Page 1 of Got nicked speeding - any way out?

I got (possibly) nicked yesterday. A stretch of road past a roundabout has a limit of 40 and 2 (yes two) speed cameras within a 1 mile distance. Was driving sedately, and some time after I passed the second one, started accelarating. Right after a bend, flanked by some bushes was the green and red painted safety camera partnership Van with some character inside pointing a cylinderical looking thing at me. He paused, I breaked, he turned around... and I think I got nicked!

Now - the last speed camera warning sign BEFORE the Van was at least 0.5 miles away. The Van was highly visible - given the flourescent decoration, but there was no other warning sign between the Van and the last speed camera - certainly greater than 200 yards. It was hidden behind a clump of bushes past a bend, so you wouldnt know until you were upon it. And it was parked under a speed camera sign.

I went back and videod the entire route to confirm what I was saying was true. I was doing 50 (according to the car`s speedo, which means 48) and it is a 40 zone... so I am sure the man inside the car nicked me - if I do get nicked, do I have a defence? Any defence at all? Or am I looking at £60 and 3 points?

Just to extend this - my father in law was in the car at the time (he is from India), what would happen if I pass on his name as the driver then?

IF I am lucky, wont even receive a letter... but just in case.

T¦M3CH4S3R

"I am worst at what I do the best, for this gift I feel blessed. I found it hard... it was hard to find. Oh well, Whatever! NEVERMIND"

This item was edited on Tuesday, 30th May 2006, 09:31

Don`t hold me to this but you might be ok, here`s why

When I`m driving at 50 in either our Mondeo or Fiesta, both the latest models so should be fairly accurate, my Sat Nav says I am only actually doing 44/45. According to a few things I have read the Sat Nav is supposed to be pretty spot on and it is the car speedo that is out.

If I remember rightly the rule of getting a ticket is the speed limit (40) plus 10% (44) plus 3 (47), this is to allow for your card speedo and to give you a bit of leeway.

So fingers crossed if your car speedo read 50 maybe you were only doing 46.5 or less.

As for giving your father in laws details, my dad did that, it was genuine though, his cousin from Germany had borrowed his car and sure enough got flashed, they wrote to him in Germany with the fine etc, not sure what hapenned about points but he did have to pay the fine. But then my dad had to take his insurance etc to local station to proove he was covered to drive it.

All the best

Gerald.

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Any defence at all? Or am I looking at £60 and 3 points?
No pay the fine...

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Just to extend this - my father in law was in the car at the time (he is from India), what would happen if I pass on his name as the driver then? dont even try it, if they produce photographic evidence at court, and your have committed `Purgery` you will get a custodial sentence... a woman did this in North Devon recently and got 18 months imprisonment, and a ban from driving!


`i am going to live forever or die trying`

This item was edited on Tuesday, 30th May 2006, 09:46

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Just to extend this - my father in law was in the car at the time (he is from India), what would happen if I pass on his name as the driver then?

I know of a lot of people who have put another persons name down for a speeding offences in the past, mainly due to them previously picking up points and they would of lost their licence. As long as someone pays for it they don't seem to care. (But that is Shropshire Police for you)

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dont even try it, if they produce photographic evidence at court, and your have committed `Purgery` you will get a custodial sentence..

Why would 50mph in a 40mph zone go to court ?

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Why would 50mph in a 40mph zone go to court ? if the fine is contested or if the police have any reason to doubt the claim as to who may be driving the car, it could go to court...



`i am going to live forever or die trying`

Mmm, this 10% thing ...

... don`t know whether that is the case anymore. Got nabbed doing 35 in a 30 zone just over a year ago and was offered the chance to either take the fine and 3 points or pay more, complete a one-day course and have no points (if examiners happy with what was done on the course).

Many people on that same course bought up the "10%" ruling, but we were told that is no longer the case necessarily, that it is determined by the council running the cameras. The 10% rule was introduced many years ago when speedometers were no where near as accurate as they are now, and as a result after all these years they 10% error is not g`teed.

Of course, this was told to us by the people running the course, so who knows? :/

Mind you, I have a speed-camera detector now, and that is also GPS driven and is always 10% lower than my speedo shows. Would love to know which is the correct one!

BTW, if anyone gets offered the course it is well worth doing!!!

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The 10% rule was introduced many years ago when speedometers were no where near as accurate as they are now, and as a result after all these years they 10% error is not g`teed.

Funny you should mention that. I bought a car recently and it had a sticker on the speedo saying "as per some EU directive the speedometer on this car should not be considered accurate" (bad paraphrase, but you get the drift).

I thought this was very odd, to be honest, but figured it explained the 10% + 2 rule.

I would NOT mind paying £300 and taking a course - to avoid the points. I am usually a careful driver, preferring to err on the side of caution. This time was reckless, and well driven out of frustration by two prats in fiestas who were chatting and driving at 30 parallel to one another right in front of me - so as soon as I got a way, I floored the accelarator and passed them...

Lets see how it goes... but if anyone has any tips, please do post them.

The defense I was considering was the lack of warning post the second speed camera. This Van was parked right under a speed camera sign, and the last speed camera is almost half a mile off and there is no speed camera warning between that camera and where the Van was. Would this hold up or am I just p***ing in the wind ;)

T¦M3CH4S3R

"I am worst at what I do the best, for this gift I feel blessed. I found it hard... it was hard to find. Oh well, Whatever! NEVERMIND"

With regard to the 10%+ a wee bit more thing,it seems to be accepted that there simply has to be some leeway,or things get ridiculous.

Having said that,I`d completely support a zero-leeway attitude in 20mph and 30mph zones.

Sorry,but if you get done in one of those,you fully deserve everything you get.


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I would NOT mind paying £300 and taking a course - to avoid the points.

Why ?
3 points on an SP30 code won`t affect your insurance a jot.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 30th May 2006, 13:40