Can witnesses not report crimes? “Left-hooking” driver spared action by Met Police after neither cyclist hit nor driver report incident; Men’s Tour of Britain route announced + more on the live blog
Can witnesses not report crimes?
That’s the question we’re left grappling with, after twitter account “Cycleway, my arse!” shared a video of a driver overtaking a line of cyclists on Cycleway 1 in London before abruptly turning left and forcing cyclists to stop in the middle of the junction.
I reported this left-hooking driver on #Cycleway1 back in September 2025. The Met Police responded saying: “Unfortunately, we can’t pursue the matter any further as there have been no reports made by the driver or the cyclist involved in this incident.” Does this sound right? pic.twitter.com/5LUcBUgW7P
— Cycleway, my arse! @issaddlethereis.bsky.social (@IsSaddleThereIs) June 29, 2026
“I reported this left-hooking driver on #Cycleway1 back in September 2025. The Met Police responded saying: “Unfortunately, we can’t pursue the matter any further as there have been no reports made by the driver or the cyclist involved in this incident.” Does this sound right?”
This seems like a slightly strange response. Do they mean that they just need a second pair of eyes to corroborate what the video is showing, or are they literally needing either the driver who drove carelessly into the cyclists or the cyclist who had to stop abruptly in the middle of the junction to file a report?
Maybe a police officer has decided this isn’t worth their time and are looking for any old for not taking action? Either way, other social media users seem (broadly) in agreement.
“So the whole “see it say it sorted” campaign is a farce… if you see a crime, you can’t complain because you are neither the victim nor the perpetrator !! its quite backwards in my opinion”
“I saw someone being stabbed but neither the victim or the guy with the knife have made a report, so there’s nothing we can do”
“The police: any excuse to worm out of actually doing anything. Especially if it involves taking any action against a motorist, just in case it makes them unpopular in the gutter press.”
A couple of users have the gumption to suggest the driver is in the right, having driven slowly and indicated when turning into the junction, despite the Highway Code giving priority to cyclists at junctions.
“If l were a cyclist l would put my own wellbeing & common sense over undertaking a left indicating turner.” wrote one user, to which another had the perfect rebuttal…
“Undertaking? It’s the car who was overtaking, the cyclist is going the same consistent speed the whole time. The car never even makes it in front of the cyclist enough for the cyclist to even see the rear indicators.”
Near miss!
Dutch door-opening needs to be taught quickly…
Drivers: Don’t cycle in the middle of the lane (road).
Also drivers:…
#DNRPoliceScotland
— David Brennan (@magnatom.bsky.social) 1 July 2026 at 09:52
Men's Tour of Britain route revealed!
Time to start planning the biggest bike race of the year… in Britain. On the road.
Last week we got confirmation of the start and finish towns on the men’s Tour of Britain, and now we know where they’re going in between.
Stage One is properly punchy, heading into the Lincolnshire Wolds as they exit the city, through Market Rasen, Caistor Waddingham and Ingham before heading back towards Lincoln.
The riders will then tackle the prestigious 11.3% average gradient climb of Michaelgate five times on a final circuit in the city centre after nearly 120km of racing, taking in the renowned Lincoln Grand Prix circuit. (View on Strava)
Stage Two should be a bunch sprint by the seaside in Skegness. From Boston, the route will pass through Coningsby, Woodhall Spa, Horncastle, Wragby, Louth, and the coastal towns of Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea. (Strava)
Stage Three is a rather long 200km stage departing from Hull on Friday 4 September, and heads through Withernsea, Hornsea, and Skipsea. Can you tell we’re on the coast?
A series of climbs face the riders around Driffield before heading downhill into Wetwang (great name) as the race gears up for an exciting climax. Four laps of a 16km circuit in Beverley mean it should be an uphill finish – maybe even a drag – to the line. It’s probably the best day to see the riders multiple times. (Strava)
A mini Tour de Yorkshire on a late summer Saturday? Go on then. Stage Four should decide the race overall with 2500m of climbing starting in the North York Moors and heading over to the Dales. Easingwold, Boroughbridge, and Ripon are the towns en route, Pateley Bridge, Wharfedale, Kidstones, Greets Moss and Grinton Moor are the climbs before a finish in Leyburn. (Strava)
The final stage should be a bunch sprint with laps around Earlston in the Scottish borders. Before then, the peloton will skirt Kelso before heading north to take in Duns and the excellently named Longformacus. If that doesn’t excite you I don’t know what will… (Strava)
Netcompany-Ineos announce Tour team - Tarling and Bernal make the cut
The British team have become the penultimate team to announce their Tour de France line-up (all eyes on you Pinarello), and if they don’t win the opening Team Time Trial, a lot of questions will be asked…
Two-time TT world champion Filippo Ganna, 2022 TT world champion Tobias Foss, and former European champion Josh Tarling (who has recovered from a broken collarbone at the Dauphine last month) all make the cut. Thymen Arensman is also one of the fastest time trialists among GC riders, having beaten Jonas Vingegaard at the Giro d’Italia in May, whilst Kevin Vauquelin’s impressive results last year while riding for the not so aero-R&D focused Arkea-B&B team (now defunct) attracted a lot of attention.
Kwiatkowski is an Sky/Ineos mainstay and surely falls into the category of rider Geraint Thomas would now describe as ‘solid’. A Dorian Godon stage win on any of the several ‘punchy’ stages would lift the pressure off the whole team. He remains one of the few riders to have beaten Tadej Pogacar over the finish line this year – when Pogacar was aiming to finish first that is.
