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Close pass ... by a neighbour

Near Miss of the Day 270: Close pass ... by a neighbour (includes swearing)

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Scotland...
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Apr 08, 2019 18:08
9

Unless it ends up in court, typically the cyclist on the receiving end of a close pass will never find out who the driver was who put them in danger – not so in the latest submission to our Near Miss of the Day series from road.cc reader Ali, however, since the motorist turned out to be … his neighbour.

“This is by no means the closest pass I've ever had but you certainly notice it when a tank-sized BMW passes without leaving much space,” Ali told us.

“Even more noticeable about these ‘LOOK AT ME’ vehicles is that they are instantly recognisable.

“In this case, the BMW belongs to my neighbour.

“I wonder how he'd feel explaining to my family that a couple of seconds of his life were more important than the rest of mine.

“It just takes one slip, one pothole, one drain,” he added. “I should take primary more often.”

> 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

Near Miss of the Day
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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9 comments

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BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
2 likes

Last autumn one of my 'neighbours' (guy at bottom of the street it turned out) was on his horn as I went through a mini rbt about 200m from home, I then overtook a parked Luton van a few metres further on plus a couple of cars. I was taking primary so he couldn't try to squeeze past!

He pulls in front of me and starts beefing off about being in the 'middle of the road' amongst other verbals, I tell him to fuck off and that there was no room to get past at the rbt and that there was a van parked up I had to get around. I keep cycling on and he gets ahead then reverses back towards me, I stop and a few more words are exchanged.

He eventually leaves but I notice he's turned into my street. I see him reversing into his bay and approach him and his wife "So, what are you going to do now big man now that you can't use your car as a weapon" sez I, "I've got it all on video, I'm going to call the police", "go ahead, let them have a look at you honking your horn and tailgating me, then shouting abuse at me, dangerous driving twice and using your car as a weapon, if you do bother, tell them I live at no xx, the one on the end with the hedge".

Still waiting for the knock, probably should have called plod anyways, however given the reaction I've had in the past with them threatening public order offence when I swore at a bus driver for driving his bus at me I've zero faith in plod doing anything except the same old bullshit of putting me telling him to fuck off over the fact he deliberately targeted me as a worse crime!

Avatar
brooksby replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
1 like

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Last autumn one of my 'neighbours' (guy at bottom of the street it turned out) was on his horn as I went through a mini rbt about 200m from home, I then overtook a parked Luton van a few metres further on plus a couple of cars. I was taking primary so he couldn't try to squeeze past!

He pulls in front of me and starts beefing off about being in the 'middle of the road' amongst other verbals, I tell him to fuck off and that there was no room to get past at the rbt and that there was a van parked up I had to get around. I keep cycling on and he gets ahead then reverses back towards me, I stop and a few more words are exchanged.

He eventually leaves but I notice he's turned into my street. I see him reversing into his bay and approach him and his wife "So, what are you going to do now big man now that you can't use your car as a weapon" sez I, "I've got it all on video, I'm going to call the police", "go ahead, let them have a look at you honking your horn and tailgating me, then shouting abuse at me, dangerous driving twice and using your car as a weapon, if you do bother, tell them I live at no xx, the one on the end with the hedge".

Still waiting for the knock, probably should have called plod anyways, however given the reaction I've had in the past with them threatening public order offence when I swore at a bus driver for driving his bus at me I've zero faith in plod doing anything except the same old bullshit of putting me telling him to fuck off over the fact he deliberately targeted me as a worse crime!

I'm guessing that bloke no longer gets invited to your barbecues...? 3

Avatar
burtthebike | 5 years ago
1 like

No vid?

Edit: Slowwwwwwwwwww server, the vid appeared after five minutes.

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grumpyoldcyclist | 5 years ago
1 like

God those things are ugly, as well as impractical.

Hope it was reported.

Avatar
Rik Mayals unde... replied to grumpyoldcyclist | 5 years ago
1 like

grumpyoldcyclist wrote:

God those things are ugly, as well as impractical.

Hope it was reported.

Yeah.... But it's a BMW! The Ultimate Status Symbol. I agree though, they are completely impractical. Who would want a huge 4X4 coupe with a tiny boot, limited acess into the boot, and crap off road? They are merely status symbols for egocentrics.

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gwarpigs | 5 years ago
0 likes

Erm, that’s Newcastle, not Scotland. 

https://goo.gl/maps/3Y8ASRLBaKL2

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Awavey replied to gwarpigs | 5 years ago
3 likes

gwarpigs wrote:

Erm, that’s Newcastle, not Scotland.

Newcastle is practically Scotland to us southerners

Avatar
Organon replied to Awavey | 5 years ago
4 likes

Awavey wrote:

gwarpigs wrote:

Erm, that’s Newcastle, not Scotland.

Newcastle is practically Scotland to us southerners

I am from Newcastle (where Venom come from,) and I can confirm Newcastle is in the North of England. Scotland is North of England, but it is not the North of England. The South of Scotland is North of the North of England, and the North of England is South of the South of Scotland, but it is also not the South of Scotland.

Avatar
Hirsute | 5 years ago
2 likes

Disappointed.

Where was the video of the door step confrontation?

 

I submitted a close pass but it was turned down. When the days became lighter, I noticed one of my neighbours had changed his car to the one in my video! I had no proof of the owner or driver at the time.

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