A cyclist was out enjoying the sun on the country roads of Staffordshire when a black Vauxhall came at him from the opposite side and squeezed him off the road, almost into the foliage, which was then followed by a case of a mysteriously disappearing email by the police to submit evidence.

In the video, before the incident takes place, two drivers can be seen passing Rob Edwards. "They gave me plenty of room, but then this driver comes up, who should have seen me from 100 meters away, as I did them and they had plenty of room to move over. They just continued on driving as if nothing had happened" he told road.cc.

"I think they probably didn't see me, or wasn't driving with due care, or maybe it was deliberate, who knows," he said. "But what I can tell you is that I feared for my safety in the split second I had to take evasive action."

The incident took place on 6th August last year on Marston Lane, between Hilton and Rolleston-On-Dove, right on the border where Staffordshire meets Derbyshire. As is evident from the video, there is plenty of room to the driver's left for both him in his car and Mr Edwards on his bike to pass each other safely.

After the close pass, Mr Edwards reported it to the Staffordshire Police on the same day. However, since their system didn't provide the option to upload footage at the same time as reporting it, he had to wait for the police to get back to him with a link to add evidence.

But he never ended up receiving it. After chasing it with them, he did eventually receive the link, the police stated that because 14 days had passed since then, they were no longer able to anything about it.

Mr Edwards then spoke to Derbyshire Police, who he had earlier reported another near miss with successfully, and they told him that if it was reported in time and the delay was because of obtaining evidence, they can still take action.

"They handled a case for me earlier which happened on their turf, so I have a bit more confidence in them," Mr Edwards said.

road.cc reached out to Staffordshire Police to explain their side of things, and they said: "We received a report via our website on 8 August 2022, reporting a driver passing too close to a cyclist in in the Rolleston area of Staffordshire.

"We sent an email to the person who reported the incident on the same day confirming we had received his report and sent a further email to the same address which contained a secure link to our evidence portal website. The email said that the link would expire after three days. The footage had not been received by 12 August.

"After another call from the person reporting, a further link was emailed on 30 August and we received the footage but the 14-day notice of intended prosecution date had expired. We sent an advisory letter to the registered keeper of the car."

Mr Edwards, who works in IT, maintained that he didn't receive any email from them. He said: "It never arrived in my inbox, or spam. These were thoroughly checked. I suspect either they didn't send it and are covering up their incompetence, or they sent it to the wrong person. It never came to me, emails don't just disappear."

"If they were able to provide proof they sent the email, as in a time stamped copy of the sent email, I might put it down to a mystery. However as anything sent to my inbox would have been seen by me.

"Even if I perhaps deleted it by mistake, it would have sat in the bin for 30 days, as does anything that goes to spam. An extensive search of all email folders around 30th August produced nothing, so concluded it was never sent to me. Yet when they sent the link to me on the 30th, it came straight away."

https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-866-301641

On 03/06/2023 04:07 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> A chav-cyclist was out enjoying the sun on the country roads of Staffordshire when a black Vauxhall came at him from the opposite side and squeezed him off the road, almost into the foliage, which was then followed by a case of a mysteriously disappearing email by the police to submit evidence.
>
> In the video, before the incident takes place, two drivers can be seen passing Rob Edwards. "They gave me plenty of room, but then this driver comes up, who should have seen me from 100 meters away, as I did them and they had plenty of room to move over. They just continued on driving as if nothing had happened" he told road.cc.
>
> "I think they probably didn't see me, or wasn't driving with due care, or maybe it was deliberate, who knows," he said. "But what I can tell you is that I feared for my safety in the split second I had to take evasive action."
>
> The incident took place on 6th August last year on Marston Lane, between Hilton and Rolleston-On-Dove, right on the border where Staffordshire meets Derbyshire. As is evident from the video, there is plenty of room to the driver's left for both him in his car and Mr Edwards on his bike to pass each other safely.
>
> After the close pass, Mr Edwards reported it to the Staffordshire Police on the same day. However, since their system didn't provide the option to upload footage at the same time as reporting it, he had to wait for the police to get back to him with a link to add evidence.
>
> But he never ended up receiving it. After chasing it with them, he did eventually receive the link, the police stated that because 14 days had passed since then, they were no longer able to anything about it.
>
> Mr Edwards then spoke to Derbyshire Police, who he had earlier reported another near miss with successfully, and they told him that if it was reported in time and the delay was because of obtaining evidence, they can still take action.
>
> "They handled a case for me earlier which happened on their turf, so I have a bit more confidence in them," Mr Edwards said.

