Well, I wrote to North Yorkshire Police with the letter above. A couple of weeks went by and I got a letter back from an Inspector, saying that the matter had been delegated to an officer at York and I'd be hearing something.
Eventually, I did get a phone call from an officer from York. After a few more phone calls and emails, the basic text of my letter was put into an official statement, which the officer posted to me for me to sign. He asked me to send a CD copy of the video file back to him along with the signed statement in the prepaid envelope he'd sent. I did this, and it went very quiet for a month or so.
Then I got an email to say that he hadn't recieved the statement and CD. He sent another copy of the statement, I made another copy of the CD and sent them both back. This time, he got them both and emailed to say that he'd passed them on to the decision maker at their Prosecution Team.
Shortly after that, my orignal CD was returned by the Post Office; there wasn't enough postage paid on the prepaid envelope he'd given me!
Anyway, I've now had the following email from him:
In relation to the incident involving you and the bus on Malton Road. The file I submitted and the CCTV has been viewed by the decision maker at our Prosecution Team. He has stated that in his opion the driving standard of the bus driver is poor in that he had to cut in front of you to avoid a collision with the oncoming vehicle. However he has stated that due the fact that there was no collision and you did not have to greatly alter your position provides an element of mitigation. As such he has decided that the incident should be dealt with by me speaking to the driver in the presence of his supervisor and playing the CCTV and allowing the bus company to take whatever action they see fit, rather than instigate formal prosecution proceedures. I am intending to do this in the next few days and then the matter will be closed.
I hope this represents a satisfactory conclusion.
Regards
Thoughts anyone? Particularly anyone with experience in these matters.
My thoughts are that this is a better outcome than nothing, which is what would have happened if I hadn't acted. But there's little point in having traffic laws if, even when there's clear evidence of them having been broken, no real action is taken against the offender.
Other points:
"The driving standard is poor in that he had to cut in front of you to avoid a collision". I think that misses the point. He only had to cut in front of me because he attempted an overtake which any reasonable driver could see was going to be very risky. Having made that misjudgement (if it was a misjudgement, which I doubt), he could have corrected it by aborting the overtake and slowing to remain behind me. He chose not to do so: a further misjudgement (if misjudgement it was...)
"In his opinion the driving standard of the bus driver is poor". So why not punish him for this? This isn't a matter of professional misconduct, which it would be appropriate for his employer to deal with. It's a matter of driving standard, which is a matter for the police and the CPS to deal with.
"...the fact that there was no collision... provides an element of mitigation" What!!! So, if there's no actual collsion, that's OK, then?
"... you did not have to greatly alter your position... provides an element of mitigation". I had to brake pretty hard though, and was placed in fear of my life. The decision maker seems to be saying that if found guilty in court, the driver could use these arguments to mitigate his sentence. Well, he might, but he might not. And even if he did, those would be points for a magistrate to consider, not the prosecution, surely?
Bye the way, I now have the impression (which could be mistaken) that writing to the central office initially, rather than phoning the switchboard, meant that the matter was taken seriously - perhaps because it becomes known to senior officers. In previous dealings with North Yorkshire police over traffic matters, when a collision has occurred, they have been extremely reluctant even to take a report or issue an incident number, let alone take any further action.
