134MPH On a Dual carrageway, help.

[simplycooling]

Hi i was hopeing you could please give me some advice on a situation a friend of mine has got himself into, he has just recieved a court summons for doing 134mph on a dual carraige way, the police officer was pulled over in a layby and was using a sl700 speed detection gun, he did not catch my fiend as by the time he got on his bike my friend was gone, in the summons there is no photographic evidence, does anybody know if these guns catch the registration or is it down to the copper to determine with his eyes, its due to go to court, is there anyway he can argue his way out of this, he has a clean licence now but when young he had a ban for excessive speed (5 years ago) will they beable to see this or is it off his record, Any help or opinions appreciated, steve

[10 Pence Short]

If I were him I'd speak to a solicitor, before that there are always the perennial peppipoo forums.

As far as I'm aware the Magistrates can have access to DVLA records if they wish, which will show previous offences. I may be wrong, but if it was 5 years ago for a standard speeding offence, it shouldn't count any more and he is unlikely to be sentenced with that in mind.

Just thinking allowed, if the prosecution wanted to get really nasty, could they make a bad character application to bring this previous ban up in court?

[JustinP1]

Your friend wasnt driving your car was he?


If you weren't stopped there is a loophole should you have the cash to get a solicitor and hope they will be able to exploit it.

That is, if your solicitor represents you then how do the witnesses prove it was you who was driving that day?

There is a hefty cost in that though and if the magistrates don't have it for whatever reason you may end up with a legal bil for a grand or more.

I have heard that Messeurs Nick Freeman and Co. have utilised the above loophole on more than one occasion. You will need to put up a total of about five grand for him to represent you though, and the court will only justify some of that should you win, so even if you win you will be £1500 or so down.

I mean your friend of course...

[ALawson]

And there was me worrying about going past a camera van at an indicated 60 in a 50. 11 Days wait still to go.

[Vesuvius 996]

Real risk of a good kicking from the bench here.

What's he charged with? Dangerous Driving or just the speeding?

[10 Pence Short]

JustinP1 said:

Your friend wasnt driving your car was he?


If you weren't stopped there is a loophole should you have the cash to get a solicitor and hope they will be able to exploit it.

That is, if your solicitor represents you then how do the witnesses prove it was you who was driving that day?

There is a hefty cost in that though and if the magistrates don't have it for whatever reason you may end up with a legal bil for a grand or more.

I have heard that Messeurs Nick Freeman and Co. have utilised the above loophole on more than one occasion. You will need to put up a total of about five grand for him to represent you though, and the court will only justify some of that should you win, so even if you win you will be £1500 or so down.

I mean your friend of course...

Won't the accused have already completed an s172?

[^Slider^]

The SL700 can plug in to a portable "speed eye" device which captures digital images of the offending vehicle along with speed, range etc.

So you may find there is images of your friends vehicle there.

They do not have to provide these images with the summons and will usually be disclosed prior to the hearing on request, or they will be avaliable on the court date.

With regards to the previous convictions, they will be avaliable to the court on the DVLA print out, i cant say if the mags take any notice of these after the 5 year mark.

Maybe he should be paying more attention at 134 MPH as i understand that to be ban teritory unless mitigation / early guilty plea is submitted.

[^Slider^]

10 Pence Short said:

JustinP1 said:

Your friend wasnt driving your car was he?


If you weren't stopped there is a loophole should you have the cash to get a solicitor and hope they will be able to exploit it.

That is, if your solicitor represents you then how do the witnesses prove it was you who was driving that day?

There is a hefty cost in that though and if the magistrates don't have it for whatever reason you may end up with a legal bil for a grand or more.

I have heard that Messeurs Nick Freeman and Co. have utilised the above loophole on more than one occasion. You will need to put up a total of about five grand for him to represent you though, and the court will only justify some of that should you win, so even if you win you will be £1500 or so down.

I mean your friend of course...

Won't the accused have already completed an s172?

If its simple speeding then a 172 would have been done and i guess hes admitted to being the driver at the time.