Previous form for that particular chav, eh?
>
> road.cc reached out to Staffordshire Police to explain their side of things, and they said: "We received a report via our website on 8 August 2022, reporting a driver passing too close to a chav-cyclist in in the Rolleston area of Staffordshire.
>
> "We sent an email to the person who reported the incident on the same day confirming we had received his report and sent a further email to the same address which contained a secure link to our evidence portal website. The email said that the link would expire after three days. The footage had not been received by 12 August.
>
> "After another call from the person reporting, a further link was emailed on 30 August and we received the footage but the 14-day notice of intended prosecution date had expired. We sent an advisory letter to the registered keeper of the car."
>
> Mr Edwards, who works in IT, maintained that he didn't receive any email from them. He said: "It never arrived in my inbox, or spam. These were thoroughly checked. I suspect either they didn't send it and are covering up their incompetence, or they sent it to the wrong person. It never came to me, emails don't just disappear."
>
> "If they were able to provide proof they sent the email, as in a time stamped copy of the sent email, I might put it down to a mystery. However as anything sent to my inbox would have been seen by me.
>
> "Even if I perhaps deleted it by mistake, it would have sat in the bin for 30 days, as does anything that goes to spam. An extensive search of all email folders around 30th August produced nothing, so concluded it was never sent to me. Yet when they sent the link to me on the 30th, it came straight away."
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-866-301641

Diddums.

paul_Onabike | 3 posts | 52 min ago
0 likes
I know this road well, and you have to look well ahead to see what's coming - whether cycling or driving, as two cars can't pass on the carriageway, only within the passing places. There is no way the driver did not see the cyclist long before they passed, and you would not deliberately drive over to the right because of the sightlines. That was 100% deliberate. I've had drivers hold the centre of the carriageway plenty of times in the past, but never one keep to the right.

I wouldn't take it too much to heart about the lack of a prosecution though.. If this had happened on the Derbyshire side, they would have only got a warning letter anyway - as they won't prosecute close passes either from behind or from the front.

As others have noticed, that barbed wire is very close to the carriageway, and doesn't leave you much of an escape route should the need arise.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> A cyclist was out enjoying the sun on the country roads of Staffordshire
> when a black Vauxhall came at him from the opposite side and squeezed him
> off the road, almost into the foliage, which was then followed by a case
> of a mysteriously disappearing email by the police to submit evidence.

> In the video, before the incident takes place, two drivers can be seen
> passing Rob Edwards. "They gave me plenty of room, but then this driver
> comes up, who should have seen me from 100 meters away, as I did them and
> they had plenty of room to move over. They just continued on driving as
> if nothing had happened" he told road.cc.

> "I think they probably didn't see me, or wasn't driving with due care, or
> maybe it was deliberate, who knows," he said. "But what I can tell you is
> that I feared for my safety in the split second I had to take evasive action."

So the cyclist saw the car in question from 100m away, but despite the car
not deviating from its course, had only a split second to take evasive
action. What was he doing, daydreaming? What happened to anticipation? He
had shedloads of time to take the safest course of action by pulling over
and coming to a halt.

> <https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-866-301641>

Cyclists, eh?

--
Spike

KentRider | 12 posts | 12 hours ago
5 likes
That was abysmal driving. The driver left it to pure luck that there wasn’t a serious collision. Rob did well to stay upright. Rural lanes like that typically have very poor surface where it meets the verge (as illustrated in several places in the footage), and being forced hard to the edge like that is hazardous in itself, even if you avoid the oncoming car.

