11.6.07
Close passing by SC56 XVZ

As I was riding along Carlton Way at 20mph towards Gilbert Road this
lunchtime, I was passed dangerously closely by this van.  If I hadn't
swerved to the left I would probably have been knocked off.

There was no call at all for such close passing since there was plenty
of room on the RHS of the road.  Furthermore given my speed there
wasn't any need for the driver to overtake at all; I caught up with
the van at the Gilbert Road lights but the lights changed so I didn't
have a sensible opportunity to speak to the driver.

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11.6.07
Police say I must report in person

I've been told that incidents of this type can only be reported in
person.  Parkside is allegedly open 7am-2am every day but `sometimes
[they] have to close' when the enquiry officer is ill and they have no
cover.  I was advised to phone the generic call centre number and ask
to be put through to the Parkside Enquiry Office to discover whether
they're open before I go in.

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13.6.07
Police will use as `intelligence'

After some false starts(*) I finally managed to get someone at
Parkside to see me.  An officer reviewed my video.  He was very
positive about the camera setup.  However he said that because of the
lack of clear information (from eg a side view) about the distance as
the van passed me, a prosecution would be unlikely to succeed.

Instead, he said the vehicle's details would be recorded in their
intelligence system.  This would result in the vehicle being
recognised by the ANPR stop-and-check systems, so that the driver
would be stopped and questioned; the vehicle might also be followed
for a short distance to see if their driving was consistently bad.

He seemed generally helpful and keen despite his advice that it
probably wouldn't be worth my while reporting a similar incident in
the future.  Instead, he gave me some advice - evidently from his own
experience as a policeman - about how to make the most of the presence
of the cameras in various types of situation.

(*) The call centre think that Parkside is open 7am-2am every day.
However in fact it's only open until midnight except on Fridays and
Saturdays.