Near Miss of the Day 900: Police offer “suitable advice” to driver who squeezed between cyclist and oncoming campervan in dangerous close pass

For our landmark 900th edition of Near Miss of the Day (where does the time go?), we’ve rather suitably been sent an undeniable classic of the horrifying close pass genre, featuring a motorist impatiently – and narrowly – overtaking a cyclist at speed right into the path of a long line of oncoming traffic, just about squeezing between the rider and a campervan in the process.

And the punishment for such a reckless, dangerous manoeuvre? Well, according to Police Scotland, the driver in question was offered some “suitable advice”.

road.cc reader Philip was cycling home from work on the A830 at Kinlocheil, Fort William, on 12 August last year (he notes that the date on the camera is wrong), when he was overtaken at close proximity and in the same lane by a motorist apparently oblivious to an oncoming campervan.

Philip reported the shocking close pass immediately to Police Scotland – however, when he contacted road.cc earlier this week, he said he was still “waiting for the police to follow up” and update him with their response.

> Near Miss of the Day 896: Cyclist estimates motorcyclist overtook at 120mph, but police insist "there is not enough evidence" and rider passed "clear of the cyclist on a wide piece of road"

“The local (Police Scotland in the Highlands) police were very helpful and took a full report,” he tells road.cc.

At the end of October, Police Scotland contacted Philip to inform that once the driver, a Lothian resident, was identified, “he will be charged and reported to the Procurator Fiscal”. However, the cyclist says he has heard “nothing since”.

“They quickly found that the red car was registered to a driver in Lothian, and passed the report on to their Lothian colleagues to deal with,” he says. “Since then... nothing.”

However, despite the radio silence, when contacted by road.cc this week, a spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Around 6pm on Saturday, 12 August, 2023, we received a report of a car driving close to a cyclist on the A830 at Kinlocheil, Fort William.

“Enquiries have been completed and suitable advice was offered to the driver.”

> Near Miss of the Day 897: Police concede that "prosecution would have been more suitable" after close-passing van driver who could've "killed cyclist" let off with a warning letter

This example of extremely impatient driving isn’t the only close pass featured recently on Near Miss of the Day that saw the driver escape with “advice” or a warning letter.

Last month, Surrey Police expressed regret that “more robust action was not taken” and admitted that “a prosecution would have been more suitable” after a van driver received a warning letter for committing a close pass on a cyclist so close that the rider said they “could have been killed”.

Surrey Police also apologised to the cyclist for the leniency of their response.

> 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