Garage Door Opener Lands Man With £5K Fine
Maybe it's better to open the door yourself?
It all started when Mr Eady was targeted by a traffic cop using a radar gun as he went through a 40mph limit. The radar gun failed to register the car and returned an error message to the gun. Mr Eady continued unaware.
Rather than put it down to error, the police decided to trace the Range Rover and inspect the car, the officers found the automatic garage door transponder fitted to the front of the vehicle and it appeared to deflect a hand-held police radar gun.
Mr Eady strongly denies knowing the unit was fitted. His garage door isn’t electric and he even asked his mechanic to stand up in court and state that he was never asked to fit it.
Judge Jacqueline Davies was having none of it and told him, ‘I am satisfied that you took deliberate action in acquiring this equipment with a view to avoiding further points’, before handing down the fine along with a one-year ban.
Mr Eady said after the four-day hearing: ‘This whole thing has been a witch-hunt. It’s as though it was a murder trial just for having a little thing on the car. I don’t mind paying my dues, although I still don’t admit I knew the thing was on there.’
Before you all go onto e-bay to find a zapper, be warned. South Yorks chief constable Meredydd Hughes said: ‘Police officers throughout the country have been briefed on how to detect the devices in action and the appropriate steps to be taken to ensure the successful prosecution of dangerous law-breakers who use them.’
I'm not sure about the rest of you guys but I don't believe for a second he didn't know it was there. 12 month ban was a bit steep.
Phil
John Eady
John Eady was found guilty of using the device to block
speed detector guns
A businessman with nine points on his driving licence has been convicted of perverting the course of justice after a jury found he used the device - known as the Target LT (Laser Track) 400 - to block detector guns and avoid a further speeding conviction.
John Eady, 61, from Sheffield, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £5,000 at Doncaster Crown Court after he was found guilty earlier this month.
Last night, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, Meredydd Hughes, the head of roads policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said he believed Eady was the first person to be convicted for using such a device.
He added: "Roads policing officers have been briefed on how to detect the devices in action and the appropriate steps to be taken to ensure the successful prosecution of the law-breakers who use them."
Eady's claim that he did not know the device had been fitted to his Range Rover was not accepted by the jury.
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The LT400 is said to be the first device of its kind available in Britain and is sold with the warning that it should only be used for the purposes for which it was designed - opening things.
However, sales literature makes clear it interferes with other radar devices, including police speed guns, though it maintains that when it senses a police gun it switches off after five seconds.
One sales page points out that "as well as functioning as an automatic remote control system, the LT400 is also an effective counter-measure against police speed laser guns.
The system will alert you effectively to the presence of police laser and whilst ensuring that no speed reading is obtained.
"Please note that this is not legal in all countries and you should check local laws before use. "
Another page states: "Please be aware that to use it to actively interfere with police laser guns may be deemed an offence."
The device retails from around £290.
Police were alerted on June 6 last year when Eady, who owns a laboratory equipment business, drove through a 40mph zone where a mobile speed check was taking place.
Believing Eady to be speeding, an officer aimed a laser speed gun at the Range Rover but the speed was not registered and the gun instead showed an error message. He was traced to his home and police discovered the device.
There were no similar devices fitted to the door of his garage, which was used for storage. The LT400 can be bought as a car-only device or as one with a home fitting to go on a garage.
Judge Jacqueline Davies told Eady, who had driven more than 140,000 miles in the last four years: "I am satisfied that you took deliberate action in acquiring this equipment with a view to avoiding further points from a laser gun."
I have since sold my old car that was fully loaded with jammers, I PX'd it so god only knows if the current driver has any idea that they are fitted.
It's a sad thing that speeding enforcement has come to such a dire state as to motivate 1000s of drivers to fit jammers, then even sadder that the authorities try to clamp down on them in this way. It's hardly very sporting is it?
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