Watch: Jeremy Vine says he ‘fancied getting home alive’ after van driver yells ‘f*** off!’ at BBC presenter

BBC Radio 2 presenter and keen cyclist Jeremy Vine has shared a video in which he was subjected to foul language from an angry van driver, writing on Twitter he was considering having a word “and then I decided I quite fancied getting home alive”.

Mr Vine, who has become a prominent cycling advocate and regularly posts videos of his travels around London online, shared the footage yesterday evening (May 15), which opens with him following another cyclist down a street in Fulham.

As the person ahead of him reaches a junction, Mr Vine zooms in on a van coming in the opposite direction, which has crossed over the line running down the middle of the street and narrowly avoids colliding with the cyclist.

Mr Vine can be heard audibly going “oooh, wow” as the van passes him, leading to the driver shouting out of his window: “F*** off!”

Following the incident, three pedestrians walking down the street call out: “It’s alright boss, you’re in the right”, with Mr Vine referring to them in a later tweet as “sympathetic lads”.

After initially saying he thinks he will try and have a word with the driver, Mr Vine tells the three young men he might be “dangerous”, adding: “He seems like the kind of guy who might not come to my birthday party.”

In his tweet sharing the footage, Mr Vine wrote: “Crikey. I was about to have a word with this van driver, and then decided I quite fancied getting home alive.”

The video is not the first time Mr Vine has captured unpleasant language being hurled his way in public.

Just a few weeks ago, a courier worker who swore at Vine was suspended from his job.

The clip follows a Transport for London (TfL) report published last month which noted 80% of those killed or seriously injured between 2017 and 2021 were pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists, most frequently in collisions with cars, HGVs, or motorcycles.

Work is being done by the transport body to improve cycling facilities in London, including expanding the capital’s cycleways. Campaigners however continue to call for more, better-connected infrastructure across the capital.