Motorist is banned over speed trap alert
Discussion
Motorist is banned over speed trap alert
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 03/06/2004)
A pensioner who warned motorists of a police speed trap was convicted of wilfully obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty, banned from driving and ordered to pay £364 costs yesterday.
Stuart Harding, 71, was attempting to slow motorists down as they approached a Sunday morning car boot sale where many people were crossing the road.
Noticing that police were parked nearby with an officer using a hand-held laser speed camera, he decided that a warning stating "Speed Trap - 300 yards ahead" would be the most effective way of getting drivers to reduce their speed. But as soon as the officers noticed his placard he was cautioned for committing an offence.
Harding, a retired instrument maker, who appeared before magistrates in Aldershot, Hants, yesterday, had pleaded not guilty to the charge. He said: "I have been convicted of breaking the law because I was trying to stop others from doing so. It is totally unjust."
Harding said he had stood at the same spot, on the A325 at Farnborough, on previous Sundays warning drivers of the car boot sale, and had received a thumbs-up sign from a passing police car. But the attitude of officers changed when he warned drivers of the speed camera.
Robert Manley, prosecuting, said: "In displaying this sign the defendant was giving motorists advanced warning of a road safety camera being operated by the police 300 yards further along the road."
He said the intention was that any motorist contravening road traffic regulations by driving at excessive speed would avoid doing so having been given notice of what the police were doing.
Sgt Sarah Cashman told the court that when she cautioned Harding and confiscated the sign he told her: "I stop people speeding down here. I am only doing what I think is right".
Asked if he knew there was a speed camera ahead he said: "Yes, that is why I am doing it".
Alex Wyman, the presiding magistrate, told Harding: "The use of the sign was a deliberate and intentional act and by use of the words 'speed trap' you were assisting speeding motorists from being prosecuted."
After his conviction Harding told the magistrates he planned to appeal, adding that he needed his car to drive to church and that he was due to take his wife and friends on holiday in a camper van.
The clerk of the court pointed out to magistrates that unless the ban was suspended it would have run its course before the appeal was heard. But they ordered it should take immediate effect.
The court also confiscated Harding's sign and ordered it to be destroyed.
After the case he said that he had been told that fines collected from speeding motorists on that stretch of the road had netted £12,000 in one morning alone.
"It seems to be more about raising revenue than road safety. I'm just so angry and upset about the driving ban. It was totally uncalled for because this wasn't a motoring offence," he said.
First post!
Does it really matter the circumstances, as long as people slow down? An older gentleman got taken to court in the states a while ago for something similar. He was just flashing his lights at oncoming cars to warn of a speed trap(common practice). Eventually he was let off as the judge ruled he was doing nothing illegal.
>> Edited by sirtophamhat on Thursday 3rd June 05:42
Does it really matter the circumstances, as long as people slow down? An older gentleman got taken to court in the states a while ago for something similar. He was just flashing his lights at oncoming cars to warn of a speed trap(common practice). Eventually he was let off as the judge ruled he was doing nothing illegal.
>> Edited by sirtophamhat on Thursday 3rd June 05:42
this just takes the total piss,wtf were the arsehole judges thinking?.....come to think about it,which little 'uber-brunstropp' was the fecker who nicked the poor old giffer in the first place?.
this demonstrates MORE THAN EVER that speed scameras,talivans and your everyday kojak with a kodak are definatly all out for anyone and any cash they can get......just for their couple of pieces of silver.
i take it the discission to persecute/sorry/prosecute this poor old guy was the discission of the c.p.s?.....the cps are like a schoolyard bully,thats why they cant actually prosecute the piece of shat scumfecks that rob/rape/murder/nonce/etc because they are shat scared of the outcry from scumbags lawyers and their caravan-dwelling families,yet when faced with a pensioner who isnt backed-up by 'the family smith' they are soon quick enough to kick him in the nuts and nick his dinner money.
a message to all the 'safety partnerships'(sic) and kodak users,instead of the usual yellow jackets why not take a note from billy connolly "WHY DONT YOU WEAR MASKS,YA F*****G FOOTPADS!"
>> Edited by cortinaman on Thursday 3rd June 06:55
this demonstrates MORE THAN EVER that speed scameras,talivans and your everyday kojak with a kodak are definatly all out for anyone and any cash they can get......just for their couple of pieces of silver.
i take it the discission to persecute/sorry/prosecute this poor old guy was the discission of the c.p.s?.....the cps are like a schoolyard bully,thats why they cant actually prosecute the piece of shat scumfecks that rob/rape/murder/nonce/etc because they are shat scared of the outcry from scumbags lawyers and their caravan-dwelling families,yet when faced with a pensioner who isnt backed-up by 'the family smith' they are soon quick enough to kick him in the nuts and nick his dinner money.
a message to all the 'safety partnerships'(sic) and kodak users,instead of the usual yellow jackets why not take a note from billy connolly "WHY DONT YOU WEAR MASKS,YA F*****G FOOTPADS!"
>> Edited by cortinaman on Thursday 3rd June 06:55
Really don't understand the ban - unnecessary and spiteful b*stards!!
The dutch anti-gatso campaigners put up warning signs a few 100 metres ahead of mobile camera sites and don't seem to get in trouble for it - the cops just give up and move to another site. They're taking the p*ss in the UK yet again....
The dutch anti-gatso campaigners put up warning signs a few 100 metres ahead of mobile camera sites and don't seem to get in trouble for it - the cops just give up and move to another site. They're taking the p*ss in the UK yet again....
Pea-brained bureaucrats in action again. Officious police officer, CPS behaving like a bunch of accountants, and magistrates with no sense of perspective. At the appeal he'll at least be dealt with by a judge who will have an IQ and be capable of independent thought. Until then he is stuffed.
I assume he was only given a short ban? Even so it will drive up his insurance.
I assume he was only given a short ban? Even so it will drive up his insurance.
Driving ban punishment for that?!!! Related to driving, how, if he was standing still?!!!!!!!!
Hmm, even if motorists may have gone 34mph past him, there is no guarantee they would have stil been going at 34mph past the talivan if he wasn't there... so that's counting chickens before they have hatched!
Good idea about the sign though, might be worth printing some out on A2, leaving them in the boot - when come across a 'accident blackspot with a laser device' ahead, simply leave the sign up just infront, but don't stand there holding it!
Hmm, even if motorists may have gone 34mph past him, there is no guarantee they would have stil been going at 34mph past the talivan if he wasn't there... so that's counting chickens before they have hatched!
Good idea about the sign though, might be worth printing some out on A2, leaving them in the boot - when come across a 'accident blackspot with a laser device' ahead, simply leave the sign up just infront, but don't stand there holding it!
Some Nazis said:
wilfully obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty
Surely he was wilfully assisting a constable in the execution of his duty?
That is, unless said constable was attempting to extract as much cash as possible from decent people.
Been said before and no need to repeat (but I will) - this country is really on a fast slope downhill, and the sooner a political party with some common sense takes over from these
s the better.FourWheelDrift said:
Do you have a URL link for this story too?
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=QPTDTLQTFGWPPQFIQMFSM5OAVCBQ0JVC?xml=/news/2004/06/03/ncam03.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/06/03/ixportal.html
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