Zig Zags

Question:

I was driving my taxi and stopped at a zebra crossing to allow a pedestrian to cross the road. She showed no signs that she needed a taxi. As she began to cross the road she looked at me and gestured as if to say “are you available for hire?” I nodded but pointed to her further down the street past the zig zags.

She just opened my cab door and got in. As I pulled away the traffic police car (which I had been aware of the whole time) pulled me over, sent my passenger away and gave me a fixed penalty notice of £60 and three points. When I protested that I am well aware of the law regards zigzags but felt I had no other option in this case.

He told me I should have told her to get back out, drive 5 yards further down the road and pick her back up again then I would not have got any points. I feel hard done by but feel I have two traffic cops word against mine and they sent my only witness away.

I believe there is a video recording of the incident on the traffic police cars dashboard camera so this might help. Do you think I have a chance of fighting this successfully? Thanks

Graham Says:

You would have to reject the ticket and take this matter to court to try and defend it. You will need to cast a doubt on the police suggestion that you stopped to pick her up on the zig zags and that she ignored your signal and got in.

The police have damaged the evidence in the case by sending her away and not taking a statement and you may have an abuse of process argument as a result.

This can certainly be put to them in cross examination. If their account of events is roughly the same as yours, I think you have a good chance of defending this matter but you will need representation unless you fancy cross examining two officers yourself?

Come back to me if you would like my help with this matter. We maybe able to persuade the prosecution not to take it to trial.