Another's Inconsiderate driving = Fixed Penalty

[FordFocusRS]

Quick Scenario; driving home, keeping low profile - inconsiderate driver blatantly tries to drive me off the road at traffic island by outaccelerating/switching lanes - decide to ignore.

Traffic slows to crawl on next road section - same driver chops infront - quick actions avert collision - again.

Enter a sliproad for 40 mph limit dual carriageway ( industrial area/out of town) - same driver starts to slow - by this time getting very, very paranoid indeed.

Feel unconfortable so quick overtake in outside lane - putting sufficient distance between myself and same car to feel slightly less paranoid.

Not 100% sure of speed during "overtake" but would say
no more than 55-60 mph - and then for 150 yards - until back down to religious 40 mph.

Trafpolice,from further back, spot the RS and it's rate of acceleration and give chase.

Pulled 300 yards later. Offered court or fixed penalty. Take fixed penalty - fairly new to this.

Fixed penalty states excess speed in 40 mph - 40-70 mph. Asked how this was measured ; answer - calibrated speedo. I'm concerned at the accuracy and the wide range of speed quoted. i.e. 40 mph - ok; 70 mph - a ban ?!

Incident happened at 18:30 - wrong time,17:35, quoted on ticket.

I was refused the request to have my passenger in the car with me.

Explained mitigating "circumstances" , made statement later - thinking of going to court. What are my chances?

[dontlift]

Well you will go commiting these henous crimes......

Your chances slim to nothing, you could go for the technicalities but i doubt it would be enough unless you get a specialist on it

[hedders]

Can you prove you were elsewhere at 5:35?

If you can prove that the time on the ticket is totally wrong, perhaps you can bring the rest of into question?

Good luck.

[puggit]

Try the Beckham defence? They were chasing you

[count duckula]

You could have killed hundreds of children at that speed.

lucky for you nobody died.

Malc

[james_j]

Another wonderful piece of "justice" dished out by a "safety" camera.

[tonyrec]

Killing children or not, sadly you were speeding.

You could try to get out of it by way of a technicality...if it was the wrong time then you could contest it.
The choice is yours but bad luck all the same especially as by the sounds of it the wrong person was stopped.

[deltaf]

tonyrec said:

Killing children or not, sadly you were speeding. You could try to get out of it by way of a technicality...if it was the wrong time then you could contest it. The choice is yours but bad luck all the same especially as by the sounds of it the wrong person was stopped.

This is the whole problem tho Tony, its all based on the luck of the draw.
Dosent go down too well when the other twat gets off scot free..... ....

[Fat Audi 80]

I take it they weren't interested in the other driver then?

Sounds like shit street to me. Unlucky. Might be worth a trip to court, but sounds like it is your word against the Police. Problem is, you WERE speeding but had a reason to as you feared an accident or worse even a carjacking

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

[FordFocusRS]

Thanks for the replies.

Any idea of the likely points attached to the £60 Fixed Penalty. Also would be the likely increase in fine/points allocated if defended and lost in court ?

[tonyrec]

FordFocusRS said:

Thanks for the replies. Any idea of the likely points attached to the £60 Fixed Penalty. Also would be the likely increase in fine/points allocated if defended and lost in court ?

If you pay the ticket then it will be 3 points....if you go to Court and lose, i have seen the person get awarded 3 to 6 points with a fine of about £150 on occasions.

[FordFocusRS]

Whether a £60 or £150 fine, what annoys more is the hidden costs of the above.

Most insurers "claim" to ignore one minor speeding conviction, but this is untrue.

In the case of my insurers, Direct line, all other things being equal - the premium will increase by approximately £150 for the next 5 years.

I'm 31 years of age and a qualified professional. I have 10 years of point free motoring and have 10 years accident free motoring.

I expect the fine will be means tested - so call that £250 - plus the extra insurance costs equals £1000 over 5 years. This excludes lost earnings from attending court.

This to me is the criminal element.