Cycling coach dismayed by 'hatred' after near miss

A man who shared a video of a car nearly hitting him while he was cycling said "hatred" in the comments on his social media post underlined a "general disdain for cyclists".

George Fox, a cycling coach from Rushden, Northamptonshire, captured the incident on Sywell Road in Mears Ashby, near Wellingborough, on Thursday while he was filming with a student.

The 32-year-old said some viewers of the video, which has been watched more than four million times, had laid "bizarre" blame for the incident with the two cyclists.

Mr Fox said "We just want to get home at the end of the day... we were just bystanders in that situation."

The footage showed the skidding white Suzuki Swift involved in the crash missing Mr Fox's student by "inches" before hitting another vehicle and overturning in some hedges.

A spokesperson for Northamptonshire Police said the crash "involved three cars - a blue Volvo V50, a white Suzuki Swift, and a grey Fiat 500" and "no-one was seriously injured".

George Fox said the incident was not his first near miss with a car while he has been cycling

Reflecting on the incident, Mr Fox said: "What you can't see from the video is how quickly it all happened for us.

"We were approaching a blind bend and the car obviously came around it. We've looked at the dashcam video from the car behind us too... from the two together we worked out we had roughly one-and-a-half seconds to react to it.

"It's all a blur... the car probably came within about six inches [of hitting the other cyclist]."

Differing attitudes

Mr Fox, who rides his bike six days a week and covers about 10,000 miles per year, said he and his student were "both alright" following the "scary situation".

He said it was "not uncommon" for cyclists to experience near misses on the road, adding, "but it's rare you catch them on camera".

He described how attitudes towards cyclists from motorists was "different everywhere".

"In this country, I've always sort of said you have to ride like everyone is trying to kill you.

"That way you ride sensibly and see the situations coming a bit quicker. It was a bit different last week, there was no way we could have seen that coming and had to react so quickly.

"It's a case of riding defensively, almost waiting for it to happen rather than anticipating it," he said.

Mr Fox said a helmet and lycra were not much protection "when you've got a one-tonne metal box coming towards you"

Mr Fox added the incident would not stop him from taking part in the "amazing sport" of cycling, but said cyclists were "reliant on car drivers to drive sensibly, look after each other and look after us".

"It's when you start reading the comments [on his social media post] and 90% of them aren't exactly positive towards cyclists.

"It starts to worry you, you think, 'Crikey, is that how everybody thinks?'," he added.