Jack Cowell

Just heard on the News that the judgement was upheld by a Scottish court (concerning Gatso evidence of Driver) giving Police the drivers name was against European law . Some good news at last.
Jack

Neil F

I dont' quite understand what's being said here.
What exactly is the ruling protecting the driver against?
(Am I being thick?)

Mike Rainbird

Neil,
If a car is caught on camera breaking the speed limit and you receive a summons through the post, but you weren't driving the car at that particular moment (mate, girlfriend, boyfriend or wife etc were), it means you no longer have to say who the driver was and they can't prosecute you for not revelaing this information or force you to with the threat of action....
Hope this clarifies.
Obviously the govt.'s scared that people will start saying it wasn't them even when it was (hence the new generation of forward facing cameras on the A14....).
Mike

Mark Johnson

We could always drive around with balaclavas on our heads so they couldnt see who was driving with forward facing cameras !

HunterB

The ruling came about because police were called to a shop to arrest a shoplifter - the girl had allegedly stolen a bottle of gin. The searched her and found a set of car keys in her bag. Smelling alcohol on her breath, they demanded to know how she got to the shop. They then charged her with drunk driving too. By forcing her to admit that she drove there, they ignored her right to silence (the right not to incriminate oneself for an alleged offence) and that's against the European Convention on Human Rights.

That legislation was incorporated into Scots Law last year at the time of devolution to takes precedence over any national laws. England and Wales will adopt the legislation in October this year.

Currently, it's still not finally decided. The ruling was made by the Appeal Court judges but the Crown Office has now been granted leave of appeal to the Privy Council.
Let's hope they throw out the appeal.

The reason the judgement applies to speed cameras is that the police don't get a picture of who was driving at the time of the offence (not with Gatsos, anyway) so rely on either the driver owning up (by accepting the offer of a fixed penalty and coughing up) or threatening them with prosecution for failing to say who was driving the car (which is a law under the current Road Traffic Act). This is taken as forcing an individual to self-incrimination, thereby denying him a basic human right.

I just love it when politicians tie themselves in knots.

Brian

Ian Cook

But only in Scotland unfortunately, we would have to have a similar verdict here too i believe

Si

As usual Scottish law leads Endgland has still to catch up, so I wouldn't try it with an English Bobby just yet!

Jack Cowell

Giving the drivers name is against European Law, I think England is still in Europe Is'nt it???

Jack

Ian Cook

I wouldnt want to be the first to try it though Once you have a ruling like the Scots do, you are laughing