skiddus_markus

If it was built up I have no sympathy but some 40 zones take the p!ss,such as stretches of Sheffield Parkway(Bochum)which should really be a NSL and the once 50mph,now 40mph zone off Norton roundabout where the camera van sits most days.

Petem95

My mate got caught doing 96 in a 50 (on a duel carriageway at 1am however..), but he got off with a 35day ban, a fine and no points.

It'll probably depend on the type of road - knowing the scamera partnership it was probably a duel carriageway with a new 40limit?

darren f

Mmm 32mph over- you could be in trouble. If you get some arsey magistrates you can be in ban territory. My wife was caught 32 over (albeit 102 in a 70) and managed to get off with a £300 fine and 5 points. We took some advice from a magistrate friend who advised not to make up any excuses, but to simply throw yourself at their mercy.......

Go to court and admit you knew you were speeding (very important that, otherwise it is 'driving without due care'), it was a 'stupid risk' that you now very much regret. Don't say anything about only having the car for a few days! Also get a letter from your employer saying you cannot do your job without a licence. If you've had a clean licence for a number of years, point this out.

And, given you've got a Scoob, I would seriously consider getting yourself on a safe driving course PDQ. It will cost you but how important is keeping your licence? It could be a deciding factor if when asked in court if you have anything to say (which they do ask you) you can say "Yes, I did it, I know it was wrong. I realise my driving habits need changing, so I've gone and got some training to make this happen'.

Just my four-penneth worth.

darren f

Oh I forgot to say......
apologise.........
and grovel..........
a lot.

DoMJoLLy

Someone said about the number of false plates on the roads these days.

If my misses said I was home at the time or even I was selling and someone was test driving it?

Tiggs

lol...get your wife to lie for you...nice touch

DoMJoLLy

Apparently they cannot use the photo of the driver as evidence, theres a loophole in law, may give it a shot, got to think long and hard about this one.

DoMJoLLy

SiDHEaD

Ask for the evidence anyway as you can't remember who was driving. Cost them as much admin as possible.

FrenchBoy

I'll second that one!! Saved my skin from a ban!! The magistrate loved the fact that i had independantly gone in for extra driving lessons - it showed how seriously i took the matter.
Throwing yourself at their mercy is a good tactic if you can convince them you are really sorry (which no doubt you are as there's nothing like that icy feeling of getting caught and kissing your license goodbye).

Good luck.

sti555

The biggest problem the beak have with dishing out punishment for speeding offences is its a total lottery... it varys so much for people in identical cases, you may be lucky you may not, stick it to the back of your mind as there is nothing you can do now.

I got caught doing 103 in a 70, ended up with 7 day ban (6 after coming out of court), 0 points and £450 fine plus costs, I decided not to get representation, I went in accepted i had broken the law and apologised, the magistrates are used to hearing the usual excuses I need my licence etc etc, they have heard it time and time again and probably are sick of it. At the end of the day you did wrong, 70+ in a 40 is stupid imo.

I would suggest going in, bit of hollywood subserviant acting, no excuses just apologise.. keep it simple

Good luck

Adrian F

One of my friends about 4 years ago got caught doing 80 in a 40mph zone on his bike in Hertford and he was heading into a 70 zone 10 metres before the de-restricting sign on dual carriage way on a bright sunny sunday afternoon with clear empty grass verges back to hedges and no junctions ahead.

He needed his licence to work and therefore pay his mortage and he got a big fine and a 1 month ban. lost a months wages and went back to work. of course if he had burgled an old lady he would have had a slap on the wrist. But this speeding 30 foot before the sign was to serious to be treated lightly!

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Lecturing

Almost all of us 'need' our cars but we all speed. Many 40mph dual carriageways are a joke. Some dual carriageways its okay to do that speed (70mph odd) and others its not, but the safety of doing it is not necessarily connected in anyway to the speed limit.

