A very aggressive van driver is featured in our Near Miss of the Day series today, beeping his horn behind a cyclist riding through pinch points, before making a punishment pass on the rider, then brake-checking him.
Filmed in Chorley, Lancashire It was posted to YouTube by user jthefishy, whose videos have previously appeared in this series.
In the description to the video, he said: “On my first ride on my road bike in 5 weeks and I come to a pitch point in the road and I have someone just pomping on their horn behind me, I gesture to them to stop, but after the pinch point he did a very close pass then cut in on me before brake checking me.”
> 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@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
81 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 565: A very aggressive white van man”
If I’m not mistaken that is
If I’m not mistaken that is Euxton just near to the railway station headed towards Wigan Road.
There is actually a cycle path (of sorts) on the left that starts just before the bridge over the railway track so I’m guessing that’s why Mr Impatient is beeping.
It’s happened to me a few times going the other way.
ibr17xvii wrote:
Mr Imptient is beeping because he is an entitled pr!ck. I don’t think we can blame the infrastructure…
Captain Badger wrote:
Without a doubt.
I’m not excusing his behaviour at all as he certainly is an entitled prick, it’s just not immediately obvious (even if you know the road well) that there is a cycle lane there.
ibr17xvii wrote:
Yes.
All I can see is a shortish stretch of white line along the middle of the uneven pavement. I can’t see any signs or marking to say what it is for – so I would assume it is just normal pavement. Where it re-joins the road is dodgy. I wouldn’t use it.
I was thinking I could see a
I was thinking I could see a piece of short infr on the footpth there, then entitled arseholes like this one not only think that it is compulsory for us to use it but it is also there job to enforce there irrelevant opinions on us, and if we don’t move then they seem to believe that they should then move on from being judge and jury to become exeutioner as well. The sooner he is removed from the roads the better
It looks like it takes you
It looks like it takes you off the busy road and then forces the cyclist to try to cross said busy road just before a blind hump of the bridge with no lights or crossing aids. Well planned out whichever council it is.
Nah it just takes you off for
Nah it just takes you off for a few yards then throws you back onto the road on the brow of the bridge. Not even a kerb build out or a little stretch of painted lane on the road to assist in rejoining the carriageway. No cyclist has ever used it more than once as nobody is daft enough to repeat the mistake. There is a mirror image coming up the bridge in the opposite direction. Absolutely terrible piece of design and I am sure that is what Mr entitled knobhead in the video believes justifies his behaviour here.
Needs reporting to the police
Needs reporting to the police.
I’d also say report it to his employers but it seems he’s a one man band. Chris Davies builders. Looks like he’s already getting 1 star reviews. Name address and phone number all available in one google search
The guys a complete and utter twunt.
sparrowlegs wrote:
He’s already setting accounts to private. Bet that’s taking him longer than the handful of seconds he spent leaning on the horn behind the cyclist.
I do hope the police so something about this, as it’s a real clear case of intimidation.
Hopefully the loss of
Hopefully the loss of business will hurt his pocket a lot more than the likely penalty would have!
With a bit of luck his
With a bit of luck his business will become a one man banned.
Like people don’t have
Like people don’t have anything better to do but to spend there time 1 staring a company and going out of there way to mess with a business that has been going for 30+ years, how sad must you be to even think of doing that. You have no idea how many people work for this business, I imagine more than a handful. Just because a driver of a van makes a mistake which I’m not saying he was in the right at all, you then attack the company and share the owners details on this forum. What a shame to be part of the cyclist community.
Are you related to the
Are you related to the company’s owner ?
Do you even cycle ?
Because if you describe what the driver did as a mistake, then I very much doubt it.
Yes I do cycle, I’ve recently
Yes I do cycle, I’ve recently made an account after seeing this article. I’m saying the driver is in the wrong completely but some people on this forum are playing keyboard warrior and just trying to destroy a company for no reason. A previous comment I found was ‘Let’s find this van and destroy it’ what a childish thing to say. Imagine if you owned a company that your employees depend on and your saying stuff like that its pathetic in my opinion
1000s of cyclists are killed
1000s of cyclists are killed or seriously injured by driving like that every single year.
