I am making this statement about an incident that occurred on the WEDNESDAY 17TH DECEMBER 2014 on A27 BRIDGE ROAD, PARK GATE, involving a (vehicle). In this account I will mention 1 person and a BLACK TOYOTA with the index number xxx. I have been cycling for 18 months as a commuter and consider myself to be a competent cyclist. I also hold a full car and motorcycle licence and have done so for over 5 years. I consider myself to be an competent driver. The first person I will mention is a White Male, approx 6ft tall, balding with stubble. He was wearing a Blue top, Blue jeans and Burgundy Shoes. This person I will refer to as “the driver” was driving a BLACK TOYOTA with the index xxx. This incident took place on A27 BRIDGE ROAD, PARK GATE near the junction ADDISON ROAD. I would describe this as road as a main single carriageway A road. A copy of the video of the incident taken with my Helmet Camera is exhibited as MR/01. At the time of the incident the weather was damp but had stopped raining and dark. I was wearing a reflective chest belt and reflective ankle bands. I was displaying two Smart Lunar 25 Lux Lights to my front and a Smart R2 red light to my rear, this is advertised as having visibility of up to 1 mile.
At approximately 1855 on WEDNESDAY 17th DECEMBER 2014 I was cycling from SOUTHAMPTON along the A27 in the direction of PARK GATE. I was cycling in a secondary position as described by the Department for Transport's Bikeability training. This position is roughly 1 metre to the left of the traffic flow (centre of lane) and not less than 0.5 metres to the edge of the road. My reasons for adopting this position are that the A27 BRIDGE ROAD has a number of potholes and uneven surfaces along the edge. This is the default riding position that I take when riding on this type of road. Whilst I was cycling along BRIDGE ROAD from the junction with BARNES LANE a number of cars passed me safely with no trouble at all and none had used their horns towards me. As I passed the junction with ALLOTMENT ROAD I was travelling at around 17-20mph, there was a fair amount of oncoming traffic however there were plenty of breaks in the traffic to allow cars behind me to pass safely. As I reached the junction with ADDISON ROAD I could see oncoming traffic ahead, however there was sufficient time for a couple of cars to pass me safely. I could see in my mirror, which is located on my right handlebar, some cars behind me. In order to encourage a safe pass from vehicles behind due to oncoming traffic I checked that it was clear and moved out into a strong secondary position. This position is not quite primary position (which is the middle of the lane) but slightly farther out than secondary. Moments later what looked like a WHITE MINI passed me but then started to brake immediately. This was followed by a small BLACK CAR. As this car passed I could see the oncoming traffic getting very close and there was no room for other vehicles to pass me safely. Secondly, there was no room in front of me between the BLACK CAR and myself to allow a safe breaking distance. Neither of these two cars had sounded their horns at me. The rear of the BLACK CAR was barely past me and had not finished their manoeuvre when HX07RNE sounded their horn. I immediately looked in my mirror and saw xxx extremely close behind me. I signalled with my right palm open to 'back off', I also said this out loud. I could see that the oncoming cars were almost upon us and that there was not enough room for myself and HX07RNE in one lane. I sounded my horn and reached out with my right hand with an open palm. The intentions behind these actions were to get xxx to back off and not try to squeeze past. As I did this xxx's Nearside mirror hit my right hand causing me to wobble. xxx continued his dangerous pass and started to squeeze me towards the kerb. I shouted at xxx in response to his dangerous actions. I then read out xxx VRM loudly so that the audio on my camera would pick it up and gesticulated to xxx for them to pull over. xxx then continued through a red light and turned left into UXBRIDGE CLOSE. I followed xxx in order to try and obtain his insurance details in case of any injury to my hand. When in UXBRIDGE CLOSE xxx pulled over and I stopped behind. At this point DRIVER ONE opened his door and I said "EVENING". DRIVER ONE said "WHAT?". I said "I SAID EVENING", DRIVER ONE said something along the lines of 'What you doing in the middle of the road?'. I said "RIDING WHERE I SHOULD BE, AM I ABLE TO OBTAIN YOUR INSURANCE DETAILS PLEASE SIR?". DRIVER ONE said "WHAT?". I replied "YOU CONTACTED, YOUR WING MIRROR CONTACTED MY HAND". DRIVER ONE said "YOU WHACKED MY WING MIRROR MATE". I said "YOU'RE TOO CLOSE IF I CAN WHACK YOU MIRROR THEN AREN'T YOU?". DRIVER ONE then said something which I cannot remember. I then said "OK, YOU ARE ON CAMERA, YOU WILL BE REPORTED TO THE POLICE, HX07RNE". I then spoke a description of DRIVER ONE for evidential purposes due to low light. I then said "EXPECT TO HEAR FROM THE POLICE SOON SIR". At this point I backed off from DRIVER ONE. DRIVER ONE then said something about my road position again, I replied "READ THE HIGHWAY CODE SIR AND YOU'LL BE NICLEY EDUCATAED". DRIVER ONE then said "WHAT RIGHT HAVE YOU GOT TO BE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD HOLDING EVERYONE UP?". I replied "I WASN'T HOLDING YOU UP". DRIVER ONE THEN said "HAVE SOME DECENY YEAH....". I said "HAVE SOME DECENY AND PASS A VUNERABLE ROAD USER LIKE YOU SHOULD". DRIVER ONE then got in his vehicle and drove off. I took my mobile phone out of my pocket and called 999 to report the collision as DRIVER ONE had refused to give his insurance details and drove off. I followed xxx round the corner whilst I was on the phone to the Police. After less than a minute xxx drove off and I continued home whilst talking to the Police Operator. I had no further dealings with xxx or DRIVER ONE.
At the time of the incident visibility was poor whoever there was street lighting, I was no more than 25 metres from the offender and there were few obstructions to my view. In total the incident lasted approximately 2 minutes. I do not know the person, I would recognise them again. I am willing to attend court to give evidence if required.
This is the worst case of Driving I have suffered in 18 months of cycling. The incident has left me with no lasting injuries or damage to my bike.
I have had the Victim Personal Statement Scheme explained to me and this is what I have to say on the matter.
The incident left me shaken and astounded by what I believe to be a complete disregard for my safety in order to save a few seconds to someone's journey. I was not holding anyone up and was travelling at a respectable speed giving the road conditions. I feel that DRIVER ONE ignored the advice given in the highway code under rule 163 that states 'Give vulnerable road users at least as much space as you would a car'. Whilst I understand that I was cycling further out from the kerb as DRIVER ONE may have liked, I was following the Governments advice to ride central on narrow roads. This advice is also given out by the government backed Bikeability training. I feel that DRIVER ONE's manner of driving fell below a standard that is expected and endangered the life of a vulnerable road user.