Near Miss of the Day 636: Van driver overtakes one cyclist, almost hits two others head-on

Some very poor driving on display in our Near Miss of the Day feature today, with a van driver overtaking a cyclist on a narrow road failing to slow down for two others coming in the other direction and almost hitting them.

Mark, the road.cc reader who sent us the clip, said: "It happened a couple of weeks ago on a quiet country road in Foulridge, Lancashire.

"I was out with my 14 year old son on our MTBs, me in front and my lad behind. I could see the white van coming down the road from some way off and could tell he was going a bit quick, but as I got closer I could see he was overtaking another cyclist, not slowing down and almost completely on my side of the road.

"I had no choice but to come to a complete stop and head as far into the side of the road as I could, telling my lad behind to do the same.

"Fair to say I may have made my feelings known to the driver of the van who gave me a middle finger salute, which I guess tells you all you need to know about the utter cockwomble behind the wheel. Wasn't just me and my son he endangered but also the other cyclist, who you can see has a worried look over their shoulder as the van comes through.

"I've seen plenty of bad driving in my time but this was one of the worst, if I hadn't stopped I've no doubt the van would have taken me and my son out as there was literally no room. Complete buffoonery of the highest calibre."

> 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