Who to report a near miss too? Car and horse

[SOS]

I boxed over to a friend this morning and off we set out hacking in torrential rain. There is a short stretch of road until we reached our hours of bridle paths so we popped high viz on.

A few cars passed us lovely considering the conditions and we were very aware of traffic incase they were late to see us but none were. We were riding two abreast to slow traffic further and make ourselves more visible. We were actually chatting about how my horse can be spooky but has the self preservation to never be dangerous I.e never spooks at traffic but would at a road sign.

As I said that I noticed a large silver Mercedes 4X4 approaching us at speed. I stuck my hand out to ask them to slow down and they flashed and sped up! They passed us at some speed and spraying up a ton of water as they came through a puddle (that was on our side! This is how close they were). If I had reached down I would of touched the car.

My lovely horse realised in the nick of time to leap sideways and the next few cars that passed he was shaking.

I have the number plate. I’ve just checked it on GOV.UK and it’s correct. What do I do?

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

If you have camera footage or an eye witness contact details (another driver but not your friend) you can report it to the police online. Without those they didn't take my report when my horse and I were undertaken by a pickup truck who took the a grass verge to get passed us.

You should report it the the BHS even if you dont have footage or eye witness details.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I would at least attempt to report to the police. They might be able to go and have a word even if they can't actually do anything more.

And BHS.

I'm sorry that happened, it must have been really scary.

 

[SOS]

I will report to BHS and try the police non emergency number but i don’t have a witness bar my friend nor camera footage.

Thankyou both.

ETA: Also is quite a distinctive personalised number plate which could be related to a business - has LAW in it. Unfortunately google search has not show me anything.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I boxed over to a friend this morning and off we set out hacking in torrential rain. There is a short stretch of road until we reached our hours of bridle paths so we popped high viz on.

A few cars passed us lovely considering the conditions and we were very aware of traffic incase they were late to see us but none were. We were riding two abreast to slow traffic further and make ourselves more visible. We were actually chatting about how my horse can be spooky but has the self preservation to never be dangerous I.e never spooks at traffic but would at a road sign.

As I said that I noticed a large silver Mercedes 4X4 approaching us at speed. I stuck my hand out to ask them to slow down and they flashed and sped up! They passed us at some speed and spraying up a ton of water as they came through a puddle (that was on our side! This is how close they were). If I had reached down I would of touched the car.

My lovely horse realised in the nick of time to leap sideways and the next few cars that passed he was shaking.

I have the number plate. I’ve just checked it on GOV.UK and it’s correct. What do I do?

Notify the police! We once had a similar experience on a very windy day. We had 2 of the steadiest horses ever, both former drivers, who were absolutely solid in traffic, fool driver came past us uphill on a 'no through road' which led to a bridleway, spun his wheels in a patch of gravel which hit the horses' legs and shot off. I think he must have been late for his Sunday lunch.
This was in the days before mobile phones, so we rang the police when we got back home. Driver was charged with careless driving. I think we benefitted from a heightened awareness on the part of the police as it was only a matter of months before that a local officer's wife had been knocked off her horse by a pair of teenage joy-riders, she was injured and the horse had to be pts - as you can imagine shockwaves went through the entire local community.
BHS also want to be notified of near misses.

 

[DirectorFury]

I’m glad you’re all ok.
You can report on the BHS Horse-I app, and it’s worth letting the police know but they won’t act on it without any footage or an independent witness.

I’d recommend googling the number plate, it’s surprising the things that come up — if the owner hasn’t locked their FB page down and has posted photos of the car with the plate visible then Google *should* return their profile page as a result.

 

[cremedemonthe]

I've sent you a link to a group that might help, lots of useful info on there on how and who to report to plus support from others in the same situation, stay safe, Oz

 

[Tiddlypom]

I notified my near miss by a driving school car (instructor was sole occupant of car) and the police took it pretty seriously. We got just part of the reg no but 'Geoff Capes Driving School' was helpfully plastered all over the car! I got a crime number. I left negative feedback for the driving school on various platforms that it couldn't delete.

I think that the boys in blue had a little chat with him.

I also reported it to the BHS.

 

[SOS]

Thankyou everyone. I hate hearing about these near misses. It made me feel sick that my horse trusted that I had put him in a safe place and only reacted when he knew he had too for both our sakes.

I have reported on the BHS site - very easy! I tried the local police number this evening and it keeps dropping off, maybe as it’s Sunday? I will try again tomorrow.

That said a horse was killed near here at the start of the year by a driver who couldn’t see for the low light. It was put down to an “unfortunate accident” and the rider still feels it hasn’t been taken seriously.

 

[teapot]

The BHS now has an app as they're tracking near misses and accidents, worth downloading.

Hope you get some joy with the police.

 

[Orangehorse]

The Police are the only ones who can take action, and different forces do react differently!

The BHS want to hear of any incidents, to keep a record to put before the Government/Safety people, but they have no way of taking action.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Thankyou everyone. I hate hearing about these near misses. It made me feel sick that my horse trusted that I had put him in a safe place and only reacted when he knew he had too for both our sakes.

I have reported on the BHS site - very easy! I tried the local police number this evening and it keeps dropping off, maybe as it’s Sunday? I will try again tomorrow.

That said a horse was killed near here at the start of the year by a driver who couldn’t see for the low light. It was put down to an “unfortunate accident” and the rider still feels it hasn’t been taken seriously.

You can email the police instead of ringing.

 

[Peglo]

Definitely contact the police. Even if they do nothing this time, if the Mercedes does it again it will be on record that someone’s complained before. Really hope they take some sort of action though. It baffles me that people don’t care the danger they are putting others in and just because they ‘ducking hate horses’

I usually hate shaming people on Facebook but I think selfish and dangerous behaviour like this should be publicly known. Especially if the police say there is nothing they can do. Far to many people get off with with doing that.

glad you are ok!

 

[Hanno Verian]

Absolutely agree about following it up with the police....as was pointed out this is hardly likely to be an isolated incidence of attitude. If - god forbid - the vehicle/owner is involved in an incident in the future it may strengthen the case against them if there is a history.

You arent doing it for you, your doing it for the next rider who has an incident with the driver.

Having said that, I would get a helmet cam it removes the interpretation from the incident, its there in colour...even better if it has sound so that it catches your reaction to being in fear of the vehicle