Near Miss of the Day 26: BMW driver in close pass on father and son cyclists

One of the nastiest kinds of close passes we see is when rather than holding back and overtaking safely, a driver goes for a gap that simply does not allow for a cyclist to be passed while giving sufficient space - and here is a prime example from Sunderland.

As road.cc reader Steve Gourley was cycling with his son between Downhill Lane and Washington Road in East Boldon, Sunderland, the driver of a silver BMW "overtook us almost immediately as the bus travelling in the opposite direction went past."

Steve told us: "As you can see from the still, the car was extremely close and travelling between 30 – 40 mph I would say.

"This happened on the 1st June 2017. I passed it to Northumbria Police via an online form, on the 6th of June i was contacted by a police officer who asked for the video and stills of the incident.

"On the 14th July I contacted the officer for an update, she stated that she had requested an update but the investigating officers were on night shift.

"As of today, 15th August 2017, I have received no update.

"When the incident was originally logged the officer seemed very interested in the case, however it seems that the police interest has since dwindled.

"A month prior to my incident Northumbria Police were carrying out OP Cadence to address close passes – it would seem since the Op has ended they are no longer interested."

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.