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news
Not so Near Miss of the Day 640: Hot chocolate thrown over cyclist from moving car
In today's video a passenger leans out of a van window and throws a cup of hot chocolate over a cyclist.
Simon, who submitted the clip, was out riding in the Peak District near Chatsworth on the A619 between Baslow and Chestfield, when he was attacked by the passenger of a grey Transit van.
He said the police were unable to prosecute the driver of the van for anything other than a Fixed Penalty Notice for littering.
Explaining what happened, he said: "I thought I was being hit by sand falling from a builder's truck, such was the force on my back, before realising I was soaked all over and my bike was covered in sticky chocolate.
"Then I saw the offender drop the McDonald's cup into the road. Good shot mind - but it could have knocked me into the kerb.
"The police were unable to find the driver (who was not the registered keeper, although they know his name).
"The driver (of no fixed address) took the vehicle off the road and crunched it, no doubt to prevent him being stopped in the future by the police who might then uncover other nefarious activities.
"Odd thing, the law does not allow the keeper nor the driver to be charged with the assault carried out by the passenger but they can be charged on his behalf with the minor offence of his littering.
"So, the keeper got a Fixed Penalty Notice for littering. Hey ho, a result of sorts and the driver's down one van."
Simon pointed out that if this had happened in the street while he was walking along, he might have had a better chance of getting a prosecution.
He said: "It was malicious. It left me shocked, shaking and bewildered as to why anyone would do that to a cyclist simply minding his own business.
"I was cold too as my jersey and shorts were wet through. I still had to get home for another 40 minutes.
"Can you imagine if he had walked up to me in the high street, a complete stranger, and poured a hot chocolate over a 60 year old just going about their business? I reckon the police would not have let it go.
"But, he got away with it. So what does he hit the next cyclist with, in revenge for having had the police enquiring after him?"
> 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
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43 comments
Changed hands a few days ago but may not be this vehicle!
May not be relevant but in Ireland any 4x4 is sometimes referred to as a Jeep...
No CO2 emissions on a 2 litre diesel ?
N1 means it's a Commercial so not based on emissions oddly!
Changed hands? Police claim that it was scrapped?!?
"Can you imagine if he had walked up to me in the high street, a complete stranger, and poured a hot chocolate over a 60 year old just going about their business? I reckon the police would not have let it go
I think they would, in Lancashire, anyway. No film of the event from both directions, not witnessed by the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury independently? Non-starter! NFA about this, after all (compiling ignored cases for complaint to PCC, so an Oldie-but-Goodie for a change)
Yet another thing for the police to not be arsed doing anything about.
One for the experts on Travellers:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Just to help you along I know Martin Niemöller didn't include travellers in this but try to expand your brains and pretend he did. Particularly as those he writes about came for so many more; the disabled, homosexuals, gypsys, black africans... oh and those with low intelligence.
Similar happened to me. My backside was grabbed by the (female) passenger in a car in a manner that would have seen me arrested for a sexual assault if I'd done it to a stranger at a bus stop. Yet despite the car having a private registration plate, the car was not kept at the address of the registered keeper and the police were completely unable to trace either driver or passenger.
Frankly justice for cyclists across a whole range of situations is pretty unlikely these days. Got nothing to do with the main stream media's obsession with "bloody cyclists" and a "war on motorists" of course.
In addition to reporting to police as assault, you can also make an insurance claim (driver is liable for anything being carried).
Personally I would seriously consider after something like this calling a Taxi and paying the cleaning fee.
I also don't think it would be unreasonable for you to claim for getting a full strip down service done on the basis that the sticky liquid may have gotten into bearings, cable outers, seat tube etc...
So a few £100 insurance claim. The insurer (or from sounds of this MIB) would almost certainly have to pay some of it (e.g. taxi rescue + cleaning fee) and I suspect wouldn't argue.
Bet that cup was full of fingerprints that could have, more than likely would have lead to a person who's committed for worse.
No doubt travellers who have the ability to make vehicles disappear. Loads of them around near me. If they're not driving a van like this it'll be a C63 or M5. One came past me and he was on his phone while eating a porridge pot, throwing the lid of of the window. Couldn't give a shit.
