ian/555

On Sunday just gone i was doing between 110-120mph on the M5 when i aproached a bridge, i noticed a copper standing on the bridge next to his car pointing a hairdryer! at the traffic, I was at the back of a bunch of cars and as soon as i saw him i backed off down to about 80mph, i wasn't stoped and there was no flash, was i caught?

Blow Dog

Ian mate,
If its any consolation, I think that if you are recorded speeding by a mobile unit, you need to be stopped straight away. That could also be a complete bunch of **** and there is a chance i have no idea what i am talking about.
But in all the times I have been caught speeding by a mobile unit (3 times) they have stopped mne immediately, shown me the video/recorded speed and made me sign a piece of paper.

I think you may have been lucky.

Cem

PeteC

Ian,

I don't want to dash your hopes too much, but you don't actually have to be stopped to get done.

I got caught about 3 weeks ago in a similar situation on the drive up to the Lakes on holiday. Got back two weeks later to find a Notice of Intended Prosecution on the mat, dated 3 days after the incident.

Still, you might be luckier than I was.

Pete

nutty

I saw a program about a year ago about the new portable laser speed traps the police use.

Apparently they can monitor you over a mile away with it, record your speed and take a photo clear enough to recognise your face. If you see the camera the chances are that they already got you. There is no flash (flash pointless over 50 yards away).

I was driving down m40 about 6 months ago doing...well, not quite as fast as you were, then slowed to 80ish behind traffic. Then almost immediately I saw patrol on hard shoulder siding with laser camera pointing at me. I got away with it that time, probably because they were pointing at traffic ahead of me when I was going faster.

They will not usually persue unless they are bored. That way they can stay in one place and nick maybe 50-60 cars an hour.

Chances are if they did get you expect letter to arrive within 7 - 14 days.

I now scan bridges and hard shoulder as far as the eye can see when at seriously excessive speeds on motorway.

Keep fingers crossed and good luck.

PhilHulse

I got nicked on the M1 in Northampton doing 90 by a lone copper on a bridge in a yellow jacket. Saw him too late. Recieved a NIP through the post within a week-3 points £60ish fine. I am now also always alert and scouring the horizon for yellow things. You may stand a chance being behind a queue of cars, hoping he's pointing at others. I was the only car on the motorway at the time.

Phil

Kevin Tree

You only have to wait for 14 days from the date of the incident to find out! The prosecuting authority has to serve a NIP within that time.

sickboy

Uh Oh,
I think you may have to wave goodbye to your licence there

Stuart H

The 'hairdryer' gets a speed within 0.3secs and the video system doesn't flash as it only activates when the trigger is pressed.

The only thing to do is to hope!!

pumpers

if you don't get a nip within 14 days then you can breath easy, thats assuming the car's registered in your name. as for scanning the bridges etc looking for plod when speeding- it's a complete waste of time. by the time you've seen them they've seen you, got your speed,photo etc and are ready to send the nip!!! the only way is to stay below 90 mph, at which point it's very unlikely you'll get done. over the ton normally results in a ban i'm sorry to say. 120 will definately be a ban. just hope he didn't get a reading on you as sometimes they can't !! good luck. pumpers.

IanF

You seem to worry more about being caught than having an accident and injuring others.

Travelling at 120 mph 'at the back of a bunch of cars' seems a tad dangerous.

Rather than having to back off after seeing a policeman, would you have been able to stop if one of the cars had a blowout a slewed across the carriageway?

Regards
IanF

scrappydoo

ian/555,
I really do feel for you. Its horrible to think that you may loose your license. I have come close a few times, but if he was pointing a hairdryer at you, you should be alright. Only poking fun mate. sorry!!
I have read somewhere on the net that a radar gun cannot lock onto your speed if you were decelerating by 2mph or more. In your case you were delerating, so HOPEFULLY you should be safe. If you do get a NIP, you can claim that it was another car that was exceeding the speed limit, since you were stuck behind a few cars in the first place.
Mate, i don't think you will be prosecuted, because there has to be one car in the field of view for the officer to fix his radar on. Any other cars/witnesses in view will bring in questionable doubt in a court of law. I HOPE. YOU HOPE. Get legal advice if you receive an NIP. The bloody revenue these people generate on speeding tickets alone is unbeleivable.Fight them is my advice, because from past experience with the police, ohh umm last week in fact, i was unfairly given 3 points for speeding and to add injury to insult joke!! he threatened and assaulted me. I will be taking him all the way, the SWINE, starting with a formal complaint. All in all i now have a total of 6 points on my lovely license. My plan to ban myself is almost complete. If i am not banned before next year, which is when i get my new scooby my insurance for it will probably be in the six figure margin. I can't wait.

Take it easy Ian, and don't worry to much, if thats possible. Worry, stresses you, and we all know what stress does don't we. Yes, It gives us funny little pains on the left side of our upper torso.

Scrappy.

ian/555

S**T, F**K, B**L*CKS (sorry for the profanity)
all i can say is i just hope it was a cop trying to slow us down because if i was caught doing over a ton i am really up there without a paddle, I need my licence for my job and if i lose it i am ****ED, the funny thing is that i have been driving for over 11 years now and not once have i been done for speeding! even when i had my STi IV i was a very lucky chap, pulled over all the time but i thinks only for the boys to have a quick drool over, they left me alone otherwise no matter what i did.
If i do get a ban what sort of length would i be looking at and is there any excuse that i could use for doing the speed i was doing.
If i escape with a fine and points what sort of loading would this add to my insurance premium? as if it was to big i won't be getting a new shape when they finally turn up and i would be really gutted after going without a scoob now for so long

Dave Coulshaw

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Kevin Tree:
<B>You only have to wait for 14 days from the date of the incident to find out! The prosecuting authority has to serve a NIP within that time. [/quote]

Not meaning to be a harbinger of doom but this is just a popular misconception. A NIP is valid over 14 days after the offence. A friend of mine received one just over 3 weeks after, ignored it on that basis, and ended up with a court appearance, and a fine that grew from £40 to £120.

DavidG

ian/555: at that speed if they did get you you will certainly be facing a ban. The question is for how long. You will have to attend court and you will have the opportunity to argue any mitigation as to the sentence, and this is the time you should point out that you have no previous convictions for speeding, that you need the car for your job and without it you'll be f*cked (best not to use that word, though ). I don't think they'll accept any excuses as to why you were going that fast, but you should state that the road conditions were good and there was no other traffic.

If it is serious enough that you really would be f*cked and lose your job, brief a solicitor.

Good luck.

DAZ 4

Ian,

I believe you were probably sited at Cullompton on the M5, I got caught doing 101 mph a few months back. Do a user search under "Blackie" or the title "Help !!!" for the full details.

There is some good advice from all, especially Mark Underwood's suggestion of his solicitor friend (highly recommended).

Darren

Bagpuss

Ian,

Got a friend at work who has been caught twice in the last year doing more than 120mph on his Fireblade.

Admittedly, he was on the M1, at night, no other traffic, but still no real excuse.

In both cases he got our boss to write a letter saying that he couldn't possibly do the job without a driving license, and cited the hardship it would cause him and his family etc., etc. He also managed to get the company director to write a letter stating how the company couldn't do without him.

First time out, he got away with just a fine (500 quid), and 6 points.

Second time around, he got a 250 quid fine, and a 2 week ban.

He also got himself a good solicitor, who was able to milk the situation for all it was worth, particularly the family hardship thing.

In the end, I think the solicitors fees cost him about 500 quid, but this was far better than getting a 2500 quid fine, and a 12 month ban, which was what the solicitor was preparing him for on the second offence.

Bottom line is, get a good solicitor, and really play on the hardship thing.

Hope this helps,

Andy.

P.S. All this assumes that you actually got caught, which I sincerely hope you didn't.

Stuart H

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Kevin Tree:
<B>You only have to wait for 14 days from the date of the incident to find out! The prosecuting authority has to serve a NIP within that time. [/quote]


The NIP is served on the registered keeper of the vehicle, so if its a company/lease car expect to wait a bit longer for it to go through their system.

Scrappy2

Ian, I know how you feel - I recently went under a bridge with a strange box underneath it - doing silly miles an hour.
Sh@t myself for three weeks everytime the postie came. - Take a look at

GavM

Ian,

You should be OK. I go up and down the M5 all the time and the police are always on the Tiverton/Cullompton (J27 and 28) roundabouts with laser. However they always stop cars then and there, as a few people i know have found out. I would say that you slowed in time when you saw them. Suggest you get a radar detector-as mine always gives good warning when police are there!

Gav

subverbal

The moral here when travelling well above 90mph is to be highly vigilant ! Any hint of a flourescent yellow jacket or another car shadowing you and it's ease off time. Same with passing motorway services.

I personally hate those traffic survey bods sitting there with their yellow jackets on making me slow down. It's really tempting to just set fire to their deckchairs !

)

Ian S

Ian,

I understand that the NIPS is sent by registered or recorded post. The post office make 3 attempts to deliver this.

If you decline to accept it from the postman (or don't collect it from the sorting office), it is returned to sender where it sits in a large pile of other undelivered NIPS.

Now, they might send a man around to place the NIPS in your hand, but I was told that they have tens of thousands of these things in the pile, and they just can't deal with it so nothing happens. No doubt it will catch up with you one day, but as has been suggested in previous posts they have to serve the documents within a set time.

