Would you spend £30,000 to fight a speeding fine?

[g3org3y]

BBC said:

A retired engineer says he has spent £30,000 of savings on his fight "for justice" over a £100 speeding fine.

Richard Keedwell, 71, said a "seriously flawed" legal system meant fighting the fine had taken nearly three years and used up his sons' inheritance money.

He claims he was wrongly clocked doing 35mph in a 30mph zone on a day trip to Worcester in 2016.

Is this a PHer?

Seems like he lost both his appeals:

BBC said:

Mr Keedwell claimed he had "no case to answer" and recruited the help of a video and electronics expert who told the court the speed camera may have been triggered by a car in an adjacent lane or have been faulty.

However, he said it took four trips to Worcester Magistrates' Court before his appeal was heard. After losing the case, he lost a further crown court appeal in August.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-wor...

[Welshbeef]

In the situation it was a £100 fine no I’d pay the fine and then challenge it - assuming I wasn’t actually guilty.


Same with parking fines pay instantly to nip it’s max fee in the bud then challenge

[The Mad Monk]

Saint, sinner, knave or fool?

I say fool.

[Etypephil]

No I would not, but nor should it cost £30,000 to fight a speeding ticket; neither the equipment nor the system is infallible, and the law is designed to steamroller us into acceptance, guilty or not.

[bairn7]

If he had just paid up at the time, it would be a distant memory by now, only rearing its head at insurance renewal time. Spending £30,000 and ultimately losing will stick with him and his family forever. Some things are just not worth it.

[Etypephil]

bairn7 said:

If he had just paid up at the time, it would be a distant memory by now, only rearing its head at insurance renewal time. Spending £30,000 and ultimately losing will stick with him and his family forever. Some things are just not worth it.

Exactly the attitude that the authorities wish to nurture.

[mikeiow]

The Mad Monk said:

Saint, sinner, knave or fool?

I say fool.

^^^^
THIS

He said fighting the fine “used up his sons' inheritance money“.
Hmmm......well, your choice, sunshine

[agtlaw]

Wow. Who was the “expert” witness and who represented him?

Did he spend £30k to avoid a speed awareness course?

[Ian Geary]

Yes, must get the name of that "expert"....

[the tribester]

Welshbeef said:

In the situation it was a £100 fine no I’d pay the fine and then challenge it - assuming I wasn’t actually guilty.


Same with parking fines pay instantly to nip it’s max fee in the bud then challenge

I'm not sure there's a challenge process once you've paid. That's it, you've accepted your guilt.

[Zetec-S]

Etypephil said:

No I would not, but nor should it cost £30,000 to fight a speeding ticket; neither the equipment nor the system is infallible, and the law is designed to steamroller us into acceptance, guilty or not.

Propose a better system...?

[InitialDave]

Etypephil said:

Exactly the attitude that the authorities wish to nurture.

It depends.

You should be able to fight it without so much hassle/cost, but the system is far from perfect - and it's worth remembering that a perfect system for dealing with speeding would catch you perfectly, too.

While a fine for a 35 in a 30 I wasn't guilty of would seriously piss me off, given some of the st I've done over the years and not been pegged for, if the forecast to fight it would be it'd cost me more than the fine plus the effect on my insurance policies for a few years (assuming I didn't get a sit-in-the-naughty-corner-for-a-day lecturing option), I probably would just take the hit and chalk it up to experience.

[Turfy]

Welshbeef said:

In the situation it was a £100 fine no I’d pay the fine and then challenge it - assuming I wasn’t actually guilty.


Same with parking fines pay instantly to nip it’s max fee in the bud then challenge

With council issued parking fines, as long as you challenge within the stated time, the max fee is put on hold. If you lose, you then have the option to pay the reduced fee, within a set time period.

Every parking fine I have I will appeal locally, regionally and nationally and if I lose, I’ll pay the minimum. It takes 6-12 months and is never less than 1-inch of paperwork.

[BertBert]

the tribester said:

Welshbeef said:

In the situation it was a £100 fine no I’d pay the fine and then challenge it - assuming I wasn’t actually guilty.


Same with parking fines pay instantly to nip it’s max fee in the bud then challenge

I'm not sure there's a challenge process once you've paid. That's it, you've accepted your guilt.

Obviously that's so, I would have thought Mr Beef would have known that.

[Bill]

£7k costs? And he spent three times that on lawyers. And still lost in three courts.

It's not the system to blame.

[irc]

The system depends on the vast majority of driver accepting fines or courses. If they all plead not guilty and went to trial the system would fail. Just like there is, or used to be, an unwritten rule that in Glasgow it wasn't worth reporting careless driving cases after accidents where no injury had resulted because the prosecutor would drop them. There wasn't the court time to run minor RTA cases.

But spending £30k on appeals was never worth it.

[anonymous-user]

There was another story below. About a guy blaming a fictional french man. It is amazing the lengths people go to say getting points and a fine.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-44...

[LordLoveLength]

Thesprucegoose said:

There was another story below. About a guy blaming a fictional french man. It is amazing the lengths people go to say getting points and a fine.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-44...

Or Ex-MP and solictor Fiona Onasanya. Cost her a lot more than £30k

[meatballs]

If he had some concrete evidence he was doing 30mph at the time (dashcam etc) but if not it is fairly foolish to think you can argue?

[anonymous-user]

meatballs said:

If he had some concrete evidence he was doing 30mph at the time (dashcam etc) but if not it is fairly foolish to think you can argue?

It is the I'm more intelligent than you, you get it all the time on here. Engineers etc who are brilliant in their respective fields think it applies to other areas.