Obviously I don't know about the UK but the chances of a forensics investigation for this in Belgium are essentially nil. Not going to happen, not unless someone was seriously hurt and there were no other viable avenues to get to the truth. What they would do however, is interview the registered owner and he'd have to come up with the name of the driver or be charged with obstruction of a criminal investigation. Same for the driver regarding the passenger, who could face an assault charge. That's over here and I do add that you'd have to get lucky with whomever takes your statement and reviews the case.
Over here they could have hit the cyclist, then reversed over them and as long as they followed the same procedure of crunching the vehicle there'd have been little chance of a conviction. The useless fuckers we have policing our communities would see to that.
While I'm horrified by the assault on this rider, I see no evidence except prejudice that a gypsy or traveller was responsible. Given the irresponsible and prejudiced language people use against those of us who cycle, I'd hope people would avoid jumping to unfounded conclusions about the ethnicity of violent drivers. The sad fact is that being encased in a metal box seems to make people of many races and both sexes ready to assault us.
Yes to all of this.
Are you "The" invisiblevisibleman? I miss your excellent blog.
I am the Invisible Visible Man. Thank you for your kind words about the blog.
I hear what you are saying but I'll bet the likelihood of it being someone from the travelling community is higher than any other.
In this case the fact the driver is of no fixed abode and was able to get rid of the vehicle so quickly points to it being a traveller rather than a "homeless" person.
Really? You post a bigotted commentary then double down on it when challenged.
I bet you it was actually Michael Green practicing in a bigger road vehicle before he takes is HGV test next week.
Which of us has any facts to back up our claim?
Plenty of people end up being of no fixed abode. Plenty of people know how to get rid of vehicles. Your suppositions are straightforwardly racist.
Haha! You've got me IVM. You keep living in that ivory tower in Brooklyn or London and pointing out all the isms.
I was threatened a couple of summers ago by a driver of a van travelling on cloned plates. Didn't need to guess he was a traveller - I recognised the accent. But the yep of vehicle and inability to trace the registered keeper certainly combine to create that impression I'm afraid.
I'd like to see the owner of a viehicle liable for not knowing who's driving it at all times. i.e. it's either under your control or stolen.
It should be a crime to not report a vehicle that you know is stolen.
I'd like to see drivers/owners prosecuted for joint venture where attacks are perpertrated by passengers and they either don't stop it or don't report the person doing it to the police.
Finally I'd like to see drivers/owners get life time bans for using cars as weapons.
No loopholes and no "special cercumstances" that let you get away with using vehicles as weapons.
Had a (full, judging by the amount of beer it was spraying out as it passed) beer can thrown at me while riding on the cycle lane over Vauxhall Bridge last year, ducked and it flew over my head into the Thames. Totally unprovoked, had no interaction with the occupants of the van it came from. Reported it to a police patrol nearby, with the registration - apparently the funniest thing ever, "We can't do anyfink if the evidence is in the river" and "Try and catch it next time so you get a free drink." Refused to do anything at all, sure they would have been just the same if someone threw a full can into a car windscreen at speed...oh but that would have damaged valuable property, not just some cyclist's head...
You should have escalated your complaint of it wasnt handled correctly especially if you had the car reg.
I'm afraid that, given the can was thrown from slightly behind me and I only have a front-facing camera, I made the pragmatic decision that in a my-word-against-theirs situation escalating it was pretty certain to take a lot of time for no result.
"One person's word against another" is being used too often as a get-out by the Police. I'm currently dealing with a situation where one person attacked another with a knife in front of a witness, and despite the clear evidence provided by a jacket that had been cut the Police decided that it was one person's word against the other. Which demonstrated both their ineptitude and their inability to do the simplest of sums.
Is this an unacceptably close pass, worth reporting?
Or do people think this is reasonable use of a 2 tonne vehicle?
My wife and I were also subject to a similar incident, we had a close pass and a bottle of lucozade emptied over us, before the car raced off.
I had no camera, but phoned the police (Scotland) and the driver now has an ASBO for a year and the passenger has been charged with assault. I dont see how the same couldn't apply here ?
OMG. Are you the first cyclist Police Scotland has actually helped?
Surely the driver could also have been prosecuted for a close pass?
Edit - oh, I see, they can not trace the driver (despite knowing who he is, good police work...)
PS - "The driver (of no fixed address) took the vehicle off the road and crunched it..." Are you saying he had the van crushed?
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