UPDATED: Near Miss of the Day 464: Police finally take action against a driver who refused to give his identity after a punishment pass

A police force who previously told a cyclist that they would take no action over a video submitted to them that we featured in our Near Miss of the Day series have now done a U-turn. 

The registered keeper of the vehicle had refused to disclose the identity of the driver filmed making a very close punishment pass on a pair of cyclists riding two abreast.

While failure to disclose the identity of the driver is in itself an offence, Surrey Police previously explained to Andy, the cyclist who sent the footage to them, that it was the force's policy, 'during the pandemic, not to prosecute persons for this, if this is a first offence, and there is no evidence to suggest that the keeper has failed to notify previously.'

Now, however Andy said the force appeared to have changed its mind. 

He said:  "After pestering Surrey Police and eventually getting them to acknowledge their error in previous responses (i.e. 'mistakenly' stating it was their policy to not proceed when a registered keeper failed to respond to a NIP172 notice if it was their first known offence), we now have a result and an update with regards to NMOTD 464..."

The registered keeper has now plead guilty at a magistrates court to the offence of failing to identify the driver. 

He was handed a £110 fine, given six points, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £34 and costs of £90.

The original clip was shot on Lingfield Common Road in Surrey back in August by road.cc reader Andy while he was on a group ride.

> 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