Give the guy a break.

hedgehog

If you can afford it then get legal advice from someone with experience in traffic law, not just a general solicitor. In your case you may not be able to afford to do anything except get the right advice. Get someone who knows the form and who is willing to try some of the defences that are out there. A general solicitor will just go through the motions of mitigation.

You have 28 days to return the NIP and I would suggest you make the best of that time to send the Mika letter to your local Chief Constable. There is no reason at all not to do it and it can't impact badly upon your case but if you are going to get a good solicitor then ask him before doing it, in case he has a better defence. If you are not getting a solicitor then get this in the post now.

Take a look at the suggested letter at the top of this page and get it in the post:

http://www.pepipoo.com/NewForums2/viewtopic.php?t=1968

It looks like the EU have ruled the NIP illegal and even if you do get done then the fact that you have pointed out to the CC that what he is doing is illegal and infringes your rights will put you in a good position once the class action for compenstation starts. In view of how serious your alleged offence is you could be in for a ban or even jail if you get some nutter magistrate. Clearly this would be worth considerable compenstation once we win that fight so even if the CC ignores your letter it sets you up to get something out of it at a later stage. Just remember to send it special delivery and keep all the receipts etc. so that you can prove you sent it. You might want to get a witness to the fact, a mate or someone you work with, that you actually put the letter in the envelope and so on.

DoMJoLLy

Thanks hedgehog some good advice on that site.

DoM

Brit_in_Japan

DoM

People think that >30mph over the limit is an automatic ban, but in fact it is a discretionary ban (i.e. the magistrate can choose to give you a hefty fine plus 6 points on your license).

>40mph over the limit is a mandatory ban
double the speed limit is a mandatory ban
>(30-40)< mph over is a discretionary ban

What you need to ask yourself is whether you would prefer
a) 6 points, a fine and keep driving
b) a "short" ban and your license back with no extra points. By a "short" ban I mean somewhere in the region of 4 to 8 weeks.

Your solicitor can then make the appropriate representations in court.

As you have 0 points on your license now, option a) would probably be better for you, but please don't drive past any other speed cameras at illegal speeds in the next three years as your license would be under threat under the totting up rules. 12 points in 3 years = approx 6 month ban!

If you already had 6 points on your license then option b) would have been the best option.


<Ahem> I watched in court when some other drivers' cases came up. A doctor was charged with 2 speeding offences on a 70mph dual carriageway, 98mph and 102mph. He already had 6 points on his license. His solicitor asked the magistrate to give him points for the first offence and a ban for the second. Result: just 7 days without driving and his license back with lots of points. If he had got points for the 102 as well he'd have lost his license for 6 months.

hedgehog

The problem with a ban is likely to be getting insurance once you get back to driving. For people driving cars that attract a considerable insurance premium even with lots of no claims and the like a ban could make keeping the car impossible or uneconomic.

So, while a short ban might sound OK in the longer term it could present a substantial problem. I suspect that insurance companies now ask for convictions going back 5 years.

In purely financial terms this is why it may be worth paying the cash for a good solicitor who is willing to fight the case to win rather than just to make a plea in mitigation. I know it is impossible to offer an assurance that you will win but depending on the individual circumstances it may be worthwhile to fight it all the way.

This is also why it is worthwhile to send off letters such as that on the pepipoo site, you have nothing at all to lose except the cost of the Special Delivery post.

It is also worth taking a look over on the ABD site and checking out their information on the signs required for speed limits. Go back and take a look where you were done and make sure that all the signs are in place and correctly lit etc.

http://www.abd.org.uk

You might join up while you are over there :-)

Once you know what the law is relating to speed limit signs you will be amazed at how many signs you pass that you now know to be illegal. Just maybe your 40mph limit is unenforcable. Worth 20 minutes of your time.

Brit_in_Japan

I had no problem getting insured (cost me about 50 quid extra) but it wasn't a scooby. I was told that they really load on the premiums if you lose you license because of dangerous, wreckless, drink driving etc. One unexpected problem I did find was that some car hire companies won't rent you a car if you have a disqualification on your license.