Sajid Javid and Jeremy Vine clash over controversial video showing car passing ‘too close’ to a five-year-old boy
11 November 2022, 01:11
MP Sajid Javid and TV presenter Jeremy Vine have clashed over a video which shows a car passing ‘too close’ to a five-year-old boy cycling home.
In the video, which now has 2.4million views, the child is cycling along a residential street in Kingston, South West London, in the rain.
His dad, who is behind him, is heard telling the boy to ‘carry on’ as a car approaches them from the other direction with its headlights on, but as it passes without hesitation he shouts ‘are you going to stop? What are you doing?’
He shared the footage on Twitter, tagging cycling advocate Jeremy Vine, and wrote: “How can we expect parents to let their kids ride to school if this is how their neighbours drive towards them? He’s five by the way and this is 100m from his home.”
How can we expect parents to let their kids ride to school if this is how their neighbours drive towards them? He's five by the way and this is 100m from his home. @theJeremyVine @MikeyCycling @TheWarOnCars @London_Cycling @KingstonCycling @markandcharlie @cyclegaz pic.twitter.com/TPoqThXmiG
— AZB (@azb2019) November 4, 2022
Outraged, Mr Vine shared the clip with his 785,000 followers and said that the driver should have gone ‘dead slow’ or stopped and that anyone who doesn’t agree should cut up their licence.
The clip was reshared on his chat show’s Twitter account, which asked ‘who is in the wrong?’
MP Sajid Javid replied: “The 5-year-old’s father.”
Frustrated Mr Vine then commented: ‘I mustn't respond. I mustn't respond. I mustn't respond.'
The clip has been controversial for many reasons – some say that the driver should have stopped and given the child as much room as possible to get through the gap in the road which is made narrower because cars are parking on the street.
Others say that the dad should have stopped the child cycling when the car wasn’t slowing down.
