Near Miss of the Day 295: “Idiot” taxi driver undertaking traffic queue close-passes cyclist at speed

The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a taxi driver moving at speed as he undertakes a queue of traffic before making a very close pass on a cyclist – who luckily had just looked over his shoulder as he prepared to change lanes.

The footage was shot by road.cc reader Steve, who told us that it happened approaching the Racecourse Roundabout in Doncaster as he headed along Bawtry Road on his way home from a ride.

“I was in the left lane and turned to shoulder check before moving right to continue straight on when I was greeted by a mini cab at speed undercutting the traffic.

“You can see on the video clip it has no intention of slowing behind the traffic or giving me any safe passing room.

“It was reported to the police but they said not enough evidence [to prosecute], added Steve, although he said that they would send the driver a letter.  

He gave a little more information in the description to the video on YouTube, saying: So I'm doing 20mph, just started a shoulder check before looking at changing lanes, when this bloody idiot taxi driver passed at speed.

“So-called professional driver! Where was the 1.5 metre gap?

> 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

> What to do next if you’ve been involved in a road traffic collision