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news
Near Miss of the Day 667: “Are you trying to kill me?” – Aggressive PHV driver fined £660 for close pass (video includes swearing)
A public hire vehicle driver filmed accelerating towards a cyclist to try and get round him ahead of a pinch point on a 20mph road in east London, then unleashed a torrent of abuse on the rider, has been handed a £660 fine and ordered to pay court costs of £120.
Lukei1, the road.cc reader who filmed the incident on Bishops Way, Cambridge Heath, told us: “I was keeping primary position on a street with numerous pinch points and crossings, this PHV driver decided to squeeze past despite me holding the speed limit without any issues.
“My initial swearing is due to turning around to look at the perfect moment to see the car heading towards me at very close range and sh*tting myself.
“Despite being a so-called professional, the driver then stopped to unload a load of nonsensical abuse, justifying his driving on the basis that I was not dead.
“Apologies for the unforgivable faux pas of describing myself as being in the middle of the road rather than the lane,” he continued.
“Thanks to the cameras, the driver was taken to court for failing to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road / in a public place without reasonable consideration to other users, hit with 6 points and a fine of £660 and court costs of £160.
“I also reported him to TFL as the PHV regulator but they are a closed book on outcomes,” Lukei1added. “Let’s hope he’s not driving passengers anymore.”
> 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
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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35 comments
Just another driver in too much of a hurry to make a safe pass, but with all the time in the world for a confrontation.
Taxi drivers in my view are the worst. Do they have to pass a psychopath test (i.e. be diagnosed as a psychopath) before getting a licence to drive a taxi?
Isn't it amazing that all these fuckwit drivers have exceptional hearing when someone shouts at them, but have shit for brains and can't comprehend they've done something wrong?
Personally, I'd have got off my bike and twatted him.
As soon as his leg touched the ground, I'd be kicking it shut onto his leg.
The chances are that if the driver haven't slammed the anchors on, the police would have written a stern letter at most.
His road rage is what got the fine, not the pass.
There really needs to be a separate charge, even if it's something as pathetic as blocking the flow of traffic, when it comes to slamming on the anochors and blocking the road in order to have a go at someone
There is a charge - obstruction.
There was a famous case where a London cabbie wanted to turn right, but there was a tailback that stopped him (probably before the days these things were christened gridlock), and he blocked the road for traffic going straight on. He argued it wasn't obstruction, he was driving, just impeded. The court disagreed and he was fined for obstructing the highway.
The other problem though, is by convention the CPS tend only to prosecute the most serious offences where there are a series of connected offences. In the States, if you ever watched those "Police show their enthusiasm for making mountains out of molehill pursuit" shows, they would get someone to not stop for a broken tail-light, and by the time they had exceeded the speed limit, resisted arrest, blown through a few stop signs and crossed a couple of yellow lines in the centre, they'd tot them all up to count for about 3 years in prison. In the UK, it seems you can be chased 200 miles down the motorway breaking a billion laws and are brought to a halt requiring 3 police cars to be written off and you get 6 points on your licence (bringing it up to 38 points because you are banned) and a fine for driving without insurance. I exaggerate of course, but it is surprising how low the charges are for some apparent dangerous driving.
Didn't listen to the video, just watched the incident, but if he was threatening and the cyclist feared he was going to be assaulted, that is a criminal offence in itself. It's a shame that didn't seem to be dealt with, given the police seem so keen to mention swearing is a problem when cyclists do it.
His road rage is what got the fine, not the pass
I'm trying to work on the delayed satisfaction of imagining their stupid face when the letter from the police comes through the door
Except, if you live in Lancashire, the letter from the police doesn't come through the door, because of Lancashire Constabulary's proud boast: we never do anything about any offences against cyclists! I know people are tired of hearing this, but it's absolutely true. It's now 3 1/2 months since the psycho-nutter driver of white BMW PK14 HLW shouted that he would "fucking flatten" me and that I would "get knocked off" after my completely non-swearing protest about a super-close pass- all recorded on immaculate video. After an initial invitation to provide a statement, I have battled to provide that statement in the face of failure of 2 different traffic PCs to reply, 'I have been sent to a different area for 4 weeks', and now no communication at all for 4 weeks. I suspect people think that there's no point just moaning-on at road.cc, but I can assure them I am taking, and will take, all possible steps to expose this abject failure of Lancashire Constabulary to do the job they're paid for. The chat on here is just a commentary.
So, the taxi driver was in such a hurry to overtake the cyclist and get past them before the pinch point and yet they had all the time in the world to stop in the pinch point (blocking the public highway) to rant at the cyclist? Some people...
As soon as I saw "contains swearing" you knew what Boos statement would be.
Anyway, I wondered how it was known to be a PHV? I'm used to having council reg plates on the rear and obviously company signs on the sides for the ones in my area.
In London they have tiny little TFL stickers in the rear window and you can also search their database using the plate to confirm
I was half expecting a note saying the police had threatened to prosecute the cyclist for going the wrong side of the KEEP LEFT arrow. They've done similar things before.
As Nelson Muntz might say to the cab diver outside court "ha-ha".
Straight on the anchors ready for a confrontation and he got a court fine , points and maybe lost his public carriage license to boot.
That deserves another ha-ha.
His insurance will also go through the roof as a result of the points and in some cases maybe even refusal of insurance. Time to find a new career.
If it weren't for all those private possessions stored on the public highway...
Not to mention on zig-zags
So it's official now, they are supposed to drive without consideration for others?
You are a far calmer man than I am!!
If that had happened to me and the adrenaline had kicked in like it normally does, I'd have gone absolutely batshit. Probably why I don't have any cameras on my bike, so my responses can't be filmed
I genuinely find that the worst drivers on the roads for such manouveurs are so called professionals. PHV's, Hackney carriages should take a days cycling as part of their licensing.
It's taken discipline but having the camera means I try to dial it back after the initial reaction when I am sure the Met will prosecute, its tough but I'm trying to work on the delayed satisfaction of imagining their stupid face when the letter from te police comes through the door. If I go overboard in reply they are more likely to not send it to the CPS at all
more than a day.
In london they used to spend time 'doing the knowledge' on a moped, maybe it should be mandatory to do it on a bicycle
Do London taxi drivers still do the Knowledge, in this age of satnav?
They do - see a lot fewer out and about doing it now though, I think most people accept that sooner or later it will be abolished as the anachronism it is. Perhaps when it's abolished cabbies could be given compulsory intensive cycle training instead, so they have a bit more empathy with cyclists.
What an angry little man he's clearly top "gangsa" at the rank. Can you do a FOI from Tfl? Needs removing from the road let alone the genepool.
At least the driver has been penalised accordingly.
Has he had his car crushed ?
Maybe not, but his ego has taken a good kicking.
It was the Yaris driver who swore not the cyclist. But nice try...
I don't understand why people reply to that idiot when they post such absolute tripe - there's clearly something wrong with how they perceive things and they should go for a brain scan to determine if it's something that can be fixed (e.g. a brain tumour).
Ignore it. It might go away then
Driving in accordance with the law i.e. not overtaking dangerously.
Correct, but do not feed the trolls.
Maybe it'll choke on it😂😂😂
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