Was out with my cousin tonight, he was driving my Scooby as I was tired & fancied a beer or 3, on the way home we werespeeing a touch on a very empty M23 near gatwick when all of a sudden the road went flash blue in colour, yep PC Plod on the rampage behind us, we pulled straight over & waited for it, both of us were asked to get out, 2 plods & a BMW, lots of who's car type questions & where have you been etc, which was no problem, then my cousin was off to the front passenger seat to see a home made movie, I asked & saw it as well, we were caught on an empty motorway on the inside lane at 107.3 mph, dam & several other words, plod said that it was a reportable offence etc so not 3 points & a fine job, even when we asked if he was willing to forget 10mph & just do my cousin for 97.3, but no, noway, not on your life sort of response.

Anyone know what sort of ban & fine can be expected ?
Anyone know a good lawyer who specialises in speeding convictions ?

Before the do gooders start, we were not racing, we were on an empty 3 lane motorway, to be honest neither my cousin or I knew we were going that fast, no an excuse just a statement of fact, my cousin is not going to argue the point as we have seen the home made movie, just shows my car going down the inside lane at 107.3mph & then shows us stopping the moment the blue light come up.

any help etc would be good.

Cheers

 

Then the police wonder why they never get any support from the public

Another easy target caught.Makes me sick.

Rich.

[Edited by RichiW - 5/5/2002 1:11:59 AM]

 

This is a killer;

"to be honest neither my cousin or I knew we were going that fast"

With speedo inaccuracy to conider, you were probably doing an indiated speed of 125 - 130 Mph :O

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime

 

Sorry to here that mate,i hope that you get away with it.

JIM

 

Tell them that you were actually coming back from a burglery spree and needed to speed home to split the loot with your compadres. Youl'll get off scott free...

 

Mr Data that is a slight exaggeration, speedo's are not that inaccurate unless there fu*ked!

Pretty rough, make you sick to know that some coppers would have given you a wee warning asked some questions about your car and sent you on you way. Clearly these ones needed to make up the numbers, you win some you loose some I guess.

As far as I'm aware anything over 100 mph always carries a ban so be prepaired.

Hope the driver didn't have the pint or 3 by the way, then you'd really know all about bans!

 

Just to point out that speedo innacuracy only allows u to show 10% more than yer actually doing so kud have potentially shown a speed of 119.2MPH but if it was more then again another law breaking thang
Good luck then chap makes me think about taking it a bit slower on da motorway as while i have escaped with a clean un so far woodn't like 2 risk it all by getting cort in the land of 3 figured speeds
Si

 

If it was an empy road how come you didn't notice a police BMW behind you doing the same speed ???? even if it was unmarked I would be suspicious of any car following me at the same or similar speed to me on a empty road.

Anyway that apart I got pulled doing 109 on the M3 a few years ago, went to court and told him I would loose my job if i lost my license, I got 300GBP fine and 3 points.

[Edited by Wurzel - 5/5/2002 12:19:39 PM]

 

bad news Like has already been said, play the 'lose the job' card and grovel! I got caught doing 90mph in a 60mph zone (empty two-lane A-road at night), pulled over straight away and got away with £200 fine and 5 points.

Good luck!

Matt

 

a m8 of mine got pulled about 3 years ago, terrible conditions, ie snow, mush , water, busy traffic, clocked doing 119.65 mph on a 70 limit duel carriageway, copper showed him the video, was a nice copper, liked cars himself, let my m8 off with 3 points and a £40 fine, jammy git
mark

 

He's probably looking at a month's ban and upwards of £200 fine.The biggets financial killer though will be his next insurance premium.I take it he was insured to drive this car?

 

i always thought if was caught doin 20 miles an hour over the limit your banned for a yr could be wrong ..

 

Its by no means a definite ban. I got caught at 38 over the limit (98 in a 60) on the bike. I got 6 points , a £555 fine but no ban

 

Im sorry but if i was doing that speed which i have been know to do (yesterday) and i saw a car approaching behind i would gun it further more. You know you are going to loose your license anyway so you might as well make the most of it. Ive been in that situation a few times and lets just say the scooby is one fast motor. Bye bye mr police man. Did i just say that!! :-) Must be last nights drink talking. hehe!!

Anyway sorry about it all mate.Hope it all works out. Its very easy to do and it can happen to the best of us. How many of us on this BBS can HONESTLY say that they havent done those speeds?

Regards

Scrappy

 

Let me lay the picture down a bit better.

