Legal advice/bullying police?
Discussion
Hey guys,
I just wanted some thoughts regarding something that happened to myself and my partner today regarding the police. I'll start from the beginning so you can understand exactly what the police were told and then make your judgements from there:
This coming saturday is my partners best friends wedding, now sadly my partners best friends mother suddenly passed away a few days ago and the funeral was held this morning with the family still wishing to go ahead with the wedding at the weekend. My partner was driving herself to the funeral this morning using her Iphones sat nav when she was suddenly pulled over by Strathclyde police. My partner, as most of you will understand, was already quite upset due to the weeks events and was told to get out of the car and get in the back of the police car. The officer advised my partner that it is illegal to drive and text at the same time to which my partner responded that she was not texting but using her phones sat nav to try and find the church where the funeral was being held, the officer told her that it is against the law to use any mobile device in any way whilst driving, and proceeded to write out a ticket for £60 and 3 points. My partner, having a full clean driving history has never dealt with the police before and was just desperate to get to the funeral asap so she accepted the ticket thinking that she would be able to dispute it at some point after today. In turn this made my partner 20 minutes late to the funeral, which has absolutely devastated her.
Having been told about this in the afternoon I can say that I was slightly angry with the disregard by Strathclyde Police for my partners emotional wellbeing and believe the situation could have been dealt with in a much more understanding way.
I then decided I would visit the police station and make a formal complaint regarding the above, I also wanted to find out who we would have to contact to dispute the ticket as it is NOT illegal to use a mobile device when driving, it IS illegal to text, make/receive calls or access the internet (as stated here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/roa... ) and my partners contract will show no texts, calls or internet were either made or received during and approximate 90 minute window at this time. I was very polite to the officer I spoke to in Partick Police Station however the officer did not feel the need to reciprocate my pleasantry. He advised me that because my partner had signed the ticket then "she's already guilty", I pointed out that she hadn't actually signed anything, he checked again and the advised me that as soon as she made the payment then she would be guilty, I asked how can I refute this claim, he said "You can't.", I said that there must be a way to argue that my partner is not guilty, he said that the only way of doing this is to not pay the fine, wait for the ticket to go to court and then "somebody will come round your house to collect the money". I asked if there was any way to be proactive with refuting this claim, he said that I should start speaking to a solicitor.
I then also asked how to make a formal complaint against the police officers as I had checked online but all I can find is the Scottish Police Complaints Commission and I didn't believe it needed to go that far, he said that you can only make a formal complaint by speaking either to the officer involved or his Sargent, and also that I wouldn't be able to make the complaint on behalf of my partner but that she would have to speak to them. I then asked for the number to be able to contact the officer and his Sargent at which point he pointed at the general Strathclyde Police non-emergency number on the poster on the wall (at which point I was trying very hard not say "are you being f
king serious!").
So my question is this, am I just being over protective of my girlfriend or what?
I just wanted some thoughts regarding something that happened to myself and my partner today regarding the police. I'll start from the beginning so you can understand exactly what the police were told and then make your judgements from there:
This coming saturday is my partners best friends wedding, now sadly my partners best friends mother suddenly passed away a few days ago and the funeral was held this morning with the family still wishing to go ahead with the wedding at the weekend. My partner was driving herself to the funeral this morning using her Iphones sat nav when she was suddenly pulled over by Strathclyde police. My partner, as most of you will understand, was already quite upset due to the weeks events and was told to get out of the car and get in the back of the police car. The officer advised my partner that it is illegal to drive and text at the same time to which my partner responded that she was not texting but using her phones sat nav to try and find the church where the funeral was being held, the officer told her that it is against the law to use any mobile device in any way whilst driving, and proceeded to write out a ticket for £60 and 3 points. My partner, having a full clean driving history has never dealt with the police before and was just desperate to get to the funeral asap so she accepted the ticket thinking that she would be able to dispute it at some point after today. In turn this made my partner 20 minutes late to the funeral, which has absolutely devastated her.
Having been told about this in the afternoon I can say that I was slightly angry with the disregard by Strathclyde Police for my partners emotional wellbeing and believe the situation could have been dealt with in a much more understanding way.
I then decided I would visit the police station and make a formal complaint regarding the above, I also wanted to find out who we would have to contact to dispute the ticket as it is NOT illegal to use a mobile device when driving, it IS illegal to text, make/receive calls or access the internet (as stated here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/roa... ) and my partners contract will show no texts, calls or internet were either made or received during and approximate 90 minute window at this time. I was very polite to the officer I spoke to in Partick Police Station however the officer did not feel the need to reciprocate my pleasantry. He advised me that because my partner had signed the ticket then "she's already guilty", I pointed out that she hadn't actually signed anything, he checked again and the advised me that as soon as she made the payment then she would be guilty, I asked how can I refute this claim, he said "You can't.", I said that there must be a way to argue that my partner is not guilty, he said that the only way of doing this is to not pay the fine, wait for the ticket to go to court and then "somebody will come round your house to collect the money". I asked if there was any way to be proactive with refuting this claim, he said that I should start speaking to a solicitor.
I then also asked how to make a formal complaint against the police officers as I had checked online but all I can find is the Scottish Police Complaints Commission and I didn't believe it needed to go that far, he said that you can only make a formal complaint by speaking either to the officer involved or his Sargent, and also that I wouldn't be able to make the complaint on behalf of my partner but that she would have to speak to them. I then asked for the number to be able to contact the officer and his Sargent at which point he pointed at the general Strathclyde Police non-emergency number on the poster on the wall (at which point I was trying very hard not say "are you being f
king serious!").So my question is this, am I just being over protective of my girlfriend or what?
Thanks to all the genuine replies, and to all those that just wish to discuss either female bad driving habits, or more specifically how STUPID my girlfriend is... she was not holding the phone, it was on the dashboard in the indentation which is designed to hold things (although admittedly it's not a specific phone cradle...), she was not touching it and can not even see the screen from where she sits, she simply was listening to the directions, which probably explains her 8 years NCD and previously completely clean license.
I expected replies and I apologise for not giving full exacting details when I wrote the original post however it had been a very long day and I was tired. However I am now going to remove myself from the conversation as I feel quite offended by the smarmy all knowing comments aimed at myself and my partner. I feel that a few of my fellow pistonheaders have let me down by jumping the gun and going on the personal offence when all that was needed was to wait for me to respond to the initial questions.
Thanks to:
"Pothole"
"tulloch"
"Crossflow Kid"
"TPS"
"Hustle Russell"
"james280779"
A more genuine thanks goes to those that were able to advise (on both sides) without being aholes about it.
I expected replies and I apologise for not giving full exacting details when I wrote the original post however it had been a very long day and I was tired. However I am now going to remove myself from the conversation as I feel quite offended by the smarmy all knowing comments aimed at myself and my partner. I feel that a few of my fellow pistonheaders have let me down by jumping the gun and going on the personal offence when all that was needed was to wait for me to respond to the initial questions.
Thanks to:
"Pothole"
"tulloch"
"Crossflow Kid"
"TPS"
"Hustle Russell"
"james280779"
A more genuine thanks goes to those that were able to advise (on both sides) without being a
holes about it.Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff