julian N/W wrx my93

A pensioner who warned motorists of a police speed trap was convicted of
wilfully obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty, banned from
driving and ordered to pay £364 costs yesterday.


Stuart Harding, 71, was attempting to slow motorists down as they approached
a Sunday morning car boot sale where many people were crossing the road.
Noticing that police were parked nearby with an officer using a hand-held
laser speed camera, he decided that a warning stating "Speed Trap - 300
yards ahead" would be the most effective way of getting drivers to reduce
their speed. But as soon as the officers noticed his placard he was
cautioned for committing an offence.

Harding, a retired instrument maker, who appeared before magistrates in
Aldershot, Hants, yesterday, had pleaded not guilty to the charge. He said:
"I have been convicted of breaking the law because I was trying to stop
others from doing so. It is totally unjust."

Harding said he had stood at the same spot, on the A325 at Farnborough, on
previous Sundays warning drivers of the car boot sale, and had received a
thumbs-up sign from a passing police car. But the attitude of officers
changed when he warned drivers of the speed camera.

Robert Manley, prosecuting, said: "In displaying this sign the defendant was
giving motorists advanced warning of a road safety camera being operated by
the police 300 yards further along the road."
He said the intention was that any motorist contravening road traffic
regulations by driving at excessive speed would avoid doing so having been
given notice of what the police were doing.

Sgt Sarah Cashman told the court that when she cautioned Harding and
confiscated the sign he told her: "I stop people speeding down here. I am
only doing what I think is right".
Asked if he knew there was a speed camera ahead he said: "Yes, that is why I
am doing it".

Alex Wyman, the presiding magistrate, told Harding: "The use of the sign was
a deliberate and intentional act and by use of the words 'speed trap' you
were assisting speeding motorists from being prosecuted."

After his conviction Harding told the magistrates he planned to appeal,
adding that he needed his car to drive to church and that he was due to take
his wife and friends on holiday in a camper van.
The clerk of the court pointed out to magistrates that unless the ban was
suspended it would have run its course before the appeal was heard. But they
ordered it should take immediate effect.
The court also confiscated Harding's sign and ordered it to be destroyed.

After the case he said that he had been told that fines collected from
speeding motorists on that stretch of the road had netted £12,000 in one
morning alone.
"It seems to be more about raising revenue than road safety. I'm just so
angry and upset about the driving ban. It was totally uncalled for because
this wasn't a motoring offence," he said.

Goldeneye

Check out NSR. Been a big thread about this running since yesterday.

Goldeneye

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=332953

scrappydoo

Well well well thats disgusting. It makes me want to do this type thing more and more now.

I think we should all come together and make loads of signs and just place them at the roadside instead of waiting, that way we cant get caught

speedking

... the councils already do that. e.g. all along the A5 and A49 in Shropshire where there are loads of signs but no (fixed) cameras.

ChrisB

Closing this one to keep it all in the existing thread