A woman has expressed dismay after being incorrectly told police could not investigate a collision in which she was knocked off her bike by a driver.

Emma Kennedy claims a driver pulled out of a side road and hit her bike on Thursday in York, and when she tried to report the incident to North Yorkshire Police she was told there was nothing they could do because no serious injuries were sustained. North Yorkshire police later said their operator gave Kennedy incorrect information and that they will now investigate the incident fully.

The handling of the incident was criticised by Cycling UK which, it says, indicates a lack of commitment to tackling careless driving around cyclists.

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Kennedy told the Northern Echo: “North Yorkshire Police wouldn’t report this incident because it would have to satisfy one of three conditions.

“Paramedics would have to attend, the driver had to leave the scene or the road would have to be blocked, but because none of these were the case, the police didn’t have to do anything.”

She said: “In this case where it could have been a really serious injury where the person admitted to me not seeing me, nothing is being done.”

Police later issued a statement saying the information Mrs Kennedy was given was incorrect, and that they would be investigating. Cycling UK, the national cycling charity, say careless driving should be investigated, whether someone is hurt or not.

Cycling UK’s Senior Road Safety and Legal Campaigner, Duncan Dollimore, told road.cc: “Careless driving is an offence whether or not anyone has been hurt. Allegations of careless driving should be investigated by the police regardless of whether there has been any injury requiring medical treatment, or indeed any actual collision. Dismissing minor injury incidents and near misses is however unfortunately a mistake many police forces continue to make.”

Dollimore pointed to West Midlands Police, whose initiative to tackle close overtakes at the source of danger, i.e. the driver, he calls an example to follow. He said while the West Midlands police force is “clearly demonstrating a commitment to tackle careless driving affecting cyclists”, this was “a commitment not readily apparent from the initial response Emma Kennedy received from North Yorkshire Police.”

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: “We have reviewed our response to this call, and unfortunately on this occasion it appears that the caller was given incorrect information.

“We contacted the caller, apologised for the error and arranged to see her in person so we can ensure the incident is investigated fully.”

North Yorkshire Police is appealing for witnesses to the collision, involving a car and a female cyclist at around 2pm on Thursday (8 September 2016) in Fawcett Street, York. Anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident number NYP-10092016-0130.

The spokesperson did not respond for a request to confirm whether the meeting with Mrs Kennedy had taken place at the time of writing.