Speeding Is Speeding!

Question:

After phoning I was advised to email you with an outline of my speeding offence for you to advise me if it is worth fighting.

I have received a summons dated x to appear in court on the x

Date of offence x Time 11pm

I was dashing back to work for an emergency (explained this to the officer that stopped me, his reply “now have you got a legitimate excuse for speeding”)

I entered a village called x which is a 30mph zone

I slowed my seed to what I believed to be less than 40mph according to my speedo

Probably halfway through the village a mile or so I saw the blue lights of an unmarked police vehicle

I stopped and was asked to get into the back of the police vehicle

The police vehicle was being driven by a single uniformed officer and had no visible video equipment

The officer asked me why I was speeding I replied that I had slowed down as I entered the village, but may not have denied that I was not speeding

After not accepting my excuse that I was trying to get back to work for an emergency (a computer server rooms generator had not started during a power cut and the systems were in a critical state) 100 mile trip and I was 3 miles from the office

I was served with an ANPA and at the time in the dark did not notice the officer had written “excess speed not less than 40mph” on the ticket and surrendered my driving licence

A few weeks later when a fixed penalty notice came though I contacted the police station and told them I disputed the alleged speed and could they provide evidence

They returned my licence a few days later

I had heard nothing from the police or court until the summons

Officers Statement attached to summons:

Date, time, and vehicle details

In my opinion the speed of the vehicle was in excess of the 30 mph speed limit for that class of vehicle for that road

I followed the vehicle for ½ mile. The police vehicle remained a constant distance to its rear. I checked the speedometer in the police vehicle and found the speed of the x to be not less than 40 mph

I caused the vehicle to stop

Details of driver (me)

I informed the driver of the offence(s) and cautioned him. I told him that the facts would be reported. (Verbal NOIP) He made no reply

The vehicle was not displaying ‘L’ plates and the driver was not supervised by a qualified driver. (what relevance does this have as I have a full current licence he saw)

The conversation with x was recorded within the police vehicle and can be produced if required (He never told me he was recording our conversation)

Questions:

Based on the above and my belief that an officer on his own needed video or speed gun evidence to convict a speeding motorist, but more importantly if my speed was below 40 mph I could attend a reduce speed cause rather than having points on my licence, do I have grounds for fighting the conviction?

How much are the costs to hire your services and are they recoverable if found not guilty?

Sorry for the epic.

Louise Says:

Sorry but if you accept that you were doing more than 30 then you will be convicted at court. You are better off pleading guilty by post asap and keeping the costs to a minimum.

You can only avoid the points if there is a medical emergency – such as rushing someone to hospital. Work related issues will not persuade the court.

The officer can corroborate his opinion evidence in relation to your speed by doing a follow check using the speedo in his car. There is a recognised method of speed detection and he has followed you for longer than the minimum distance required.

It doesn’t matter that you don’t accept the speed alleged if you accept that you were doing more than 30 mph you will be convicted I’m afraid.

They issued the summons because they formed the view that you disputed the ticket – they rarely enter into discussions in relation to these issues I’m afraid.

The statements used by the officer’s are proforma. This mean that they often cover issues that are not relevant to you – such as whether or not the car had L plates.

The offer of the speed awareness course is entirely at the discretion of the police I’m afraid. Its not an entitlement. If the officer thinks you should be allowed the course he can offer it, if he doesn’t, you wont be.

I would love to take your money and help you fight this, but you need to have reasonable prospects of succeeding and based on your acceptance that you might have been speeding (albeit under 40) you won’t succeed.