What would you do if falsely accused of speeding @ 110mph?

[frankenstein12]

FurtiveFreddy said:

It's Metropolitan, not Thames and FYI Kent Police can be just as arrogant and rude if you get the wrong one and you were doing 124mph on the M25

Is there a difference? Given I have had numerous interactions with Kent police and all of them bar one were fantastic even though i was in the wrong every single time. Even the one time I was given a huge dressing down the officer was bang to rights as I had been driving like a total tool.

[FurtiveFreddy]

frankenstein12 said:

Is there a difference? Given I have had numerous interactions with Kent police and all of them bar one were fantastic even though i was in the wrong every single time. Even the one time I was given a huge dressing down the officer was bang to rights as I had been driving like a total tool.

I wasn't really sure whether you meant Thames Valley Police or this lot:



Anyway, there are good and bad Police in every force I'd suggest.

[frankenstein12]

FurtiveFreddy said:

frankenstein12 said:

Is there a difference? Given I have had numerous interactions with Kent police and all of them bar one were fantastic even though i was in the wrong every single time. Even the one time I was given a huge dressing down the officer was bang to rights as I had been driving like a total tool.

I wasn't really sure whether you meant Thames Valley Police or this lot:



Anyway, there are good and bad Police in every force I'd suggest.

True and I dont like tarring all people with the same brush but so far Met police are 2 for 2 in behaving like dheads whereas kent police are 3 for 3 for behaving like top officers.

[Red Devil]

The Met officer who tried to stiff me with a ticket for an illegally spaced plate wasn't even aware of the applicable legislation.
Despite it having been on the statute books for over 6 years - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2687/regul...
He was properly obnoxious git from the moment he opened his mouth whereas I remained calm and polite throughout.
I have to admit a frisson of pleasure from his discomfiture when I proved he didn't know what he was talking about.

Otoh the one from Kent was awfully nice when he breathalysed* me: he even let me keep the white tube...

 * Reading was 0 as I never drive until any alcohol I have consumed has beeen eliminated.
    Was required to blow as I had somehow parked my car upside down off the road early one morning.
    My PH driving god badge was revoked but I have since had it returned.

[Solocle]

Red Devil said:

The Met officer who tried to stiff me with a ticket for an illegally spaced plate wasn't even aware of the applicable legislation.
Despite it having been on the statute books for over 6 years - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2687/regul...
He was properly obnoxious git from the moment he opened his mouth whereas I remained calm and polite throughout.
I have to admit a frisson of pleasure from his discomfiture when I proved he didn't know what he was talking about.

Otoh the one from Kent was awfully nice when he breathalysed* me: he even let me keep the white tube...

 * Reading was 0 as I never drive until any alcohol I have consumed has beeen eliminated.
    Was required to blow as I had somehow parked my car upside down off the road early one morning.
    My PH driving god badge was revoked but I have since had it returned.

[carinaman]

FurtiveFreddy said:

Anyway, there are good and bad Police in every force I'd suggest.

[IJB1959]

carinaman said:

FurtiveFreddy said:

Anyway, there are good and bad Police in every force I'd suggest.

I got stopped for 'allegedly' doing 79 in a 40 limit. TBH, I did not see how fast I was going at the time (just following a line of traffic) then was flagged down by a laser gun totting cop, but I know it was no where near 79...maybe 43 tops. Anyway, he of course gave me a ticket. I later asked in writing to see the calibration of the laser gun used and guess what? they never replied and I never heard anymore and that was 3 years ago. Beware, some of them are just lying corrupt *b*****s after brownie points. I didn't have a dash cam then, but I do now.

[anonymous-user]

Did you do it via FOI? If not they don’t need to show you.

[IJB1959]

La Liga said:

Did you do it via FOI? If not they don’t need to show you.

I requested it as I knew something was wrong, so did they which is why they never replied or even summoned me. Had I just accepted it like a lot of people would it could have been a ban & large fine, or 6 points and a fine at best.

[FurtiveFreddy]

Update from the Youtube video:

"For anyone interested in what happened next, I made a complaint to the Met police.
The Met complaint team was very responsive and located the officer despite that I didn't ask for their name & warrant number etc..
The line manager of the officer contacted and offered me an apology, turns out the officer never actually put the report through as he was "not sure about the speeder" when he went back to the office, he later viewed this video confirmed that I was not speeding."

That's odd, he seemed quite sure at the time...

[IJB1959]

FurtiveFreddy said:

Update from the Youtube video:

"For anyone interested in what happened next, I made a complaint to the Met police.
The Met complaint team was very responsive and located the officer despite that I didn't ask for their name & warrant number etc..
The line manager of the officer contacted and offered me an apology, turns out the officer never actually put the report through as he was "not sure about the speeder" when he went back to the office, he later viewed this video confirmed that I was not speeding."

That's odd, he seemed quite sure at the time...

Good stuff!! Just goes to show how wrong they can be. I wonder how many people have been wrongly stitched up because they just 'accepted' that an officer is always right. If in doubt, CHALLENGE them to PROVE it.

[Stoofa]

IJB1959 said:

Good stuff!! Just goes to show how wrong they can be. I wonder how many people have been wrongly stitched up because they just 'accepted' that an officer is always right. If in doubt, CHALLENGE them to PROVE it.

I would guess not that many. If a speeding charge comes through you know if you were anywhere near the alleged speed. If I ever saw a NIP for 100mph+ then I know for a fact it cannot be real and I'd fight it all the way.
However the vast majority of people on internet forums such as this who claim they were "never speeding" and are being "stitched up" know full well they were. They are angry because they have been caught and the hundreds of other drivers who regularly speed didn't.

I'm sure there are "bad un's" in the force. But speeding & mobile phone use is like shooting fish in a barrel - I'm sure the police can be mistaken, cannot see any reason to lie, far too many easy prey to catch.

[IJB1959]

Stoofa said:

IJB1959 said:

Good stuff!! Just goes to show how wrong they can be. I wonder how many people have been wrongly stitched up because they just 'accepted' that an officer is always right. If in doubt, CHALLENGE them to PROVE it.

I would guess not that many. If a speeding charge comes through you know if you were anywhere near the alleged speed. If I ever saw a NIP for 100mph+ then I know for a fact it cannot be real and I'd fight it all the way.
However the vast majority of people on internet forums such as this who claim they were "never speeding" and are being "stitched up" know full well they were. They are angry because they have been caught and the hundreds of other drivers who regularly speed didn't.

I'm sure there are "bad un's" in the force. But speeding & mobile phone use is like shooting fish in a barrel - I'm sure the police can be mistaken, cannot see any reason to lie, far too many easy prey to catch.

Maybe so, but my point was that if you know full well you were not, then challenge them like me and the OP did and don't just accept it as many would. If you were speeding and you know it, then take it on the chin.

But the fact is they do sometimes lie as we have discovered.

Had I just accepted mine was correct, It could have been 6 points, a £400.00+ fine, or possible 6 month ban.

[martinbiz]

IJB1959 said:

But the fact is they do sometimes lie as we have discovered.

Have we???

Has it not occured to you that a simple mistake was probably made with a setting or manner of operation which was later discovered and that is why you have heard no more?

Or is it just that the thought of a conspiracy theory that a serving police officer would deliberately accuse a motorist of traveling at twice the speed they actually were and be prepared to risk their career and possbly their liberty trying to prove it floats your boat more

[Davidonly]

martinbiz said:

IJB1959 said:

But the fact is they do sometimes lie as we have discovered.

Have we???

Has it not occured to you that a simple mistake was probably made with a setting or manner of operation which was later discovered and that is why you have heard no more?

Or is it just that the thought of a conspiracy theory that a serving police officer would deliberately accuse a motorist of traveling at twice the speed they actually were and be prepared to risk their career and possbly their liberty trying to prove it floats your boat more

We need to have more info as to how the error came about. These LIDAR things are subject to many potential errors including slip / hitting wrong target / providing a reading from rotating parts of a vehicle etc. The scale of the potential error rate is brushed over as the toy is so useful for revenue generation.

I would suggest that a forensic process subject to such gauge / R&R error ought to be withdrawn from use.

Just not proceeding / dropping a prosecution without documenting what went wrong for us all to review openly is not good enough.

[Sa Calobra]

Dashcam? Check
Middle Lane hogger? Check

Really doesn't help what I think of said types of motorists.

[herewego]

martinbiz said:

IJB1959 said:

But the fact is they do sometimes lie as we have discovered.

Have we???

Has it not occured to you that a simple mistake was probably made with a setting or manner of operation which was later discovered and that is why you have heard no more?

Or is it just that the thought of a conspiracy theory that a serving police officer would deliberately accuse a motorist of traveling at twice the speed they actually were and be prepared to risk their career and possbly their liberty trying to prove it floats your boat more

I agree with you but it would be courteous to make contact and explain what went wrong. Local authorities are famous for the same behaviour, sending a letter saying we'll drop it this time but don't do it again when they.have made a parking charge error.

[petrolsniffer]

how the hell would you get 110mph from where he pinged him?

did the police not think hang on a minute hes going with the flow of the traffic they can't all be doing 110mph a volvo even passes him in the outside lane at that moment.

To ping him at that speed you'd have to visually see the speed differential and he'd likely be in the outside lane thanks to busy it was.

Hope he gets out of it thanks to the dashcam footage another reason I must buy one!

EDIT: Must read the whole thread/youtube description still good thing he had the footage but it seems the police officer never filed it anyway still on amazon right now to buy a cam

Edited by petrolsniffer on Saturday 17th March 09:48

[IJB1959]

martinbiz said:

IJB1959 said:

But the fact is they do sometimes lie as we have discovered.

Have we???

Has it not occured to you that a simple mistake was probably made with a setting or manner of operation which was later discovered and that is why you have heard no more?

Or is it just that the thought of a conspiracy theory that a serving police officer would deliberately accuse a motorist of traveling at twice the speed they actually were and be prepared to risk their career and possbly their liberty trying to prove it floats your boat more

Ok, assuming you are a serving Police officer? you do have my respect so don't get me wrong. But in my case the speeding accusation was deliberately pursued with a ticket and why I don't know. I was in the middle of a line of traffic all separated by about 45-50 meters each and all doing around 40mph (the speed limit). All the cars in front passed him except for me being singled out, I was stopped and told I was doing nearly twice the limit at 79mph!! and as you can imagine a difficult (but polite) conversation ensued. I was then given a ticket. TBH I think he knew I wasn't doing 79 or anywhere near it, and it was in fact impossible between the line of traffic anyway unless you had a supercar which I pointed out, but he refused to admit his laser reading was or could be wrong, and that "he could see I was speeding anyway". So to me he was lying and knew it.

This was not therefore a simple mistake, but rather a huge blunder. Had he said 45mph I would have accepted it as I was not looking that closely at the speedo at the particular point he pinged me, but I was doing 41 when I saw him and checked (as you do).

So those are the facts and make of it what you will. It was the strangest encounter I have ever had, and has now made me more sceptical then ever about some 'alleged' speeding with laser guns, and of course angry that this ever should have happened in the first place.

[irocfan]

just out of curiosity I seem to recall reading somewhere that modern cars do save various data either as part of the ECU history or the 'smart' key. If that is the case wouldn't it be easy to dis/prove?