I would never do business with a company that allows its vehicles to be driven in such a way. It is therefore perfectly legitimate to use public reviews of said company to highlight such behaviour.
If his company goes bust as a consequence of this then there will only be one person to blame.
At least you are now able to
At least you are now able to say the driver is in the wrong completely.
Not sure where you saw a comment about destroying it ( although it is possible the mods removed it ).
Companies suffer reputational damage when they or their employees act recklessly – why is that even considered as an issue for you?
I doubt few will take much notice or remember. I couldn’t even name the small coffee chain that cyclists were supposed to boycott due to the behaviour of the owner.
Mick2125 wrote:
There’s a world of difference between ‘making a mistake’ and completely unforced, aggressive bullying.
Any company that cares about its employees and customers would immediately apologise for such unnecessarily aggressive action and either get rid of the driver (if they’re unrepentant) or get them some help to deal with their anger issues and maybe get someone more stable to do the driving.
What a tw4t. overtaking on an
What a tw4t. overtaking on an unbroken line approaching the brow of a hill.
Should be given an immediate
Should be given an immediate ban for that series of manouevres.
No mention of this being
No mention of this being reported or not to the police. If not already done, please do this. As already mentioned, there are a series of issues here that I would hope would lead to the driver being removed from the road to prevent this continuing to happen to other road users.
Hope obviously the operative word here, but if you don’t report, then it definitely won’t happen.
the sad thing is stuff like
the sad thing is stuff like that doesnt even surprise me anymore, especially since lockdown eased the roads have felt pretty hostile & to ride on this past week, I dont know if anyone else has felt the same
Yep. Will be doing 2
Yep. Will be doing 2 submissions later today for ridiculous overtakes on Easter Sunday (what is the hurry?).
Roads too busy and drivers far, far too impatient.
Urgently getting somewhere
Urgently getting somewhere they are not supposed to be.
Unfortunately I have to agree
Unfortunately I have to agree. Not the only reason but one reason I’ve chose a lot of times lately to go for a walk rather than a ride 🙁
Particularly stupid behaviour
Particularly stupid behaviour in a sign written company vehicle. Hope this gets reported and that punishment will not be limited to trashing his business on social media.
That’s “Custom Design Interiors Chorley”.
I wonder if he’ll enjoy the
I wonder if he’ll enjoy the hundreds of emails he’ll undoubtedly be getting already.
Looks like he has deleted his
Looks like he has deleted his company’s Facebook and Instagram pages already, new company required most likely – hope it costs him.
Deleted or marked them as
Deleted or marked them as fully private? His Google Reviews and Yell reviews have nose bombed AND he has changed the former to A?. Surely Google should jump on that as faking his company name.
Could we have a comment from
Could we have a comment from the driver’s (current) employer? Only if anyone was driving one of *my* vans like that, I’d want to know about it. So I can fire him *before* he ends up dragging the company name through the mud at an inquest.
Needs reporting to the police
Needs reporting to the police if it hasn’t already – as others have said particularly stupid driving in a company van
Going by the driving, the
Going by the driving, the driver is particularly stupid..
Sometimes a smack in the
Sometimes a smack in the mouth is the only appropriate action.
Its certainly a quick way to
Its certainly a quick way to get yourself in court as well.
Problem is, as I nearly found
Problem is, as I nearly found out the hard way recently, is that you have no way of knowing how big a psychopath the driver is.
In my case, I shouted at a driver who had overtaken me dangerously close. He didn’t like the suggestion that his driving was in any way less than excellent, waited ahead for us, boxed us in, got out of his car and went full on road rage with me. He was huge, looked like a steroid abuser, prison tattoos on his knuckles, clearly spent a lot of time perfecting the hard man image, etc. It was all I could do to try and diffuse the situation and avoid getting punched and probably spending the next six months drinking through a straw. An unwelcome reminder that challenging drivers on bad driving is unlikely to make them think about improving their driving, but could easily make the situation much worse.
