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news
Not so Near Miss of the Day 640: Hot chocolate thrown over cyclist from moving car
In today's video a passenger leans out of a van window and throws a cup of hot chocolate over a cyclist.
Simon, who submitted the clip, was out riding in the Peak District near Chatsworth on the A619 between Baslow and Chestfield, when he was attacked by the passenger of a grey Transit van.
He said the police were unable to prosecute the driver of the van for anything other than a Fixed Penalty Notice for littering.
Explaining what happened, he said: "I thought I was being hit by sand falling from a builder's truck, such was the force on my back, before realising I was soaked all over and my bike was covered in sticky chocolate.
"Then I saw the offender drop the McDonald's cup into the road. Good shot mind - but it could have knocked me into the kerb.
"The police were unable to find the driver (who was not the registered keeper, although they know his name).
"The driver (of no fixed address) took the vehicle off the road and crunched it, no doubt to prevent him being stopped in the future by the police who might then uncover other nefarious activities.
"Odd thing, the law does not allow the keeper nor the driver to be charged with the assault carried out by the passenger but they can be charged on his behalf with the minor offence of his littering.
"So, the keeper got a Fixed Penalty Notice for littering. Hey ho, a result of sorts and the driver's down one van."
Simon pointed out that if this had happened in the street while he was walking along, he might have had a better chance of getting a prosecution.
He said: "It was malicious. It left me shocked, shaking and bewildered as to why anyone would do that to a cyclist simply minding his own business.
"I was cold too as my jersey and shorts were wet through. I still had to get home for another 40 minutes.
"Can you imagine if he had walked up to me in the high street, a complete stranger, and poured a hot chocolate over a 60 year old just going about their business? I reckon the police would not have let it go.
"But, he got away with it. So what does he hit the next cyclist with, in revenge for having had the police enquiring after him?"
> 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
Latest Comments
- HoarseMann 29 min 36 sec ago
Cyclists shouldn't have to put up with this behaviour from motorists or the police. Appalling.
- HoarseMann 26 min 31 sec ago
Well, I've watched the video and I didn't see anyone in it who would likely to be offended....
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illegal numberplate too...
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Councils aren't responsible for the roads in Northern Ireland. This remit falls in the hands of The Department for Infrastructure who answer to a...
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What a disgusting comment. Perhaps he should have to meet with the families of some victims of poor driving.
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next up Colin (84) from Chapel Allerton complained that there were no machines to pay for parking and although he is perfectly competent to handle...
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43 comments
Sounds weird. Sounds more like they are doing their best to obfiscate the owners. Maybe travellers if no fixed address?
And surely throwing hot beverages over other roiad users is more then littering, what if it was scolding hot?
That would deserve a telling off.
We need to find a few of these people who do things like this and find out why they do it, what is wrong with them and then we might be able to fix, but until we know why, it'll keep happening. There's definitely something wrong with someone who throws things at complete strangers for absolutely no rational reason, but apart from malicious stupidity and anger at the world, I can't understand it.
If, as suspected, the occupants are members of the traveller community, the answer is that they hold non-travellers in utter contempt.
Added to that, many are of low intelligence, especially males.
I was school governor for a year in an area with a small traveller community. I felt truly sorry for the women. The men were aggressive, often with borderline learning disorders.
European racism in full display in this comment section, my oh my. Let's just get a few comments about the Jews to hit the full house.
I don't believe that the Jewish community have a propensity to take over car parks, leisure centre car parks, country park land, army land, private land and causing numerous issues, forcing police to be involved and applying to the courts for them to be moved on.
Or can you name other groups that routinely do this as part of their life style ?
Really? I think you'll find the Jewish community were accused of far worse over the centuries by bigots just like you.
Can you give me the dates that you lived the life of a traveller to enable you to write your second sentence?
Falsely accused more like.
All the things listed have occured where I live and I have seen some of them first hand.
Strange, because where I live lots of things happen, some of which I've seen first hand and I blame the individuals themselves. I don't know their mother, father, or if they've got a wife or husband, or if they have got children. Not certain about aunts and uncles, can't be certain they have neighbours or are church goers; can't tell if they are football fans or members of cycling clubs. Don't know what language they speak.
My life seems a lot harder than yours, no matter how I try I can't lump these offenders I've seen, in to one homogeneous group. The closest I've managed is two groups. The first is people and the second is cyclists.
Strange how these individuals happen to arrive at the same place at the same time and don't leave until a court order is issued.
Which inidividuals are you talking about now; the two who were in the van? It's just I'm confused as there are about 300,000 travellers in the UK and we don't know if these are two members of that community; apologies that is we who have read the article.
You, however, have pshycic powers as you know exactly what their background is. I belive you are The Mighty Zoltan; that makes you part of the fairground community i.e. a traveller. How does it feel to know that people only want you for next weeks lottery winning numbers?
I haven't made a comment on the people in the van.
My mistake; I thought you'd made a few comments linking these two to the traveller community on on the basisi of no evidence. Anyway no harm done; I'll get back to the inbred Brexiteers who think the HGV driver shortage is caused by Covid.
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