Near Miss of the Day 686: National Express driver almost squashes cyclist against parked cars

None of the videos featured in our Near Miss of the Day series make for pleasant watching, but now and again we see some particularly shocking examples of dangerous driving – this being a case in point as a National Express coach driver almost squashes a cyclist into parked cars, with the rider reflecting afterwards that “I genuinely thought my wife was going to be a widow.”

Wayne, the road.cc reader who filmed the frightening incident, told us: “It occurred back in Nov, but the response from National Express, though expected and acknowledging the poor standard of driving: didn’t instil confidence that they give a crap!

“The consequence is that I now struggle to ride at night. This is due to my thought that despite me having reflective strips on both ankles and arms, two rear lights and a light on my seat tube shining down to the road giving off an illuminated presence on the road, the ‘Professional’ driver decided it was okay to squash me at a pinch point on the road.

“It was less than a few inches’ gap,” he continued. “I genuinely thought my wife was going to be a widow.

“I caught up with him and let him know how displeased I was at his decision. From the footage just as it got desperate I do agree I could have stopped and avoided the really serious closeness of the pass. I was not aware of the space as by then I had seen red and was kicking the coach with my right foot.

“Happy New Year and please keep up the content,” Wayne added. “Scary and slightly fear inducing it is a necessary evil to show these close pass events as a reflection on what we have to face every day.”

> 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