Near Miss of the Day 448: Transit van driver in very close pass

Today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a cyclist being subjected to a very close pass by an overtaking van driver, who then has to pull in sharply due to another driver approaching on a road where parked cars meant there was not enough space to make the manoeuvre safely.

It happened in Highbridge, near Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset and was filmed by road.cc reader Derrick, who reported the incident to Avon & Somerset Police the same day it happened.

“They emailed me back saying the driving of the van was appalling and they were seeking to prosecute the driver,” he said.

“Initially I had some feedback that they were doing something, then nothing. I have emailed numerous times with no reply, so I suspect they didn’t even follow it up.”

In a comment to the video on YouTube, he added: “Part of my journey home that day, the driver could have waited a few seconds but his time is obviously more precious than potentially someone’s life.”

> 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