1st my cousin was driving so I could have a beer or 3, he had only been drinking orange juice.

I was late & dark, that part of the M23 near gatwick has no lights, PC Plod was not driving behind us, but had been sitting at the top of a slip road facing down at the motorway so when we went past he saw us, we had no chance of seeing him until he came hammering down with all lights on, including the flashing blues, we stopped imidiatly.

Why did we not know how fast we were going, cos it was dark, there was nothing to judge our speed against, we were taking & my cousing was looking out of the screen, not at the speedo, I have found that when driving its safer to look out of the screen than just look at the speedo for fear of going a little fast, which is just what my cousin was doing.

When we were stopped we were polite, so was PC Plod but no matter how much we groveled & asked they would not list us a below 100mph, I still think that if we had been in a people carrier or something like that they would not have pulled us, or if they did they would have given a warning or listed us below 100mph, 1 of the plods said he liked Scooby but they were very fast an dangerous in the wrong hands, which I could not argue with.

As I said my cousin will take the rap, we have no excuse, but just wanted a little bit of grace which was not forth coming, its not like we are both 17 in dads car, he's 40 next month & I'm 36 next weekend.


So as I asked, anyone know a good speeding offence solictior ??

 

What terms are you on with your boss??
Just like to add that this is not in any way a suggestion just a thought/experience
If you can get your boss to write you a reference stating that you will be of no use to the company if you are not able to drive, it can go a long way in court!!! i managed to keep my license by telling the truth and the above!, cant explain circumstances but DEFINATELY helped my situation!!
If all else fails, find someone with a 'fed ex' uniform and a baby , wear the uniform in court, plead poverty, and have your missus sit at the back of the court with the baby!!
Of course you may have all of the above so.......
Cheers
Rob the wise

 

recently got pulled over by plod, got given the white ticket and told to wait to find out if I will get prosecuted. Driving down a dual cariageway overtaken by a Saab doing 103mph, I pulled out just as plod clicked on him. He comes down slip road with lights and pulls both of us, him for doing 103 me for appearing to keep up.

 

it shows that there is no consistency as a couple of years ago in a r5 turbo i was doing a showed 100ish in a 50 (i know its naughty but i was younger) when i get that sinking feeling of flashing blue lights i obviously think that it is going to be a definate ban
so i pull up and it is a lone copper he tells me what a naughty boy i have been but then starts telling me about his byke and how fast it goes
and then at the end of it he sais he is just going to do me on a fixed penalty £60 and just puts on the ticket i was exceeding the speed limit the car wasn`t a panda car it was a mondeo so he must of had the prpoer calibration equipment he must of obviously been in a good mood
i suppose that makes up for some of the worse luck i hve had
anyway good luck

 

Ban i'm afraid.

Play the job card anyway.

The courts know most people can take 2 or 3 weeks Holiday as a stint without losing their job, so that's how long they ban you for. - oh an around 6 points and £3-400 ish fine.

Anything over 100mph is trouble.

Remember all those kiddies playing football on that deserted motorway need protecting you know.

Tim

 

Why can't the police do proper police work instead of trying to get rich through fines and stuff? Theyt can afford to have STIs and other high power cars but can't afford to solve Stephen Lawrences murder or any simple burglery where you can even give them the lead.

I've just been harrassed by the police tonight after coming home from the cinema. They claimed that I was in the cruise driving like a lunatic. When I questioned them about my speed which I say was well within if not lower than the speed limit (their radar gun wasn't even on) they changed their story telling me that they can arrest me for not having my insurance, mot and registeration on me. When I told them the most they can do is give me a provider, one of them started to make a jive on my ethnicity. Hence below :-

- <- Thieves
-
-
-
- <- Drink drivers
-
-
-
-
- <- Faith in humanity
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- <- Respect for the police

 

Katana, if you got a provider, it will have the guy's collar number on. Report it. Someone else did it on here (Gridlock Mikey?) and got the most wonderful grovelling apology. Some of the police do a good job, jerks like that don't, and deserve to be told so.

Good luck

BJH

 

You say there was nothing to judge your speed by, as it was dark.

There is a speedometer provided on the dashboard for just such circumstances.

 

Is that what the speedo is for then ?? I would have never guessed.

Well you must be one of thoses drivers who looks more at the speedo than the road, especialy on a dark deserted motorway, which is more dangerous than looking out of the windscreen IMHO.

 

barge,
sorry to hear this mate. To be honest I'm suprised that you've not had more people saying the same old "serves you right for speeding" thing. OK the law was being broken, but from the sound of it there was no danger to anyone.

