Sod it see them in court!

[sheel]

28th Dec ambling down the A5 at Weedon in Evo 8 about lunchtime,weather fine no traffic (let out to do some shopping mm mm ) Modeo comes flying past so know I wasnt going rapid + had the wife with me and she HATES the Evo. Spots scamera van in the layby checks my speedo and its saying 66 (60 limit)
NIP arrives with 71mph. sod them got a clean license so me being me is going to argue, if we all sat back rolled over and took what is said then this country is getting too sad. Im going to try some new aguements least of which is 'is the operator competent to do the job'? Im in construction aand we need tickets to go to the loo now!! Ok I will probably lose but there again if I do why should there be a 'possibility of higher fine and more points' is this to put us off protesting? Will let you know of the outcome, if procecuted might get done for contempt as well knowing my temper!!!

[justinp1]

hi sheel,

A very similar thing happened to me about a year ago. I did a huge amount of research and had a very technical case and proved that the operator did not use the gun properly, did not test it, did not use it in the right place etc.

The clerk of the court congratulated be whilst the magistrates were deliberating, and told me that I put forward the best self-defended case in 20 years.

I lost.

I then appealed and got a barrister to make my points to add more weight.

And lost again.

Please do not think you can turn up on the day, make a good, honest common sense case and win. It doesnt work like that. In other self defended cases I have heard of the CPS have turned up with no evidence and no witnesses and still managed to bully the court and the defendant into getting an adjournment.

There is a way forward to win laser cases, but it is a complex and technical one, and you will need a solicitor.

Let me know if you want to know more.

[deeps]

I dont know the road but sounds like a typical parasite scamera location. They prey on NSL roads for the highest turnover of vehicles, lambs to the slaughter.

I guess your 1st action could be asking for the photos, good luck anyway keep us updated.

[Boosted Ls1]

Easiest defence will always be about who was driving the car. Ask for the photo's, say nothing until you see them.

Boosted.

[sheel]

Thanks for the comments,ok I was a little over the limit but like a lot of you I drive 35 to 40k a year and see more and more of the most rediculous dangerous and simply idiotic driving everyday. It just racks me off when there is a dead straight bit of road with NO hazards and a holiday time to boot that these vans can just sit and rake money in.Get some more plod on the roads, deal with the untaxed/unisured, sort the bloody foriegn lorry drivers out ( a lot of which are now on UK agencies) and leave the average driver alone.
I am going to give my defence some long hard thought

[deltafox]

Shoot over to pepipoo also.

[JonRB]

It might be productive to ask on the forums on www.pepipoo.com on this matter - some very switched-on people over there who live & breathe this kind of stuff.

Edit: Beaten to it by 2 mins!

>> Edited by JonRB on Tuesday 17th January 23:30

[TSS]

sheel said:

28th Dec ambling down the A5 at Weedon

Where exactly was that near Weedon? North or south of the village? I live near there and the stretch going south towards Towcester is dead straight, the width of 4 or 5 lanes and suitable for 1.4 units on a clear day. I would not want to meet a Scamera along there!

Also when did your NIP arrive? If it arrived in the last couple of days it could be outside the 14 day limit?

[ylee coyote]

[quote=sheel] Spots scamera van in the layby checks my speedo and its saying 66 (60 limit)
quote]

If this is true then your actual speed was probably close to 60

the guys on pepipoo are the best to advise but i would definitely push for the full video evidence for expert analysis ,and my feeling is that it will be dropped before it gets to court ..

[outnumbered]

I saw a van in that area of the A5 when I was going on the bike up to Donington last year for MotoGP. It was a wide, open straight road, with a few small crests and dips on it.

Since they are interested in road safety, of course you'd think they would park the van on top of one of the crests to discourage anyone from speeding. However, since they are more interested in money, they'd actually parked it in a dip so it was somewhat hidden.

Fortunately other road users were keen to warn me of the highly dangerous road conditions in that area, by flashing their headlights.

[sheel]

TSS said:

sheel said: 28th Dec ambling down the A5 at Weedon Where exactly was that near Weedon? North or south of the village? I live near there and the stretch going south towards Towcester is dead straight, the width of 4 or 5 lanes and suitable for 1.4 units on a clear day. I would not want to meet a Scamera along there! Also when did your NIP arrive? If it arrived in the last couple of days it could be outside the 14 day limit?

[sheel]

It was north of Weedon towards the large crossroads, as the other PH said its a wide fast road and having been down there tonight the position the van was parked does not constitute an area that you would call a blackspot, I was under the impression cameras were suppose to be located in accident prone area's this point is after a junction southbound and past a 50 limit designed for the junction. My sat nav says the evo speedo was about 5mph out so 60 mph it could have well been. Had a look at pepico and some v intersting articles there will start with the photo evidence 1st, however Northants do not offer this only the camera calibration.

[TSS]

sheel said:

will start with the photo evidence 1st, however Northants do not offer this only the camera calibration.

How have you asked them for photo evidence, by phone or letter? Myself and my brother both have collections of photo's from the Northants scamera partnership (he has more than me ). We've always just phoned the ticket office and asked for them to post us the photo's to help us identify who was driving. (In none of the photo's could you ever idenify who was driving but that's beside the point). They've always sent them out with no hassle, but we haven't been caught by them recently so maybe they've changed their policy.