....and I was caught by a copper in a brown Corsa Diesel!!

Was on me way down to Newbury on Friday night, nice stretch of open road, little traffic, and came across two cars - a brown Corsa and in front, a red Escort. Both cars were driving at just below the limit.
I was looking to overtake on a few occasions, but because the Corsa was following within a few car lengths of the Escort, there was not enough room to slot between the two. So, when it was safe I blasted past the pair, and a few hundred yards down the road slowed up for a 30 limit.
Carried on for a few miles until I came across some more traffic and entered the next town. Then I saw Mr Corsa catching up again, and noticed he was wearing a nice white shirt with black lapelles. "S***, hope he's a fireman, or something", I thought to myself. Alas, a bit further on I was headed off by a Police Land Rover! Game Over.

Mr Corsa guy jumps out and starts with the old "I don't have time to be doing with this..." etc, and gives me the fixed penalty.

His phrase for the evening was "You just never know who you are overtaking!"

Indeed.

I was just a bit miffed on a few counts:-
a) that he had radioed ahead and at least three panda cars had been called to head me off!!
b) the policeman in the Corsa had his kids in the back?!
c) he was blatantly tail-gating the poor Escort he was following!!

Still, lesson learned eh? I'll obviously be driving a lot safer from now on ;)

Anyway, beware of brown Corsas!!

How can he give you a fixed penalty without monitoring equipment to record your speed?

It was actually a 50 limit (although open road with no junctions or housing, paths etc), and when I passed, I managed to put a few hundred yards gap between us in not too much time. :)

I think I changed up out of 4th 1000 rpm short of the red line (93 WRX). Deffo quite a bit over the limit, although obviously impossible to say how much.

Still not actually signed for anything yet, but will probably not bother contesting it - I was over the limit.

but will probably not bother contesting it

Huh? When you drive over the limit and there's no police officers
in sight, do you turn yourself in to the nearest police station? If not then recognise this is exactly the same situation. He was clearly off duty and clearly has no right to issue you with a ticket.

Surely this would be an easy one to have thrown out of court ... it would be worth it just for the sheer satisfaction.

Ian.

WHAT. Don't be silly why take points if you don't have to !!! Unless I have this wrong they need proof to give you points, your confession would be enough I guess. Ask them for the evidence, but a copper with 2 kids in the back is not enough to convict you.

Not sure how dodgy it would be trying to contest this.
I've always believed that you can't argue against a Police officer in a court?

Indeed, it would be difficult to say exactly how fast I was going, but the fact that he was travelling at the limit, and I so blatantly wasn't.....I think it would be diffcult to argue "well, I was only doing 55mph on my speedo!"

Agreed that this guy must be a bit of a jobsworth......reckon he was probably on his way into work.

Hate to say it...

But in a court of law his word against yours is enough for you to be convicted.

I know it's a bitter pill but if it's your only points its as easy to accept it, the law don't apprieciate you us calling them liars and as they are kind of from the same cloth as the judge we are screwed.

My misses had a copper decide he could fit through the smae gap as she was going through, (parked cars on his side of road) he said she simply refused to stop or give him room to get through a 11ft gap and hit her head on, he took her to caught saying its her fault, she gave me whiplash etc, she has wittnes saying there was not enough room.

Judge said me misses was a liar and poor driver and witness was wrong, cop ended up with 2.5k damages.

Sorry but you can't/won't win....

dazza, that is not entirely true, though your situation was a shame, the normal road traffic laws regarding speeding are much stricter. If you have at any time admitted to speeding then you have no case, but if you have not and will not admit it, then why should a coppers word be taken over yours? take a look at this website for further info http://www.speed-trap.co.uk/Accused_...ge/The_Law.htm

if you dont admit it, the police usually need to have a calibrated speedometer (with calib. certificate) fixed to their vehicle to be able to get you like this. The policeman must also make notes on exactly what happened etc. These are all things that you can request to be admitted in court. See the website above for details or search online for similar advice. If you do intend to try it in court It might be worth ringing a solicitor to see if they think you have a case. Also take a look here http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/how.htm#how02

good luck whatever you decide

[Edited by Eagle7 - 7/23/2002 1:58:30 AM]

I never heard anymore from my incident, ( Thread Here )there were four coppers having a go at me trying to tell me I was speeding.

I guess the difference is I wasn't and argued a lot with them at the side of the road.

Muf

Tell them to thuck off........ Keep a "Prince Andrew " mask in your car and put it on when they stop you, Then drive off.

Never admit speeding, even if you were. Be polite, but don't say anything incriminating. If they offer you the chance of a fixed penalty you need to weigh up all the facts before accepting it. In this case, I personally would not have accepted the ticket. You said the 2 vehicles were doing "just below the speed limit". So, your testimony in court is that you overtook vehicles that were going slower than the speed limit and therefore you could overtake them safely without exceeding the limit yourself.

You were not "paced" by the clearly off duty officer, and even if you had been, his speedo could be out by a mile. (If I'd paced you in my Renault Clio I could get you booked for over 160mph@50mph :rolleyes: :D ).

Having said that, in my MY93 WRX, redline in 4th is about 100mph, so you would have been doing 85 in a 50, pretty silly really, it's these crappy 50 and 40 limits that are policed most often.

Listen.....
This is hard to believe but true!
Ive recieved 3 points and a £80 fine for speeding 60-70 in a 40 zone in(1991),now for the unbelievable bit.....I was done by a copper walking down the side of the road with a special for company.
Know then,recieved summons in post,went to court,got done!
He said that "in his opinion I was exceeding the 40mph limit",and the 3 JPs went for a conflab round the back,then gave me my points and fine.
So dont think they need hard and fast evidence coz they dont[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

I hope he didn't use his mobile/radio to call in the road block whilst driving, now that would be dangerous:D

Guys,

thanks for all the links and stuff, some pretty good reading there!!

However, although the conditions seem a bit iffy, I will not be contesting - just in case the officer then starts to opinionate that I was doing something else wrong :(

The ticket just states 'Excess speed in a 50 limit' - porbably best it remains unspecified.......

Thanks for all the advice,

Dave

You should have shot the cops with your uzi. It works in America..

Best of luck mate.

Dave Allan

So maybe Mr Plod should be booked for using a phone/radio whilst driving [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] ****!!!

I would context this out of principle [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

mb

"You should have shot the cops with your uzi. It works in America.."



Umm...no it doesn't =P

[Edited by Ethon - 7/24/2002 9:09:55 PM]

It just goes to prove not all but ?% are just plain tozzers. Prince Andy caught red handed and got away with it. Money talks. Bobbies with no bottle. Police state