Put it this way, I think the drive down to brighton yesterday was far more dangerous, not that it was dangerous at all mind, than your situation.

 

Its the age old complaint.

No danger to anyone yet the courts will most likely give you a ban.

60 on very foggy motorway in heavy traffic can cause multiple pile ups but is legal.

I wouldn't advise using the "I didnt know what speed I was doing" defence. It will be seen as recklessness. The occasional glance at the dashboard is hardly liekly to instantly result in a crash. I dont think it unreasonable for a court to suggest that road markings ought to be sufficient to tell the difference between 70 and 110 (50% Over the limit ?).

Deano

 

Oh well, if they only were this "zealous" when it came to the last time my house was burgled where I even told them who did it, I wouldn't have lost my parent's laptop with a lot of sensitive case documents in them. I also wouldn't have had to resort to vigilanteism to got the laptop back myself.

My parents (lawyers) told me that I may have a case against him for harrassment, but it would be way to difficult to prove and would cost a lot of time and money. I really can't be bothered to deal with it yet because I've got my life to sort out. I'm just going to hand over my stuff (insurance etc) and make a snidey comment at the end of it.

 

It's going to be nasty. Forget all the stupid "should have used your speedo comments" all those guys are just making it worse and not helping you at all which is what they SHOULD be doing, none of us like seeing this at all.

It will got to court but the Police have, I think, 6 weeks to get an NIP (Notice of Intention to Prosecute) notice to you/him unless they served one on you there and then. In the meantime:-

1. Consult a solicitor
They will give you valuable info and make sure they're a specialist in the field. www.caughtspeeding.co.uk might be a good first port of call.

2. Make sure everything is up to date on the car. Make sure he was insured, MOT, TAX up to date and anything not 100% removed from the car just in case it all gets messy later on and they ask to inspect car (they can get funny when you start tackling them head on)

3. Wait until you speak to the solicitor but it would be advised to obtain the following:
a. Pictures of where you were driving when caught; in daylight and at the same time of night/day to show the relevant conditions and actualy hazards in the day.
b. Pictures from where the BMW was situated to show his visibiliy and maybe prove he was illegal stopped on a slip road (they have legal rules to follow too)
c. Type of device they used to capture your speed. AFAIK, the cameras that show speed actually show their cars speed and not yours but not 100% on this. If it's VASCAR then they use stopwatch system which they need a certain distance covered first to prove it's legality. More chance of getting of on this one as it can be unreliable during varied light conditions.
d. If any other device used then hardcopy proof from the police of the device, serial number and device check. Most devices need to be calibrated and set BEFORE the Police go out on a "hunt" and many don't bother. If they didn't then you're immediately off the hook.

Main thing is the solicitor who will most likely advise all of the above anyway. They have to prove categorically you were speeding first - once over that hurdle you're either scott free or you'll then use other mitigating circumstances to try and get the punishment down.

On a side note I was GATSO'd a few weeks ago on an empty road, early sunday morning doing 45 in a 30. Doesn't sound too bad but it is 50% over the limit equal to 105 in a 70. Standard fine for 45 in a 30 can be 6 points and 4-600 fine. When I admitted I was there on the NIP I wrote a lengthy passage at the back about conditions, flow of traffic, impeding progress of flow of traffic, that I was an IAM member for 8 years and that the speed I was doing was in my considered opinion safe taking into account hazards, road conditions, weather, time of day,etc., I got £60 and 3 points instead. So consult the solicitor straightaway and get working on it. Not all is lost..

 

I (like 99% of impreza turbo owners) go over the limit occasionally . I'd like to think I'm aware of the speed I'm doing all the time but especially if I'm over the limit. Its just my opinion that "didnt know what speed I'm doing" is likely to do far far more harm for the your case than good.

One of the main arguments main of us use to "justify" our speeding is that we beleive we're concentrating more/more aware blah blah blah than "other" people. To admit that, for your cousin, that is a load of bollox would not be (IMHO) a good idea

 

Not all coppers are bar stewards, and some can afford scoobys.

 

A friend got caught at 103mph on a Ducati 2 months ago . He was given 6 points and a £400 fine. Apparently alot depends on the mood of the magistrate !

A foreign friend of mine told me last year how he was let of a drunk driving random test (which he failed). All he did was pretend he did not speak any english. I was absolutely appaled by this....amazing.

I don't know the point of this but ...funny old world?!