Looks like it is his own
Looks like it is his own business so reporting him to the Police would definately be the right thing to do…
And the silver car overtaking
And the silver car overtaking on the zig-zags, too
Not an offence if overtaking
Not an offence if overtaking a bike.
hirsute wrote:
True – I filmed a driver close passing me within the zig zags and the police said that it was only an offence to pass motor vehicles there.
No stealing that pedantry
No stealing that pedantry from me !!
swldxer wrote:
Highway code Rule 191 says:
“You MUST NOT overtake the moving vehicle nearest the crossing or the vehicle nearest the crossing which has stopped to give way to pedestrians.”
Is a bike not a vehicle?
Did you read the footnotes to
Did you read the footnotes to that rule ?
John Pitcock wrote:
Highway code Rule 191 says:
“You MUST NOT overtake the moving vehicle nearest the crossing or the vehicle nearest the crossing which has stopped to give way to pedestrians.”
Is a bike not a vehicle?— hirsute
No I believe it is a carriage. I’m happy to be corrected though…
Driver is guilty. The case
Driver is guilty. The case should be reported to the police, particularly as it’s Lancashire Constabulary- which I know a lot about. You will see in the ‘bad driving decriminalised in West Yorkshire’ topic a claim that WYC won’t even look at close passing incidents without buckets of blood on the road, and an officer has declared this to be the case. Unfortunately, it appears that this declaration was not written down. I know from my own experience that all communications with LC must be in writing. LC has not declared that blood on the road is a requirement, because the standard LC tactic is simply to ignore online reports about cycling related offences. The new development is the refusal to inform the reporter what has been done (invariably nothing) and to simply state ‘whatever we did was the correct thing’ if an enquiry is made to Force Control Room. The only way to fight these anti-cyclist Forces is to unite and pass specific information to each other. I am pursuing a complaint about the repeated failure to act against serious red light crashing offences and I will publicise on here when their delaying tactics are surmounted.
To the OP. If you would like
To the OP. If you would like to do something to help us all then please report this. Could I suggest you emphasise the fact that you had to brake to avoid a collision due to his pulling in and that he was using the horn aggressively. I think both those should contribute to careless or inconsiderate driving or whatever the current wording is. A close pass does not seem to be sufficient for police intervention in my experience but it may be changing, if my last submission is anything to go by, and that was a very close pass at speed. I, and I suspect many others, would be very interested to hear the oucome if you do decide to report it.
Glad you are OK and I hope you will consider submitting the footage to the police.
Please please report this
Please please report this
Usual keyboard warrior stuff
Usual keyboard warrior stuff from me goes here.
I rode around for weeks with
I rode around for weeks with a note stuck to my bike of the license plate of a van that had passed me on the other side of the road, on the left as I signalled a left turn with a fully outstretched arm. US here, so replace “left” with “right” for equivalent manoeuver. I suspect they were avoiding the area after the shouts they got from me. Second closest I’ve ever come to being killed on a bicycle.
The van driver’s behaviour
The van driver’s behaviour makes no sense. He is aggressive for no reason and is much too close for comfort any change such as the rider slowing up a little, deviating in line or failing to slow down during the overtake and subsequent brake test sees there being a crash with probably tragic consequences. To drive in that manner is stupid, dangerous and almost certainly one day he will collide with somebody.
There is a small % of drivers
There is a small % of drivers that are sociopathic.. the sort of yob that goes to a pub looking for a fight, any excuse will do, so just cycling in front of jerks like that is enough to trigger their warped mentality.
This is a criminal act that
This is a criminal act and i encourage you to report the cowardice road rager in interest of public safety >and remember the offender very likely have terrorised and threatened many more vulnerable groups that may not be equipped with cycling cameras – as you are and able to prove without a shred of doubt.
So please report and try and help save vulnerable groups from such vile harm.
thats very poor . You’ve got
thats very poor . You’ve got a nice clear film. You should definitely report it.
What people shouldn’t do is start using their keyboard warrior skills to attack the business etc.
You have no idea how many people may work there or who was actually driving the van.
Nope, it’s fair game.
