Near Miss of the Day 855: Driver dangerously overtakes on the wrong side… is let off the hook by the police because she lives abroad

After sending a cyclist diving to the side behind parked cars, the driver seems to have found a new loophole in the law: Don’t live in the UK!

At least that’s what the police are claiming after Rendel Harris submitted footage of his near-miss in Southwark, London to the Met on the same day of the incident back in October 2022.

> Near Miss of the Day 854: Taxi driver hits cyclist with wing mirror at pinch point... blames rider for swerving

He was descending down the hill towards Camberwell Grove and could see a white 4x4 drive opposite him up the hill. However, a Toyota Yaris, whose number plate he caught on camera, proceeded to overtake the 4x4 on the extremely narrow road and headed straight towards him at high speed.

“It forced me to dive to the side and stop up against the parked cars on the left, with the oncoming vehicle missing my right-hand handlebar by about 20 cm,” Harris told road.cc.

He appreciated the 4x4 driver’s reading of the situation as he slowed down, allowing the speeding driver to pass and most definitely saving Harris from a nasty collision.

“Huge vote of thanks to the 4x4 driver who realised what was going on and pulled in and slowed down. If he had insisted on holding his line and speed, the Yaris would most certainly have hit me,” continued Harris.

In the video, the 4x4 driver can be seen coming to a complete halt after the Yaris sped past himself and Harris, exchanging a few words to remark on the insanity of the situation. He tells the driver, “I’ve got it on camera, she’s going to the police.”

Except, she didn’t. Four months later, the Met police informed Harris: “Our enquiries have resulted in a driver residing abroad, therefore we have had no option but to close this case.”

Harris, a road.cc reader and someone who isn't new to NMotD, commented, “Obviously I'm not very happy about this result, the police do seem to have done their best to trace the driver but is it the case that now anyone who lives abroad can't be pursued for offences in the UK?”

> Updated – Near Miss of the Day 549: Cyclist “flabbergasted” as magistrates acquit close pass driver (video includes swearing)

“And do the police take the registered keeper's word that the driver at the time of the incident lives abroad? That would seem to open up a massive loophole in the law if you can simply nominate a friend in a foreign country as a driver any time you are accused of an offence.”

Harris also submitted a FOI request with a bunch of questions, including if proof was submitted that the alleged driver resides abroad. However, the request couldn’t be fulfilled due to reasons of GDPR cited.

And if you were wondering about what was Harris wearing, he had reflective Proviz Night Rider jacket and fluorescent yellow gloves and helmet on. To top that off, he had a strobing daylight running light on the front of his bike too. Well, there goes any arguments of the driver being unable to see him!

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