Near Miss of the Day 923: Bus driver commits “hair-raising” overtake towards lane of oncoming cyclists… before blasting horn and “giving them the finger”

While the future of London’s Bank Junction remains up in the air, with a trial scheme permitting taxi drivers access for the first time in eight years pencilled in for this spring, one bus driver came in for criticism this week for overtaking a cyclist through the formerly notorious junction – straight into the path of another group of oncoming riders.

“Hair-raising driving from this bus driver,” the cyclist who filmed the incident, and posted it to their ‘Velodrone’ YouTube account, told road.cc.  

“Not sure what possessed him to think attempting an overtake through Bank Junction was sensible. Or that, seeing a lane full of oncoming cyclists, the appropriate response is not to slow, but instead drive straight at them blasting your horn and giving them the finger.

The cyclist told road.cc that he has not reported the near miss to the City of London Police because “what’s the point?”

“They’re not interested traffic offences unless it’s cyclists jumping red lights. Ironically, we’d all have been safer here if we had done,” he said.

> City of London Police claim 1,200 cyclists fined in a year is "great result" for "Cycle Response Unit" tackling "road safety and anti-social behaviour"

This particular incident perhaps underlines the fact that, despite Bank Junction being limited to cyclists, pedestrians, and buses for the last eight years, it can remain a hairy place for people on bikes.

In May 2017, the junction and its surrounding streets, which sit in the heart of the City of London, were closed to all vehicles except buses and cycles on weekdays between 7am and 7pm, as part of an experimental trial introduced to address the widespread calls to improve the junction’s safety in the wake of the tragic death in 2015 of cyclist Ying Tao, who was killed in a collision with a lorry driver on her way to work.

After the trial period saw the number of people killed or injured at the junction fall by more than half, along with air pollution plummeting in the surrounding area and bus journey times being cut by up to five minutes, the 12-hour traffic restriction during weekdays was made permanent.

That decision was made despite the vocal opposition of London’s taxi drivers – of the 12 per cent of residents who opposed making the junction virtually traffic free during the consultation, 79 per cent were black cab drivers.

Bank Junction before it was closed to traffic other than buses and cyclists (credit: licensed CC BY 2.0 by Ronnie Macdonald)

According to a recent review of the junction, carried out on behalf of the City of London, since 2017 the restrictions had reduced casualties to “virtually nil” in the area, with only one collision taking place in the 11 months leading up to November 2023.

However, despite the clear success of the scheme from a road safety perspective, last June City of London councillors voted to allow taxis to access Bank Junction for a trial period.

That trial is expected to come into effect for 18 months later this spring, and will enable taxi drivers to access the junction between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Friday, alongside buses, cyclists, and pedestrians. Private car drivers, meanwhile, will remain unable to use the junction between those times.

> Cyclists “incredibly disappointed” as councillors vote to reopen formerly notorious junction to taxis – despite casualties dropping to “virtually nil” seven years since restrictions introduced after cyclist’s death

Prior to the vote, plans to lift the restrictions were opposed by the London Cycling Campaign, who argued the current situation offers safety, environmental, and economic benefits for the area, along with – notably – financial and media giant Bloomberg, whose European headquarters is located next to the junction.

“As a major employer in the area our priority continues to the safety and wellbeing of our employees, visitors, and local community,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

“We are therefore supportive of the current restrictions, which improve road safety and reduce carbon emissions, and do not want these changes to be reversed.

“We continue to review our own operations impacting traffic in the area, such as the frequency and consolidation of our deliveries to the building, and encourage the use of low emission vehicles and public transport where possible.”

Police officer speaks to driver at Bank Junction (credit: Bikesy.co.uk)

Nevertheless,  57 per cent of council members voted in favour of reopening the junction to taxi drivers, while 21 per cent backed a plan to keep the restrictions as they are.

“The overall work programme at Bank Junction has meant that the junction is already a safer, more pleasant environment to travel through and we will carefully monitor the impact of re-introducing taxis into this vibrant area,” Shravan Joshi, the chair of the City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee, said in a statement.

“For those unable to use modes of active travel, or who need transportation when public services aren’t available, black cabs have the potential to enhance this public space in line with our Destination City policy to make the Square Mile a desirable, safe and inclusive visitor destination, boosting economic growth.”

However, Simon Munk from the London Cycling Campaign said he was “incredibly disappointed in the decision”.

“This goes against the City’s own transport strategy and City Plan 2040,” he said at the time.

“The likelihood is that if this trial does go ahead in 2025, there’ll be increased road danger for those walking and cycling, delays to buses, and we’ll see fewer people ambling, sitting, snacking at Bank – and a wall of cabs instead.”

> 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