I don't know if this is true, and (so far) have not needed to put it to the test - but it might be worth a try.

Ian

Kevin Tree

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Dave Coulshaw:
<B> Not meaning to be a harbinger of doom but this is just a popular misconception. A NIP is valid over 14 days after the offence. A friend of mine received one just over 3 weeks after, ignored it on that basis, and ended up with a court appearance, and a fine that grew from £40 to £120.

[/quote]

The DO have to issue the NIP within 14 days, this is not a misconception, it is written into the Road Traffic Act. However, delays occur due to the postal system and as been said, where the car is registered to someone else. I am sorry for being misleading, I didn't establish if it was your car but delays in the post are not on the whole, as common as they used to be.

Huxley

The best site for speedtrap information is

gregh

NIP is sent normal post, my missus got one months after the event, due to it being a company car, they have to go back to lease company, work out who's it is, then send a letter asking if you (owner) were driving that day.

Greg

Nikolai

Ian

Nasty story - I hope you were lucky, it's always been a very personal collar whenever I've been nicked - we chased you for 15 miles sir, in a hurry were we...

GavM's view on the radar detetor may be a bit after the event but I'm interested enough if he thinks it gives enough advance warning.

My old 'Trapshooter' is great for Gatso's but has a real short range, so there's a fair chance you'll get someone up yer jacksy as you stamp on the brakes...

No chance with Vascar either.

Ho hum

Beef

There appears to be a disparity - is it 14 days, or 14 <B>working</B> days?

[This message has been edited by Beef (edited 28-06-2000).]

pumpers

it's 14 days to be SENT. if you receive it after this but it was sent within that time tough. it's normal post to the registered keeper to comply with the road traffic act. if sent after 14 days - get a solicitor who, if any good at all will get the case dropped prior to any court appearance!! as to the other comments- very few plod now use radar, it's all laser. radar dectectors are a waste of time except for gatso's ( which are soon changing to digital cameras using laser!!!! )as they won't detect the laser until it's detected you cos' it's not there till plod aims and fires!!!! comments about decelerating etc are cr*p !!! you may have a chance if you were behind a line of cars as you state as plod may not have got a sight on you due to the cars in front. that all depends how far behind them you were. finally, at warp speed he may not have been paying attention and got a sight on you anyway. the comments about losing your job etc are VERY relevant if you have been nicked and go to court. it may be worth investing in a solicitor but most of them are pretty crap and only do what any reasonably intelligent person could argue. make sure you find a decent one!!! if you do go to court bite the bullet, say sorry, plead bankrupcy should you be banned, play on your 4 children going hungry and homeless and hope to god the magistrate got his oats the night before!!!! good luck- hopefully all this is in vain as you didn't get caught. pumpers.

Dave Coulshaw

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Kevin Tree:
<B> The DO have to issue the NIP within 14 days, this is not a misconception, it is written into the Road Traffic Act. However, delays occur due to the postal system and as been said, where the car is registered to someone else. I am sorry for being misleading, I didn't establish if it was your car but delays in the post are not on the whole, as common as they used to be.

[/quote]

My friend that got 'done' got hers after 3 weeks - her car, not leased/company, went straight to correct address etc - see above for rest of story. Not disputing what is written in Road Traffic Act, but she ended up with a court appearance for 'ignoring' NIP which arrived 'beyond 14 days'???

DavidRB

All you need to know about NIPS (including the 14-day delivery time) is

Kevin T

Here is the extract from the relevant section of the Act, I hope that this is of help.

Section 1(1) Road traffic Offenders Act 1988.
Subject to section 2 of this act (Which deals with accidents) a person shall not be convicted of an offence to which this section applies unless-

a) he was warned at the time the offence was committed that the question of prosecuting him for some one or other of the offences to which this section applies would be taken into consideration, or
b) within fourteen days of the commission of the offence a summons (or, in Scotland, a complaint) for the offence was served on him, or
c) within fourteen days of the commission of the offence a notice of intended prosecution specifying the nature of the alleged offence and the time and place that it was committed was served on him or on the person, if any, registered as the keeper of the vehicle at the time of the commission of the offence.

Section 1(2)

A notice shall be deemed for the purposes of subsection (1)(c) to have been served on a person if it was sent by registered post or recorded delivery service addressed to him at his last known address, notwithstanding that the notice was returned as undelivered or was for any other reason not received by him.

Notes
The day of commission of the offence is excluded in reckoning the period of 14 days.
If a notice served by post, then it must be sent so that by normal postage times it will arrive within the 14 days. If it is so posted but gets held up in the post and arrives outside the 14-day period, it will still be deemed to have been served within the required period.

Kevin Tree