Houlbt

Here I am in work on a Bank Holiday weekend...looking out my office window at what looks like a gorgeous day.

Then I breach my trading limits, which I'll have to explain on Tuesday.

Then all the software/hardware I rely on goes belly up.

NOW....and worst of all I get a phone call from home saying there is a speeding ticket waiting 4 me. Apparently clocked going down the hill on the *** (Dual carraigeway) by Broughton at 98mph in a 70mph zone on Wednesday the 2nd of May. I am NOT HAPPY, I remember the incident. It was about 7pm, and coming around the gentle right hand bend towards the bottom of the hill I noticed a dark blue transit van in the lay-by. All the windows were blacked out and I could see a small opening in one of the windows at the back. So I put the brakes on from about 95mph (I thought!!!- seem to remember checking my speed as I noticed the van)down to 70mph. OBVIOUSLY I got copped earlier than that.

Anyway, as I passed the van I looked at it and could see all the windows were blacked down the side. I guessed it was probably a police van.

Can anyone give me any adivce on this??? Can get around this? What points will can I expect, fine etc....

I've got 3 points now....not so worried there, but more worryingly I don't want my insurance to rocket in September.....think I'm knackered on that score though.

Any advice????Please.....

Regards, Houlbt

(I'm not trying to justify my actions, but let it be known I'm not a lunatic driver and keep those antics and pushing the car for track days. All I did was let my speed drift a little on a downhill stretch of quiet road)

Matt_Davies

Sorry to hear about that mate ! Although i've never seen that van myself plenty of my mates are familiar with it. On that stretch keep an eye out for an old brown escort van as well its quite often on top of the bridge at the bottom of that hill.

Matt.

Houlbt

I've seen that escort van on the fly over at the bottom of the Ewloe Hill....got to be careful there as it's a 50 zone.

Have I seen your car in Town before? There is a v.tidy Black Impreza I see quite often in Chester. And a silver one that always waves on my way home from work when I see it on the A51. And a P1 round Broughton sometimes too.


Seen me before? Might not if my insurance kills me off in Sept!Where do you service your car?

mixit

Houlbt.
Can't offer much, other than sympathy I'm afraid. This situation will only get worse over the next few years as the government clamp down on us "Enthusiasts" even more.
Big Brother is certainly out there and the motorist will suffer more than most.
You could invest in a radar detector. Some folk argue that there's no point if they are to be made Ilegal in the near future. But they all "******" off the screen pretty quick...

Matt_Davies

Alright. Yeah i've seen your car. Your very unlikely to have seen mine though it's an x reg corsa SRi. (new shape) You'll usually see me riding round an in a red "s" reg. Theres a Black K reg around Mold that i no off. The P1's from dobshill garage Buckley. it was sold i think for £31K as an ex demo all though it was the owners. same private plate on it though and i'm sure i've heard it mentioned on here. Maybe it was'nt sold.
None of the lads with impreza's i know get them serviced at e.s jones. really expensive and when we were lookin for one the salesman was bein a real **** so we walked away. ABP in crew is pretty good. depends if you want/need a dealer stamp i suppose.

Later, Matt.

[This message has been edited by Matt_Davies (edited 05 May 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Matt_Davies (edited 05 May 2001).]

Houlbt

Cheers Mixit

I have a colleague with the Snooper(???) radar diffusers....reckons they are superb. That might come in useful.

I'm v.close to buying a Morpheous Geodesy unit because I believe they are excellent. However......that wouldn't have helped me here would it. They are most useful if you travel often in areas you aren't familiar with....I don't do that an awful lot.

I'm not sure how good radar detectors are...though I think I could be tempted to look into it now.

Regards, Houlbt

Houlbt

That's the P1.... with the plate that must be worth a few quid!

The black scoob is over the other side of town from Mold with an STi 5 spoiler, it looks immaculate.

I know the grumpy old geezer you speak of in ES Jones.... I nearly wrote to Subaru to complain after his attitude when I was shopping for my car. Imported in the end, evident by the colour. On the service front however, they have been v.good for me though they might not be the best price wise....not sure.

ES Jones went out of their way to help me for something a few months ago, so I wrote to thank them....and in return they have treated me very well, free valeting and they helped me validate my warranty. So no complaints from me

I've used ABP for a number of bits and agree that their service is superb.

Regards, Houlbt

[This message has been edited by Houlbt (edited 05 May 2001).]

Houlbt

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Houlbt:
<B>That's the P1.... with the plate that must be worth a few quid!

The black scoob is over the other sode of town from Mold with an STi 5 spoiler, it looks immaculate.

I know the grumpy old geezer you speak of in ES Jones.... I nearly wrote to Subaru to complain after his attitude when I was shopping for my car. Imported in the end, evident by the colour. On the service front however, they have been v.good for me though they might not be the best price wise....not sure.

ES Jones went out of their way to help me for something a few months ago, so I wrote to thank them....and in return they have treated me very well, free valeting and they helped me validate my warranty. So no complaints from me

I've used ABP for a number of bits and agree that their service is superb.

Regards, Houlbt[/quote]

Matt_Davies

That sounds like the fella. Can't sell to many cars speaking to people like that at least it was'nt just us i suppose.
Yeah i seam to see that P1 every time i go out. it's everywhere.
Suppose we should'nt let the one sales man put us of too much especially if the service guys are good but i can't quite remember prices but my mates next service is the 45k and ABP are loads cheaper. £100 i think. so it's well worth the hassle of going to crew for.

Keep your eyes peeled for a red corsa. I'll wave if i see your car around again.

Matt.

boomer

Houlbt,

you have me worried now, as i drove along the same stretch of road (although on Tuesday) reccying the Wales Camping trip. Its bloody stupid enforcing speed limits on such a quiet safe road

I am not sure whether radar detectors pick these vans up - i drove past on on the M6 and it didn't seem to emit radio or laser signals. As the vans are mobile, the Geodesy won't work either.

Sod Transport 2000, Prescott and tree-huggers. It is about time somebody actively campaigned to *increase* the speed limit on motorways and well designed dual carriagesway to 100mph or more (when conditions allow). Lets have the "vans" enforcing tailgating, centrelaning, no-insurance, bald tyres, daytime foglamps instead!!!

mb

Houlbt

Boomer - I agree that I would like to see the police focus their attentions differently...but I don't think they ever will as long as they see a proportion of camera revenues.

Have a fax of the aforementioned letter from North Wales Police here now.The letter is a 'Notice of Intended Prosecution', they want to know who was driving....so not sure what action to take now. I'll certainly take legal advice...I have heard about the options of not declaring who was driving, not too hot on the finer details mind.

Enjoy the Wales trip.....I'm trying to figure out how I'm fixed with work around then. There are some great roads between Ffestiniog & Dinorwig and the surrounding areas, but I know from colleagues at those power stations that the local police have two mobile cameras for catching speeding persons. Apparently they are the latest ones bought for getting the bikes in the area .

Enjoy but be wary because the North Wales Police are a bit sneaky with their camera placement.

Houlbt