Stopping On A Zig Zag

Question:

I hope you can answer my question. I was recently given a £60 fine and 3 points on my licence for stopping on zigzag lines for what was literally 5 seconds to drop my partner off at an ATM. The police saw me doing this and sounded their horn at me so I moved off.

The police drove on so I thought I’d appeased them enough. I turned into a parking place nearby and waited for my partner. Sometime later the same police van spotted me and pulled in and asked me to sit in their van.

Here the police driver explained that if I hadn’t “Ignored” him when he sounded his horn at me I would have gotten away with a warning. At no point did I think he wanted to sit and have a conversation at this crossing.

They then asked me for my driving licence which I didn’t have on me at the time. I offered them a bank card assuming they wanted to confirm my name but they declined. The policeman the filled out the ticket was either stupid or deaf because he spelled my middle and surnames incorrectly.

Now I realise this doesn’t automatically invalidate anything but would appreciate knowing if there were any grounds at all to escape the points? I feel the policeman was completely unreasonable.

The punishment doesn’t match the “crime”. Common sense knows that of course there is very little common sense in law. I’m a careful driver that doesn’t speed but made an honest mistake stopping on these lines. 3 points a £60 for that is over the top I feel.

Any advice you can give other than “read the highway code” is greatly appreciated. 🙂

Graham Says:

I’m afraid the mistakes on the ticket do not amount to defence if you accept that you were stopped and that you parked on the zig zag. The police take these matters seriously and don’t give warnings.

I’m afraid if you take it to court you will get the same response – but also higher fines and court costs for your trouble.

These are strict liability offences and this means that if you accept that you were stopped -no matter for how long or for what reason you will be convicted.