defamation.
Given the response it should be standard that the officers of the company are also obliged to attend the course. That would be some real executive accountability, leading to better leadership..
I'm trying to understand the driver's thoughts:
he wasnt driving like a hoon before
I cant see any malice aforethought
driver indicated and must have seen the cyclist
I dont think the driver assumed the cyclist was turning left
the van takes a wide line I think to try and avoid the cyclist
Then straight lines the junction.
Is it just terrible judgment or I did I miss something?
If he did this to another driver, there'd be road rage.
If this isnt dangerous driving, what is?
It seems to me to have been an attempt to scare the cyclist by getting as close as possible at the maximum speed possible and still make the corner. The driver had plenty of time to plan it as they followed at a similar speed and they didn't seem to be in a rush before or after. I can't think of any other reason to move to the right before hand and take the 'racing line' through the corner.
The driver probably imagines they are endowed with God like driving skills.
I suspect they are just under-endowed in another area.
I disagree, I see a premeditated move. Regardless of which direction the cyclist was percieved to be going - the driver enters the cycle lane then cuts onto the opposite lane.
The driver slows, indicates then makes a move designed to close pass and intimidate. I cant see how anyone, not least the police, see it in any other way. They also knew that by going wider - remember they were indicating left well before the junction, they knew that they could come in at a fast pace and cut the cyclist off. This was a dangerous and thought out manouvre. The police need to seriously reconsider thier actions as this driver has shown a disturbing disregard for other road users. What is the likelihood they take someones life with a similar trick be it a cyclist, other motor vehicle driver or pedestrian?
God. I used to commute that very stretch of road almost daily a few years ago. It was rarely that much fun in either direction. Never had that happen though - shocking driving. Rider did well to not get hit there.
The layout at the junction was changed fairly recently.
With the old layout - still visible in google streetview - to stay on the A235 from Croydon towards Purley, you'd leave the cycle lane, moving across to the right-hand 'lane', and continue round to the right.
With the new layout, if you stay in the cycle lane it swings round to the right. Then any cars going straight-on onto Riddlesdown Road cut across the cycle lane at almost 90 degrees to it - as in CycleGaz's video.
I don't cycle on that road very often, but the first time I did with the new layout I imagined exactly the scenario seen in the video. Yes, the van driver's driving is appallingly dangerous, but the junction layout doesn't help!
I ride this junction as well although most of the time I go straight onto Riddlesdown Road. To be honest the old layout with no cycle lane was better as at least you're more noticeable on the road and much less likely to get hooked like what happened to CycleGaz.
A shame that the current mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry appears to be very anti-cycling so don't expect things to get better anytime soon.
https://insidecroydon.com/2023/04/12/perrys-back-pedalling-furiously-on-...
Having worked in the area of media law for over 20 years, the idea that this video could be construed in any way as defamatory of the carpet company is laughable. In the climate where SLAPP strategies by law firms are coming under huge political pressure, any law firm advising this company to go down the defamation road is making a strategic mistake. Even if this were to come to court, CycleGaz has a number of very obvious defences to defamation and the company would end up having to pay all of the fees of the case. Instead of attacking posters and the victim of this situation, they should take action against their employee and apologise publicly.
One might suspect the "employee" driving is the same person as the company owner ...
Did you notice the journo's name!
From that article (by 'Jeremy Clackson'):
"The only action the police took was to send the driver on an awareness course, although we understand that his employer sacked him once knowledge of his recklessness became widespread."
(I'm slightly surprised that the owner isn't in fact the driver, assuming this is true.)
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