Man loses crucial speeding case
Matter will go to the Lords 'if necessary'
Keep a copper in a job
Businessman Richard Hussey was ordered to pay a £1,146 fine and received five points on his licence at Devizes magistrates court last week.
Hussey will be challenging the speeding penalty on the basis that the civilian wielding the speed camera on which the charge is based was unqualified to take an initial view on whether or not he was speeding. He argues that a police officer is both trained and is empowered in law to do that, while civilians are not.
He told the local paper: "I want to go further and fight for justice. It's me versus the authorities. I felt very disappointed. I really hoped they'd be able to say they thought we were right and civilians can't actually do a police officer's job.
"I would have just paid it if it had been a police officer and taken the three points but I feel there is a principle that needs to be ironed out."
Hussey said that he'd be willing to take the case all the way to the House of Lords if necessary.
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Picture by www.speedcam.co.uk
Does it matter if the civilian is trained as a Police Officer or not? It's the radar gun that says whether he was speeding surely? Or am I missing something?Yes you are. The camera merely corroborates a prior opinion of excess speed. They need both to secure a conviction. Until now, nobody believed that anyone other than a police officer could form that opinion, ie. the camera on its own is insufficient. (just as with Gatso's -- the speed on the picture plus the car moving against the white lines to corroborate).
It's therefore crucial to know whether a MoP is legally capable (as opposed to simply capable) of forming the prior opinion.
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