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I was caught last year doing between 80 and 115mph on a dual carriageway over a 7 mile stretch (A419), at night and unlit in good conditions. The Police car tailed me and I was nervous it was some dodgy geezers so put my foot down to check what he would do as I knew at the end of the road were traffic lights and I didn't fancy being sat beside some dodgy geezers...anyway, I went through the lights from green to amber and the car followed and then put his blues on...

We pulled over and it turned out that the traffic car had NO electronic equipment working in the car, no VASCAR or camera or anything....hence the speed range.

I was up in court yesterday and got 6 points and £1500 fine.....what are your thoughts on this case and the severity of the penalty?

Well and truly over the top if you ask me, A mate of mine got clocked in his Z4 doing over the ton with a laser gun and he got 6 points and a £500 fine.

I assume you had a brief, if so i'd ask for your money back. If he had no means of recording your speed then chances are his speedo wasnt calibrated, in which case I cant see how they can justify themselves

anyway just my tuppence worth

You need to speak to that top guy " Nick Freeman" - he gets the big boys off everything due to loopholes. I think Chiphazard is probably quite correct in that there is no effective speed measurement and there are strict rules regarding the calibration of police car speedos if they are to be used as evidence.
Try this one for starters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1552322.stm

Haven't any contact details for Nick Freeman but I will be looking later.

Good luck.

Paul

depends if there speedo was calibrated or not (do they have to be done every day?)

personally i think you were lucky not to be banned i had a close call 89 in a 60 (single carraige way nat speed limit) 6 points and £400 + crt costs + lawyers bill etc

if they said your max speed was 115 then its your word against his and guess who most judges believe

if he was tailgating you however a letter of complaint before you got a nip might have worked (they apologised to a friend of mine whose speedo was knacked, they tailgated him, he went faster and faster till they pulled him, at night etc he had no idea who it was. at that time it was legal to finish your journey with a knacked speedo)

did you have a solicitor represent you in court or were you defending yourself?

its always worth paying for representation in my opinion and getting a specialist.

if you were in fear for your life, then speeding away would be a justifiable defence, but may be a bit late now to use it......

taking the mickey....unless like you earn £100K a year and have no outgoings !

I got done for similar in Lincs 5 years ago - £300 fine

goto court and plead poverty, and find as many debts/outgoings as you can.....

Yep mate got a 3 months ban for doing 105 in his R32.
1500 seems a bit much to be honest but I guess if they think you earn lots they will crank up the fine so it hurts..... lets face it, most people who own and insure S4/RS4's wont find 100 quid fine much of a deterent.
If it wasnt for the points system in fact I doubt as many people would be as vigilant....

I did have a solicitor and she was primarily concerned with not getting me banned but did make an issue of the fact that the Police did not show themselves and therefore I felt I was in fear of my life...no different to an ambulance driving someone to hospital or any emergency services for that matter....I drove faster to get away from a situation I thought was potentially dangerous and may put my life at risk. Needless to say the Magistrates were not interested.

I'm going to make an official complaint to the Police and perhaps one to the Attourney General with examples of personalities caught going faster than me etc but receiving less of a penalty.

All a bit late I suppose but I'd at least like to know that the low lifes (IMO) driving the traffic car are penalised or at least questioned on their actions. Lets face it, I was speeding at 80mph, why not pull me over then? If I held a knife to someone's throat, would they wait until I slash the throat before arresting me?

Sorry to hear that Rob, if you appeal, I would stress that both speedos are not calibrated except for at manufacture,
I agree about the speeding at 80, so a bit of baiting by the police goes along way in the courts...!
Car jacking .... read the rs4 posts... bloody shocking mate .... you wouldnt get me waiting to see if the occupants of the other car just want to say your wheels are turning !! .... down any road/night time situation..... it sounds a crown court jobby, thats alot of cash, but you do have some mitigating evidence for your actions, which is the focus of any good brief.
Judge probably drives a ford focus too ....

Tartan_Rob wrote:
We pulled over and it turned out that the traffic car had NO electronic equipment working in the car, no VASCAR or camera or anything....hence the speed range.

So, actually all they could tell was THEIR speed, not yours unless they were following VERY close.

Surely this point should have been made. You could go past a stationary car at 80 and for them to catch you up could take a while and they would have to go some.

I got caught about 10 years ago and was actually doing between 90 and 100.
The patrol car came over a junction saw me going under it and decided to give chase. I didn't see them until about 6 or 7 miles later when they put their lights on.

One of the coppers commented on how long it had taken for them to catch up.

Got 4 points for 98 mph. £150 fine - I was genuinely poor - it was a company pool car.

Best of luck but I fear it might be too late, or too expensive, to do anything about it.

Rob,

Sounds really harsh to me, think you got a really rough deal there.

I got caught doing 115mph on the M23 last June, went to court in October, got 28 day ban and £250 fine, no points.

You should appeal and definitely bring up the fact that they had no concrete proof of your speed.

Not sure whether you will have leave to appeal. Try this site Rob. I have used the info here to get off my speeding ticket in the past.

http://www.pepipoo.com

tips@beatthespeedtrap.co.uk

Hey i know its a bit late but check the web site out above. This guy reckons he can get you off any speed fines etc for a few £.

Regards,

Jay

rob you have so got to appeal..if i get stopped for any motoring offence that will involve a fine i get means tested cos i drive a london cab..this means my fine can be huge..now theres no way there speedo would have been calibrated and if it was u need a copy of the calibration certificate which your entitled too..you have to fight this if not for justice for piece of mind..good luck mate..

that stinks, our justice system is a bloody joke but we all know that.

you would have got less if you had no insurance/tax/license and knocked someone down like that bloody immigrant that killed that poor 3yr old girl.

you have got to look into this without delay, how the hell can they justify £1500 + 6p's without 100% proof of your speed. a statement from a cop is not worth the paper its written on without proof.

i challenged a 30+mph and 3 pts speed fine "hand gun" because the copper was not wearing a high vis vest or jacket and was not visible and no camera signs in the area to warn drivers. sometimes the EU stipulations can work in your favour.

i was only told this after i'd been done. but its amazing what you can catch "them" out with.