A London taxi driver who was caught on film making a close pass on a cyclist has been fined £280 and had his driving licence endorsed with five penalty points, as well as being ordered to pay £115 in costs.
Video of the incident, which took place close to Paddington Station in West London, was posted to YouTube last April by Cycling Mikey, who filmed the incident.
The cyclist was riding west along Westbourne Terrace and decided to stay on the main carriageway, instead of using a short stretch of protected cycle lane, as he is entitled to do by law.
The cab driver clearly thought otherwise and as he overtook the rider as he passed him with inches to spare at a point in the road where the road narrows due to a traffic light on an island.
Cycling Mikey continued through Lancaster Gate to pick up Cycle Superhighway 3 at Hyde Park and caught up with the taxi driver at the Serpentine Gallery, where the pair exchanged words, with the cyclist noting down not only the cab number but also the one on the driver’s badge.
In the video description, he said: “If you were using a hammer, you'd be in jail right now. Because you used a far more dangerous weapon, a 2 tonne taxi, that's OK is it?”
Cycling Mikey has a New Year’s resolution, by the way. On 1 January, he tweeted: “My New Year's resolution is to be more diligent about timeously uploading and reporting driver road crime. I let loads slide last year because I was tardy.”