I would hazzard a guess that he could go down the route of a newton hearing (i was speeding but not by that much) or try and go down the calibration route (ie not guilty the camera dont work properly) route.

Advice would be needed.

However as i said, mitiagtion and early guitly plea can reduce the penalty.

[duff]

Sorry but he deserves to get done. It's one thing doing 60 in a 50 but 134 on a dual carriageway is taking the p1ss.

[Vesuvius 996]

^Slider^ said:

Maybe he should be paying more attention at 134 MPH as i understand that to be ban teritory unless mitigation / early guilty plea is submitted.

134 is a lot more serious than a ban!

He could well be looking at community service and a very long ban. And a big fine.

Is he charged with Dangerous Driving or just excessive speed? If it's the former this could be very serious indeed.

[Bing o]

If he filled in the S172 naminghimself as the driver he needs shooting - much better to take the 6 points for failing to disclose the driver...

[FiveStar]

Bing o said:

If he filled in the S172 naminghimself as the driver he needs shooting - much better to take the 6 points for failing to disclose the driver...

would that work? What would you do? Just never send back the S172 form? Would they just issue 6 point via the post or would you definately be sent to court?

ETA- If you were sent to court would you have to prove you couldnt possibly know whos drving? (eg you are registered keeper with only yourself on the insurance)

Edited by FiveStar on Tuesday 27th November 16:21

[mechsympathy]

duff said:

Sorry but he deserves to get done. It's one thing doing 60 in a 50 but 134 on a dual carriageway is taking the p1ss.

Perhaps, as you were clearly there, you could explain why?

[Howitzer]

I was doing 123.8 on an A road and the policeman himself said there was no danger involved, so saying 134 on a dual carrigeway is dangerous is a bit silly.

A friend of mine was followed doing 140, he was pulled over as it was an undercover car and was given a 6 month ban and smallish fine I believe.

If the charge is just for speeding then that's as far as it will go, maximum would be a ban of up to 2 years I think, please correct me if i'm wrong.

It is definitely worth asking for any evidence that they have and then consulting a lawyer before you make the decision on what way to go about this.

Dave!

[FiveStar]

mechsympathy said:

duff said:

Sorry but he deserves to get done. It's one thing doing 60 in a 50 but 134 on a dual carriageway is taking the p1ss.

Perhaps, as you were clearly there, you could explain why?

Mate, I heard if you do 10 mph over the limit you are 80% more likely to cause an accident therefore statistics prove going double the limit must have meant the OP's friend caused at least 5 accidents...

[duff]

mechsympathy said:

duff said:

Sorry but he deserves to get done. It's one thing doing 60 in a 50 but 134 on a dual carriageway is taking the p1ss.

Perhaps, as you were clearly there, you could explain why?

I'm not sure where you got the impression that I was there, however he was doing nearly double the speed limit and therefore I don't need to have been there to be of the opinion that if you get caught you have to accept the consequences.

It's not just a bit over, it's nearly DOUBLE and dual carriageways, being two lanes, leaves little room for error if something unexpected happens at that speed.

Edited by duff on Tuesday 27th November 17:13

[mechsympathy]

duff said:

I'm not sure where you got the impression that I was there

Sorry, you said he was taking the piss and deserved to get done, so I assumed you were there in order to form this opinion.

[erdnase]

duff said:

Sorry but he deserves to get done. It's one thing doing 60 in a 50 but 134 on a dual carriageway is taking the p1ss.

[vonhosen]

mechsympathy said:

duff said:

I'm not sure where you got the impression that I was there

Sorry, you said he was taking the piss and deserved to get done, so I assumed you were there in order to form this opinion.

You don't need to be there in order to form that opinion.
IMHO he deserves to be done simply because of the margin he was willing to exceed the limit.
I can't tell from here if it was WDC or DD as well, but there doesn't have to be any evidence of those for the offence of exceeding the speed limit & 134mph is definitely exceeding the speed limit.

Edited by vonhosen on Tuesday 27th November 17:37

[SplatSpeed]

wtf was he in????