The video also illustrates one of my main bugbears of how so many people drive on rural lanes. There was a passing place on the driver’s left just a few metres before the point of interaction. Obviously, this particular driver had no care at all for any other road user, but even among those that do have the politeness to slow down a bit for oncoming cyclists, only a tiny proportion have the patience to wait for a second or two in the passing place to enable the pass to occur at a wider part of the road. Most of my riding is on rural lanes like this, and the number of narrow passes that are forced on me by oncoming drivers just a metre or so after they have gone by a passing place is exasperating.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> KentRider | 12 posts | 12 hours ago
> 5 likes
>
> That was abysmal driving. The driver left it to pure luck that there
> wasn’t a serious collision. Rob did well to stay upright. Rural lanes
> like that typically have very poor surface where it meets the verge (as
> illustrated in several places in the footage), and being forced hard to
> the edge like that is hazardous in itself, even if you avoid the oncoming car.

That was abysmal roadcraft by the cyclist. He doesn’t slow down for
anything: oncoming vehicles, vehicles emerging from side-turnings, nothing.
Until it’s too late.

The car in question comes into view of the camera what seems to be a
handful of car-lengths from the cyclist. The driver has limited vision due
to the RH bend (LH for the cyclist) but the cyclist, who is close to his LH
side of the road and who therefore also has limited visual range, seems
unaware of the possibilities arising from these effects. He speeds through
the gap, only slowing and coming to a halt *after* the incident.

A very poor show. No wonder the police lost the email.

--
Spike

On 03/06/2023 07:29 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> paul_Onabike | 3 posts | 52 min ago
> 0 likes
>
> I know this road well, and you have to look well ahead to see what's coming - whether cycling or driving, as two cars can't pass on the carriageway, only within the passing places. There is no way the driver did not see the cyclist long before they passed, and you would not deliberately drive over to the right because of the sightlines. That was 100% deliberate. I've had drivers hold the centre of the carriageway plenty of times in the past, but never one keep to the right.
>
> I wouldn't take it too much to heart about the lack of a prosecution though. If this had happened on the Derbyshire side, they would have only got a warning letter anyway - as they won't prosecute close passes either from behind or from the front.
>
> As others have noticed, that barbed wire is very close to the carriageway, and doesn't leave you much of an escape route should the need arise.

You've reminded me of that famous YouTube video.

On 03/06/2023 10:55 pm, Spike wrote:
> swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>> KentRider | 12 posts | 12 hours ago
>> 5 likes
>>
>> That was abysmal driving. The driver left it to pure luck that there
>> wasn’t a serious collision. Rob did well to stay upright. Rural lanes
>> like that typically have very poor surface where it meets the verge (as
>> illustrated in several places in the footage), and being forced hard to
>> the edge like that is hazardous in itself, even if you avoid the oncoming car.
>
> That was abysmal roadcraft by the cyclist. He doesn’t slow down for
> anything: oncoming vehicles, vehicles emerging from side-turnings, nothing.
> Until it’s too late.
>
> The car in question comes into view of the camera what seems to be a
> handful of car-lengths from the cyclist. The driver has limited vision due
> to the RH bend (LH for the cyclist) but the cyclist, who is close to his LH
> side of the road and who therefore also has limited visual range, seems
> unaware of the possibilities arising from these effects. He speeds through
> the gap, only slowing and coming to a halt *after* the incident.
>
> A very poor show. No wonder the police lost the email.

Why did that chav on the chav-bike pass the car with a gap of less than
1.5 metres?

Surely he should have stopped?

ubercurmudgeon | 277 posts | 4 hours ago
1 like
At least we now know what to do if an example of bad driving coincides with a royal visit to your local area. Just tell the police that you thought you saw a load of anti-monarchy banners on the back seat of the car. Instead of mysterious disappearing emails and spurious 14-day deadlines, they'll rush round and put the driver in the cooler for 16 hours, and ask him questions later.