Near Miss of the Day 388: Driver prosecuted for close pass

A lot of the time it isn’t easy to gauge how close an overtake really was from footage. However, this close pass, for which the driver was prosecuted, stands in sharp contrast to some of those that precede it.

The incident occurred on July 15, 2019 on Sandy Lane in Aveley, Essex.

“Apologies for the swearing but it felt warranted in this instance,” says Martin.

“The video shows both front and rear views of the incident as well as some very commendable driving examples by the lorry, vans and cars with just the one tool in the Mercedes.

“The outcome was good though as I received a phone call the other day informing me that Essex Police were successful in prosecuting the driver of the white Mercedes for "operating a mechanically propelled vehicle in contravention of the law" – this was after they had finally pleaded guilty.

“I believe they had initially been offered a driver awareness course, as this is the avenue Essex Police state they will pursue first, but cannot swear to this.”

The driver was fined £ 140 plus £90 costs and a £30 surcharge. They were also given three penalty points on their driving licence.

Martin says: “Personally I'd have preferred if they'd just followed the other drivers’ examples and given me room, but oh well.”

> 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