Dear Mr Glanville,

I hope you will respond to this, I am not distributing it for now, it is addressed to you. 

I would like to provide a full response to your letter of 31^st Jan 2011. I am not some obsessed troublemaker intent on wasting police time, I am a (busy) senior engineer in the safety business in the competitive world market. If I get things wrong I go out of business, or I could get locked up if one of my products injures or kill someone. I know about the formal requirements for safety critical work and I'm horrified by what I see in Dorset. My conscience is 100% clear, my success in industry well proven.

I question everything in front of me, and if something is wrong, I try to fix it. This is the key to my success.

My initial approaches to Dorset Council / Road Safe /  Police were gentle,  but met with disinterest. The frustration in my messages has grown over the years as I have discovered more and more problems and seen more and more disinterest. The email list has grown in an effort to find someone who will deal with the issues. I’ve tried this and I’ve tried complaints against organisations and individuals. I’ve tried everything but received virtually nothing. My attempt to register a complaint with DRS was almost comical: http://www.dorsetspeed.org.uk/news/sog33.aspx

Even when you took over from Adrian Whiting, I politely introduced myself to you, hoping to continue the excellent communication I was having with Adrian. You didn’t even reply.

When our business sees an unhappy customer, we positively fight over dealing with it no matter whose responsibility it is, and the issue is solved quickly no matter whose fault it is. Road safety deserves this level of attention.

I’d like to answer some of your points.

You are suggesting that multiple members of staff addressed by my emails have been dealing with my issue at the same time. If this is the case why have I received no responses?

You consider my approaches vexatious. Perhaps MPs found questioning into expenses to be vexatious, (irritating and troublesome) as they could see that their perks, reputations, and careers were at risk. Vexatious questioning can be a good thing if it brings something bad to the surface. It is completely wrong to use this to try to dodge questions about spend of public money and you know it.

“Every effort has been made to provide appropriate information” – Absolute nonsense. Every effort has been made to AVOID providing appropriate information.

My “volume and tone” has deteriorated and I wish this was not the case but if you actually consider some of the issues and how you are avoiding them it is not surprising.

“It is not clear if it currently has any serious purpose or value”. I’m sure you do actually know that my main point is that the focus of road safety should be on saving life, not making money. If this is achieved, fewer people are killed and seriously injured on the roads than would be if it is not achieved. This is the serious purpose and value. I should not need to explain this to the chairperson of the DSRSP.

“While various staff have tried to engage with you in a positive manner”:

Adrian Whiting was excellent for a few months many years ago, and Colin Searle was excellent towards the end of last year, but has not communicated since, I’m not sure if he has been silenced or if he has been off sick. Other than that, Pat Garrett, Johnny Stephens and Brian Austin have all fiercely protected their positions against vast amounts of evidence showing that they are not fit to be involved in any kind of safety work and there has been nothing else.

“The cyclical nature of the arguments relied on” – then just answer them properly once and they won’t come back.

Believe me I can and will escalate this much further but would genuinely prefer to see if there are any remaining opportunities to work this out directly with Dorset Police. I can not believe that you seem to be comfortable with the numerous examples of questionable behavior of Dorset Police that I have made you aware of. 

I would be very pleased to communicate with you about my concerns directly by email, phone, or in person. If I am in error, I’m sure you will be able to quickly put my mind to rest, I will apologise, announce my total support for the Dorset authorities and you won’t hear another thing from me.

Regards, Ian Belchamber