Video: Van driver filmed swerving at cyclist

Does it need a comment? Well, undoubtedly he's an ex-employee within a few hours of this being aired.  Karma will get him, it always does: It already has. Be nice to have seen the driver's reaction when he was told that there was someone behind during this incident, with a camera.......

must be some sort of coded message here...can only presume that "I was pulling out to overtake a car turning into a garden centre" is some some sort of variation on "I was blinded by the sun"...anyone watching the video and believing the van driver intended an overtake must fall in that percentage of the population that should never be allowed a driving license...hope keeps his job but has to cycle to appointments...hope the police pursue it and the courts give a good license suspension and that it gets plenty of publicity...might be dreaming there...certainly I've had a couple of incidents recently where I reckon I've seen the driver looking to see if a camera  after the event...hopefully those people that can think will start to think twice before being dangerously aggressive

Google 'Operation Considerate - Reporting' and make sure this is reported. It will be taken seriously.

Another possibility is that the van driver doesn't want to let the cyclist overtake him as then he will be forced to travel at 15 mph when the cyclist hogs the lane making it difficult to get past.

Wondering what his previous overtake was like - when the footage starts, we see the van then the cyclist, so it's possible there's already been one event or confrontation.

What Jumbotron said x 1000 

This also applies to every other bit of half arsed cycle infrasture in the UK.  The councils only put in bike lanes so they can increase the speed limit or develop business when planning permision requires cycling provision. 

It's cycnical and duplicitous, the real question is why does this happen in the UK and not the rest of Europe?  

The answers is we keep selecting corporate fags as MP's and Councillors. 

This is exactly my commute home!

30 mins earlier and it probably would've been me being filmed. The traffic on this road backs up for a long way as there are 2 sets of traffic lights in a very short space. On the RHS is a multiuse path for cyclists and pedestrians but this is normally only used by cyclists who are going in the other direction, most cyclists stay on the road when going in the direction that this cyclist is going in.  

What an absolutely idiotic manoeuver by the van driver.  He is obviously annoyed that he’s going to be stuck in traffic for around 20mins and wasn’t happy that a cyclist was going to overtake him.

Those commercial vans all have stickers on them now pointing to the LHS stating how it’s dangerous to undertake, what are you supposed to do???

So is the position that the police will only do something if the cyclist affected complains to them personally?

At first I thought it was possible it was a mistake, but on viewing the relevant bit of the video a couple more times it seems to me it had to be deliberate.

Gift where have I been an apologist for the driver, he's an incompetent idiot but not a psychopathic axe murder!  The fact that you can't properly execute the maneouver he attempted just shows his lack of skill and judgement.

There are frankly far too many people on here far too willing to play the victim.

It's incompetence not malice, get over it.

Notice the sudden forward acceleration before the cyclist is clear of the front of the van after the original attempt at taking him out.  Clearly the driver trying to intimidate the rider!  Unintentional my arse!

I think the driver is on his phone.

As you can see at the end of the video, he's got no left wing mirror, so there's no way he could have seen the cyclist to make an intentional block. What it looks like to me is that he's started accelerating as traffic clears in front of him, as he does this the van drifts off to the left. Which makes me think his left hand isn't on the wheel and putting too much pressure on with the right. 

He then sees a gap in traffic, and goes to overtake the silver car in front of him, without checking his mirror and nearly splats the cyclist.

So my view here is that it's gross incometence coupled with a vehicle that shouldn't be on the road without that other mirror rather than actual malice.

Are you sure we are all watching the same video, where is he looking to go with an overtake? Why after this event does he not look to overtake? Why didn't he indicate and check his mirror?

Also, the angle he comes out at compared to where the car is in front. So much so that one on here thinks it may be about to u-turn.

I know it's a cycling site but 'we' don't always automatically defend the bike. There's a thread on the forum at the moment where a cyclist is getting some criticism where it is very much 50:50 or in my opinion at least 60% drivers fault. Anyone looking for excuses for the driver here is simply a moron!

Wow ... the lynch mob has been silenced.

So you're saying he's driving too close to the car in front and randomly swerving left and right after possibly being involved in a collision earlier that day.

You've certainly changed my mind. Excellent driver, well done sir.

Like Columbo, I'm back for more.

Your defence is that he knows he can't see left of his vehicle so he's trying to give a bit more room to the cyclist down the left. How did he know the cyclist was on his left?

I get the feeling nbrus is just having a laugh at everyone now by just coming up with rediculous 'possible' theories just to prove a point that other theories are just that.

Hold on guys, I just need to pop out for some more popcorn...

Van driver momentarily drifts to the left. Suddenly realising that he has no visibility due to lacking a nearside mirror, and anticipating that there could possibly be a cyclist in that danger zone he takes emergency evasive action by violently, and with no thought for his own safety, swinging his van to the right and into the path of oncoming traffic. Surprised at the appearance of a cyclist who has now overtaken him on the right, he accelerates as hard as his van will go in order to catch up with the cyclist in order to offer his profuse apologies and a free months subscription by way of making amends before the cyclist slips away up the inside of the stationary traffic queue. He gets so close to the back wheel of the bike that he is caught out by the drafting effect. The inept cyclist is completely oblivious to the fact that he is literally sucking the van onto his own back wheel and certain destruction. Fortunately our heroic van driver is at the top of his game and still able to come to a screeching emergency stop just before colliding with the rear of the car in front.

In many respects the cyclist was damned lucky that the van driver was so highly skilled at the art of van driving. I hope the Police are able to track him down and give him the nbrus award for outstanding vanmanship.

The driver should NOT have tried to execute an overtake, the traffic in front is stopped and there wasn't the gap to do so. If you think that he can execute an overtake then he hasn't done it with the required care and attention. Either way it is dangerous / careless / wreck less driving.

The other 10 excuses you've come up with either make the driver or you a bellend...

No, the cyclist was looking to filter through stationary traffic and could have done so without crossing the white line. Again, the van driver clearly can't and won't check their mirror if it was an attempted overtake and failed to indicate.

And you've demonstrated a lack of ability to read the responses of others. The cycle path is ridiculously short and requires crossing 2 lanes of traffic to enter and exit (around 500 metres apart). If you'd do that for a minute of riding then you're probably not a serious cyclist or commuter. And if you were to do so with this van driver on either side of the road you would still likely have been on trouble.

You haven't suggested a potential heart attack yet, maybe that happened. Escaped penguin from the zoo turned the wheel. A customer (on speaker phone obviously) told him Virgin was a valued service and had good connection. Keep digging...

Having looked at this again, the driver most likely passed this rider a few moments before the camera car picked up the cyclists on the road(the Virgin media van was just a little further up the road).  He began to pinch the kerb in anticpation of the rider coming up, but has the rider went right to pass him he swerved his vehicle to block(knock him off).  You can see the rider is reluctant to pass virgin van later, whilst he fumbles for his phone.  

A premeditated action against a vulnerable rider. a driver who has obviously got some issue with cyclists.

Surprised it isn't a white van.  FFS, lets hope the driver is identified and sacked, then prosecuted.

Another one with no update as to what happened. Does Road.cc know what the Virgin investigation decided abou ttheir employee (hopefully ex-employee)?

I reactivated my twitter account (never actually used it) just to ty and get a response about this.  They only replied when they thought they lost me as a customer but now I've posted the link to the video....silence.