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[This message has been edited by steve McCulloch (edited 14-04-2000).]

Write a letter to the Chief Constable of the relevant police area immediately. Say that you do not recall going though a red light & ask for exact details & also any evidence that is available. Say nothing else.

Good advice from Nick. Believe it or not new EU law due soon states that you are innocent until proven guilty! You will not be allowed to incriminate yourself such as admitting it was you driving.
Good luck!

Steve,

i am certainly not an expert in the law, but i would definitely ask for further proof/evidence that you were in the wrong.

You have already admitted (and this BBS could be proof!) that you undertook - but that isn't necessarily illegal. You should stop on amber IF YOU CAN DO SO SAFELY, but there is always a grey area, and the police understand that. If you were going too fast for the road conditions (thus couldn't stop in time), then it is your own fault - tough.

Don't refuse to say who was driving (a separate offence) unless you really think that you are guilty and want to get off. However you have already blown your cover here!

Don't try to get into contesting things in the European court (despite Ken S's best intentions) - you will NOT win the battle in the end.

I guess that 99% of traffic offences are processed "automatically" these days, so there are bound to be erroneous attempted convictions. Lets hope that your's is one of them.

Good luck,

mb

Steve

1991: I had a 'failing to observe road sign' type prosecution.

Went back to the site, figured out the traffic blokes couldn't SEE the markings from where they were hid. Took loads of photos, got fired up, pleaded not guilty (AKA they were lying buggers, I DID NOT cross the solid white line).

CPS dropped it faster than a hot inter-cooler. http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/smile.gif

Demand their evidence ('discovery' rules)
If they are basing case on joe public report CPS will drop it if you plead NG (IMHO).

ALSO Mark "God of Wax" Underwood has a great lawyer mate who lives on this stuff - given your dubious http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/biggrin.gif past I'd get him involved ASAP!

Good luck!
Paul
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/cool.gif

[This message has been edited by Paul Frank (edited 12-04-2000).]

Steve

Good luck.

Boomer

I'm slightly more cynical. In the last couple of years have personally had a couple of "try-ons" (not Star Trek!). I think the term "erroneous" is a misnomer in these cases. If they can get someone (with minimal effort) to roll over & put their hands up, they will have a go on spurious evidence and assertions. Once they issue & they get a Not Guilty in return, they give up (& exhort you to behave & obey the Law otherwise they will do you for the offence on the occasion they are letting you off for!!??). I have seen with our couriers, a great number of times when they have coughed to a fixed penalty when they needn't have.

However, I would say that at some point, we are all guilty of breaking the letter of the law & we should take our slaps when they come...

(God, I'm a miserable old s*d)

I remember from quite a while ago a few threads along this sort of line, no elephant jibes please.

I seem to remember there was one that stated that the police would only act against a motorist when they received two complaints of the incident from other road users, if no police were present. If the guy who stopped at the lights made a complaint (perhaps he was an off duty policeman?) then they may be trying it on with you. Do what the other guys suggest and ask for evidence and witness statements, they will drop the case if they are not 100% cast iron sure of winning.

Hope you are vindicated

Yex

you could say the road was wet, therefore braking would be more dangerous as your "car is not very good in the wet".

i read somewhere a biker got away with that, saying there was oil patches/diesel spill. but then bikes got 2 wheels and no ABS!

good luck.

Thanks all

I'll get a letter off to the chief constable - after all I do not believe I have done anything wrong especially

Steve

PS - Paul - Thought you'd comment on this one!

Some inscrutable types would probably edit there messages and remove any aahhhmm "evidence"

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/wink.gif

DELETED! .....

I had a similar experience last year in Ipswich in my old car (whisper, Integra Type R). There was a blind traffic light at a business's car park and the slapper in front of me pulled out in her Lada. I assumed that she'd found a gap and headed for it, only to have two very nice young men pull me over in their unmarked Astra. I was 99.9% sure that I hadn't done anything wrong, and very nearly went back and took pictures. In the end, the time I would've wasted in court versus pay lost meant I swallowed the 40 quid fine and now have a lovely TS10 on my licence.
And it had absolutely nothing to do with the two prepubescent officers not liking the fact that I had a nice car. No sir. Still, now I've got an even better car. And they're still tooling around in a maroon Astra, handing out justice on the basis of personal likes and dislikes. Top blokes, those Suffolk coppers.

Of course, you would have to get the message deleted from the archives before you are in the clear! http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/wink.gif