Cyclist criticises police car driver for “dangerous manoeuvre” while passing due to oncoming driver not moving aside or slowing down

A cyclist has criticised a Gloucestershire Constabulary car driver for passing him dangerously with its emergency lights on after he slowed down and pulled to the kerb, but didn’t come to a full stop because of not managing to unclip his pedals in time — however, an oncoming driver didn’t move aside and allegedly didn’t slow down as well.

The incident took place in Churchdown on the B4063 about 5 miles from Gloucester, with the cyclist who goes by the name of ‘The Cycling Nerd’ on Twitter sharing the footage online.

He told road.cc: “The police car had both its lights on and siren going. As soon as I knew that it was coming from behind, I pulled over to the side of the road as quickly as I could, but because of the speed of the police vehicle there wasn't enough time to fully unclip from the bike.

“I am an experienced cyclist with thousands of miles cycled using clips, so I was able to maintain an upright position despite still being clipped in and despite the bow wave that hit me from the police car driving so close at such a high speed.

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The cyclist, who claimed that he also holds a professional bus and lorry driving licence and has experience at dealing with emergency vehicles, said that the oncoming car driver “definitely didn’t pull to the kerb”, and while he “couldn’t 100 per cent sure, he believed they didn’t slow at all”.

Yesterday I was reported an incident to @Glos_Police, their reply basically stated there wasn't enough evidence to proceed. Also on the same ride this happened, it's no wonder #Gloucestershire #Police won't prosecute when their own drivers do this! pic.twitter.com/NikzOZ38Sm

— The Cycling Nerd (@NerdCyclist) July 18, 2024

He said: “The oncoming car failed to slow down to allow the police car through safely which led to the police car into making a manoeuvre they shouldn't have done. Yes they were responding to an emergency but they still have to respect vulnerable road users in such situations.

“I never thought they were going to hit me, it was when the bow wave hit me in an almost stationary state and still clipped to the bike that I felt unsteady. I could have easily fallen into the road at that point.

“My biggest complaint was that it shouldn’t have happened simply because not all cyclists are as confident.”

It's not about me, I'm an experienced cyclist and can handle such situations my gripe is that if it happens to someone who's not as confident there could be consequences. It's about awareness more than anything else

— The Cycling Nerd (@NerdCyclist) July 19, 2024

The cyclist said that he had lodged a complaint with the police force, adding: “I asked a retired traffic cop for his opinion before posting the police video and he gave me the following response. "You did the right thing, the oncoming vehicle driver totally fails as does the police driver when presented with the predictable emerging hazard.

“So despite what a lot of keyboard warriors are saying, I'm confident I will get a positive result from my complaint as this is not the first time I have had to complain about police driving in Gloucestershire around cyclists.”

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The cyclist also told road.cc that he was close passed by a van driver on the same ride, and when he reported the incident to Gloucestershire police, they said there was “insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction”.

The close pass in question! pic.twitter.com/WLy2uZvyb3

— The Cycling Nerd (@NerdCyclist) July 18, 2024

The force responded to the cyclist saying: “As you may know there is no offence of ‘close pass’, the changes to the Highway Code did not create any new offences. We must therefore consider existing road traffic offences, in this case careless or inconsiderate driving. We must consider the available evidence against the charging standards for that offence and the Full Code Test as set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors as well as the Directors Guidance on Charging (Sixth Edition).

“To instigate prosecution I need to believe there to be a realistic prospect of conviction if the matter was to go to trial, in this instance I do not believe that to be the case.

“Specifically, the vehicle speed cannot be judged, the distance between the vehicle and yourself passed may be less than set out in the Highway Code but could not be proved. Our role is to review each incident on the available evidence against the tests set out.”

road.cc has approached Gloucestershire Constabulary for a comment.