Mice_Elf

Friend of my brother's has had 2 recent speeding convictions - nothing major but still 3 points and a fine.

This morning, however, he received a letter from the police stating that as the cameras had not been reset to show BST, the fines would not be upheld.

Worth checking if you've received a recent speeding fine!

hedgehog

Is there any possibility of providing documentary evidence of this claim? It's not that I'm saying I doubt it, just that if it could be shown that police forces were withdrawing speeding fines because the time on the camera was incorrect then this will make the vast majority of speeding prosecutions unsafe.

Just like speeding showing the incorrect time as a simple offence as either it happened or it didn't. The exact amount is not significant in terms of guilt. I don't imagine that many speed cameras are accurate to the second at all times and, therefore, they would all be subject to the law which resulted in this fine being revoked. I can't for one second guess which law this might be but if it exists then I don't see if it matters if the camera is wrong by 1 hour or 1 second.

stevencotton

Perhaps it's not the time difference but the fact it was showing the wrong time zone? That's a good one

paulr

Thats interesting.
So if you recieved a NIP recently could you ask to see the photo's and would they have the time shown on them.
I cant imagine all forces would be so gracious as the one above.

ajm

Sorry officer, the time on your laser gun doesn't match the atomic clock at Greenwich, so I guess I'll be on my way!

fast bloke

Its because they are using a piccie that shows you at a certain place at a certain time.

Them - You were doing 44 MPH in a 30 last Friday at 9.04 PM on speedcameravalley road

You - Nope - At 9.04 last Friday I was in a pub with 150 people who will vouch for me. My car was parked outside. It must be someone with false number plates.

Goes to court and you and your car have a alibi backed up by 150 people. The police can't say it was actually 10.04 as the pic shows it was 9.04 so they are on a loser

hedgehog

Yes, the comment about the atomic clock is why I have doubts about anyone getting off due to a time discrepency in the camera. How accurate would it have to be?

On the other hand if police have written to this chap to say that he's off the hook because the time wasn't reset on the camera then we need to see the documentation. We then need to get some legal advice on the implications.

Personally I think it highly unlikely that this offers a loophole, much as I'd like it to, but if the documents are available then I'd love to see them.

The other possibility is that the person involved has a defence along the lines of "You say I was seen exceeding the posted limited at 1700 but I can prove that I didn't clock out of work until 1730." Clearly this is entirely different in nature and I would imagine should be overthrown in court by a PC giving evidence that the camera was out by an hour.

The plot thickens.

Mice_Elf

The person involved is not an office worker, but a lorry driver, so almost constantly on the road.

The person who informed me about this was my mum, holding the letter in her hand, as the driver in question is employed by my brother and my mum deals with the paperwork.

I don't think she'd lie to me.

I could *probably* get a copy, but don't have a scanner at home, so you might have to accept a digital photo...but this won't be for a while as I don't see my mum every day and probably won't now until next weekend.

hedgehog

It would be great to see that Mice_Elf, think about how many others it could potentially save from loss of licence, loss of job etc!

Recently in Wales police put their camera in the wrong place, it was in a 70mph zone, but they did 2500 people for exceeding 50mph as they beilived it to be a 50. They have stated that they will NOT be contacting any of those involved and it is up to anyone who feels they have been wrongly convicted to appeal their conviction!! As you can imagine there might be people out there who lost their jobs because of this and yet the police are quite happy with that.

So, it is down to all of us to make sure that information like this gets spread around. In the case you detail there might be literally thousands of people who could benefit and you might save someone their license, job, car or house.