Nope, it’s fair game. Deliberate actions have consequences. He actually increased speed and closed the distance heading into the pinch point. He will have seen the car immediately in front of him overtake, and his high driving position means he will have seen the cyclist for quite a while. If you look at the start of the clip there’s a skip lorry that clearly was able to overtake without issue. He chose to intimidate the cyclist and then chose to brake test him (the latter is incredibly dangerous, I’ve experienced that and crashed as a result). Deserves what’s coming to him, and if the police won’t fine him hopefully a few lost customers will hit him in the pocket instead.
Mob mentality. Always the
Mob mentality. Always the first point of call for justice from the brain dead.
> You have no idea how many
> You have no idea how many people may work there or who was actually driving the van.
Then its incumbent on that business to make a public announcement on the matter. Not edit their Google Maps entry to “A?” while removing their Facebook profile too.
It’s a one-man band and he’s been caught out. Fuck him and his business, I hope it tanks.
“Incumbent” Using a posh word
“Incumbent” Using a posh word doesnt make it a real thing. We have law and order so numbskulls aren’t parading around with severed heads on pikes and pitchforks.
We don’t have law and order
We don’t have law and order though, because Lancashire Police routinely ignore incidents like this. So I say if the police won’t do their job, let’s do it ourselves.
If you don’t like that, tough shit. PS – dictionaries are free and online.
Mob mentality. presumably you
Mob mentality. presumably you’re happy for you and your famiy to be subject to that as well as to be handing it out.
nicmason wrote:
We do indeed have law & order but my firsthand experience of reporting incidents to Lancashire Constabulary is that essentially they don’t give a toss so what do you suggest the next step is?
nicmason wrote:
Nobody is doing that (that’s argumentum absurdiam even for you Nic), and neither is anyone breaking the law by publicising poor corporate behaviour.
<pedant>If you meant argumentum ad absurdum, that’s a valid form of argument – demonstrating that a position must be false by showing that it leads to absurd conclusions. This would be more of an ab absurdo (appeal to absurdity) or a straw-man fallacy.</pedant>
mdavidford wrote:
I love a pedant me! Granted on both counts, and I’ll defintitely stow that away for future use. Thanks MDF!
nicmason wrote:
I agree that the police should be the first port of call and hopefully they’ll take appropriate action. Targetting the business’ reputation should be a last resort, but if they’re happy to drive around with the business name on the side of the van, then they should expect their business reputation to suffer if they deliberately drive dangerously.
I don’t see how the number of employed people is relevant to anything otherwise big businesses could get away with whatever they like (forcing employees to pee into bottles or something).
I agree that the police
I agree that the police should be the first port of call and hopefully they’ll take appropriate action.
Unfortunately, the police (Lancashire, at least) define ‘appropriate action’ as whatever action they took, which is almost always none. The recent LC reply ffrom an anonymous person at ‘Force Control Room” to a question about the action taken over an indisputable red light crashing offence by PE70 DWJ was:
Good Morning,
The log was passed to the relevant department who will have taken any appropriate action in relation to the incident.
And they refuse to say anything else, so there is no doubt the online report was immediately filed in the bin. It is almost impossible to fail to despise the police.
Unfortunately, it varies a
Unfortunately, it varies a lot between different areas.
I submitted three close passes (all on one ride) to Avon & Somerset the other day and they came back with positive outcomes on all three though they don’t specify exactly what action – either a warning letter, a fixed penalty or a prosecution. One of them was a BMW with a dodgy number plate and the officer confirmed that that would also be dealt with.
Their responses no longer include the “not a victim” bit which I think is a good move although they aren’t giving any more information than before. I’m okay with knowing that they’ll be taking action and it doesn’t make much difference to me what action they decide to do, but at least they’re confirming that they agree with my opinion of the standard of driving. (They weren’t the worst close passes that I’ve had, but I can imagine that less jaded cyclists would be intimidated by them)
Unfortunately, it varies a
Unfortunately, it varies a lot between different areas
On your report, A&SC is good and on mine LC definitely isn’t. Both of these riders went through on red. No response. No action.