Finally Egan Bernal! With Oscar Onley injured and Carlos Rodriguez out of form, what are the team’s expectations for the 2019 champion? 10th in the Giro earlier this year, Bernal finished 12’54” behind Vingegaard and 5 minutes behind teammate Arensman. A bit of combativity or a mountains jersey mission surely wouldn’t go amiss. How good would it be to see him on a podium in this race?
Tech! Specialized SL9; Zipp wheels; Look!
When the Tour de France is right around the corner, the tech news came out in a big splurge yesterday. Here’s the smorgasbord in one place:
> “The fastest road bike ever made”: Specialized unveils the S-Works Tarmac SL9
> Specialized Tarmac SL9 vs Tarmac SL8 – Which is Better in 2026?
Hookless wheels!
Want to know what every rider will be sat on for three weeks?
And finally, there may not be a gravel stage in this year’s race but that’s no reason to exclude the latest Giant Revolt…
> Giant updates Revolt from the ground up for the ‘professional purist’
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Perhaps the answer is "you can't get there from here" and "do more with less"? As in maybe the effort to actually *network* (even with planters / making some roads one-way and even if picking a limited area to start) wins? Again Bristol has less in favour of cycling (lots of sharp gradients, narrow spaces, serious car- sickness) and I found some of the infra clearly questionable - but I saw far more people cycling there, including the 8-80 (well, maybe 12 - 60s...) - unaccompanied kids cycling to get places seem rare in Edinburgh (apart from previously noted scrotters on the paths). Edinburgh is making new infra (Leith Connections) which is good... But still not Dutch *and* it's doing it a glacial place. AND we're still building in nominally "walkable and cycleable" new estates which are in fact just car-dependent places with some window dressing - they're not connected (aside from still being poorly done in detail).
I don't know Edinburgh, but presumably Mr Fraser's claims that cyclists are given more space than pedestrians apply to those relatively few pieces of dedicated / shared infrastructure - i.e. where a shared path or segregated cycle path exists, he notices that pedestrians seem to have the worse deal. But doesn't that overlook that many urban roads have pavements (admittedly, not always wide, good quality or free from parked cars), but not cycle facilities?
While I agree with much of this (particularly on the "needs better demarcation / separation)" some notes on the specifics of Edinburgh: There are in fact sections of actual "separate *cycle* path" (where there is also a pedestrian footway): Leith Walk, parts of the CCWEL * (Melville Street, Portobello Road to the east of Jock's Lodge, and notably from Roseburn to Haymarket, the latter getting "near Dutch") etc. Unfortunately while these are workable the main issue is these are all fragments. (The width and junctions wouldn't pass Dutch approval either but are less problematic at current cycling levels - eg still very low). Then: the former railways-turned-paths are *mostly* very workable for cycling because at "normal use levels" in my experience the "faster mode dominates" - eg. the few pedestrians cede to cyclists. Yes, aggro types, gangs of yoof and dog walkers can be exceptions, and this doesn't mean I can just blat along without consideration. I mean I can make good progress *including* sometimes slowing right down a few times on the journey, just not all the time. This accords with experience in other "shared spaces". The exception is when there's an event on or it's a really nice holiday day - at which point the numerically dominant mode (pedestrians) control the flow. (Part of the reason I rarely cycle on the Water Of Leith path). I've just been visiting Bristol and the contrast is interesting - while the traffic volumes seem much greater and there are real "narrow streets" they actually seem to be trying. Yes it's very variable and "rough and ready" but they're building infra and making *routes*. * City Centre West East Link
Absolutely ludicrous from the police. I would file a formal complaint. I reported this driver for phone use and left hooking another cyclist. The phone use was not actioned due to the dark tint of the window making it too difficult to see (I should have reported the tint too). But the left hook definitely was actioned. https://youtu.be/h0oseufAhFg
@Mr Blackbird And the Dominic Cummings type Tory policy wonk in The Thick of It. I don't think it was the BBC having a dig at cycling though, there was a time when there was a very identifiable type of person who chose a Brompton and they were making fun of that rather than cycling per se.
Yes, why can’t we edit or delete our comments if we make an error?
Reputable retailers? Well, I suppose it's true that Amazon do have a certain reputation...
Lol. At least he doesn't feel guilty for very long as that path is so short.
This news is definitely one for the "no news" category: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3g20yxvm4o Reputable high street retailers blurring the lines you say? Shocked, I was... actually, not.
RE: witnesses can't report crimes. I'm sure wtjs will be along with proof that even victims can't report crimes in Lancs if it's a road offence (and Police Scotland have arranged things similarly)... ... but isn't this all of a piece with the creeping "gosh this Op Snap seems to generate lots of work and our superiors have given us the nod that 'these are not the crimes you're looking for' in the current political climate" viewpoint?
4 thoughts on “Can witnesses not report crimes? “Left-hooking” driver spared action by Met Police after neither cyclist hit nor driver report incident; Men’s Tour of Britain route announced + more on the live blog”
RE: witnesses can’t report crimes.
I’m sure wtjs will be along with proof that even victims can’t report crimes in Lancs if it’s a road offence (and Police Scotland have arranged things similarly)…
… but isn’t this all of a piece with the creeping “gosh this Op Snap seems to generate lots of work and our superiors have given us the nod that ‘these are not the crimes you’re looking for’ in the current political climate” viewpoint?
This news is definitely one for the “no news” category:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3g20yxvm4o
Reputable high street retailers blurring the lines you say? Shocked, I was… actually, not.
Reputable retailers? Well, I suppose it’s true that Amazon do have a certain reputation…
Absolutely ludicrous from the police.
I would file a formal complaint.
I reported this driver for phone use and left hooking another cyclist.
The phone use was not actioned due to the dark tint of the window making it too difficult to see (I should have reported the tint too).
But the left hook definitely was actioned.