Yeah, I also submitted a
Yeah, I also submitted a couple of red-light transgressions about a month ago which had the same response (action will be taken). One of them involved me having to brake sharply as the woman decided to turn left instead of going straight on and went through her red light into my lane (which was green). The other one wasn’t dangerous but just a really stupid bit of unnecessary overtaking and running out of road space.
Maybe if you keep on raising your complaints they’ll realise that it’s easier (and far better) to work with you rather than ignore you.
Maybe if you keep on raising
Maybe if you keep on raising your complaints they’ll realise that it’s easier (and far better) to work with you rather than ignore you
Lancashire Constabulary has many dodges at the ready. My present complaint about failure to act on multiple red light crashing incidents was made on 28.1.21- 2 1/2 months later it still hasn’t been ‘allocated to a case officer’. They say they will communicate monthly about complaints- but they don’t. They will delay for months longer in the hope I will lose heart (they don’t learn very quickly at LC!) and the response will be very stupid (like the ‘we must have confirmatory video from the offending vehicle’ dodge). I will then complain to the PCC and it seems very likely that they will take months to say ‘we can’t interfere with police operational decisions’- thus proving what many of us suspect: PCCs are useless and are really just another department of the police. With Lancashire, you have to be ready to just keep going!
wtjs wrote:
This is absolutely bang on the money as far as Lancashire Constbulary is concerned.
Rightly or wrongly I can’t be ar*ed reporting incidents any more unless it is really bad.
nicmason wrote:
It’s fair game. I presume you are not suggesting that freedom of expression should be curtailed in order to cover up a business owners’ poor behaviour in public…..
because complete twats end up
because complete twats end up creating situations like this.
https://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/18582574.mistaken-identity-rape-threats-abuse-directed-basingstoke-firm-solid8/
That’s an example of mistaken
That’s an example of mistaken identity; not the case here; fyi, every transport company in Australia encourages the public to lodge complaints about poor driving with them and/or the police; members of the public are free to use social media, as they see fit, to publicise poor driving they have witnessed.
nicmason wrote:
What a horrible situation.
However, the argument that we must stop bringing poor corporate behaviour to public notice in case some tw*t makes rape threats to an unconnected person seems sketchy to me.
I have no problem with
I have no problem with reporting it to the police and contacting the company involved who may be not aware of the drivers conduct. I’ve done it myself several times In London. I do have a problem with the mob pile on let drive them out of business tash their online reviews etc mentality we see here.
nicmason wrote:
Look at the comment on YT when someone spoke to him, the guy clearly is a danger to cyclists & doesn’t give a toss.
IME Lancs Constab won’t be interested either so as I asked you before what’s the alternative?
nicmason wrote:
Good for you, so have I.
In addition I have no issue in publicly declaring poor behaviour. You clearly do, and that is for you. You are free to ignore negative reviews.
I for one do not want to provide custom to unethical businesses of any shape or size, and I would hope that folk who have had poor experiences would sing up and so help me make an informed choice – it’s what business reviews are for.
One person works there and he
One person works there and he was driving the van. There supplied the info so anyone who wants to review how bad his profesionalism is in that clip, what is wrong with that?
I personally would prefer to know how companies treat people in vulnerable positions before I employ them and this is the perfect opportunity.
Nonsense. I work for a large
Nonsense. I work for a large company, and my contract clearly states that my behaviour at all times must adhere to their principles and legal requirements else it can impact their business both reputationally and financially. I would be sacked and I dont even have to be wearing or using branded stuff. This twat was driving a company van, that company did not ensure this person sufficiently understood the implications of behaving like a twat in their van. Rightly so they should suffer consequences.
What was the outcome from the
What was the outcome from the Police?
randonneur wrote:
I’m betting on “no action taken”…And that’s if they bothered investigating at all.
That is absolutely outrageous
That is absolutely outrageous. That driver needs to be taken off the road before he kills or seriously injures someone … as surely he will with that agressive and dangerous attitude.
The couple of seconds that he thought he was being ‘held up’ by the cyclist is going to cost him plenty more time and hopefully lots of money too. Utter moron.
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