Can an offer of an 'awareness course' be changed to points?
Discussion
Hypothetically speaking:
Lets say you were pulled over by the Police for doing a handful of MPH over the speed limit. 46 in a 40.
The conversation is very pleasant at first and the officer, who appears to be around 14 years old, says "Nothing to worry about, just going a tiny bit too fast there, take this as a warning, I'll just check your details and you can be on your way Sir"
He asks when you last committed a driving offence, and you say "I got awarded 3 points, 22 years ago, but never anything else."
He says "Ok, thats no problem"
He takes your licence and goes to his car, takes absolutely ages making various calls over the radio and typing on his handheld device, comes back and then announces you will be receiving a letter through the post with an option to go on a 'speed awareness course', having made no mention of any sort of potential punishment previously during the conversation, just 'a warning'.
You then engage the officer in deep and meaningful questions about whether he has managed to solve all the serious crimes in the area, such as the violent burglary of your parents house, which still remains unsolved, you then very briskly take your photo card licence back from the officer, inform him that you are less than impressed with the standard of work he is doing, suggest that he self-fornicates, and drive off while he is trying to finish speaking to you.
You later realise that your actions may have made you look like a scum bag of sorts, instead of the decent law abiding, tax paying, middle class citizen and employer that you are, but you don't care because you are still really mad, but then your mind turns to the potential penalty:
Is the offer of a speed awareness course at the discretion of the issuing officer, or is it decided by the Police 'speeding department' (or whatever).
All hypothetical of course.
Thank you
Lets say you were pulled over by the Police for doing a handful of MPH over the speed limit. 46 in a 40.
The conversation is very pleasant at first and the officer, who appears to be around 14 years old, says "Nothing to worry about, just going a tiny bit too fast there, take this as a warning, I'll just check your details and you can be on your way Sir"
He asks when you last committed a driving offence, and you say "I got awarded 3 points, 22 years ago, but never anything else."
He says "Ok, thats no problem"
He takes your licence and goes to his car, takes absolutely ages making various calls over the radio and typing on his handheld device, comes back and then announces you will be receiving a letter through the post with an option to go on a 'speed awareness course', having made no mention of any sort of potential punishment previously during the conversation, just 'a warning'.
You then engage the officer in deep and meaningful questions about whether he has managed to solve all the serious crimes in the area, such as the violent burglary of your parents house, which still remains unsolved, you then very briskly take your photo card licence back from the officer, inform him that you are less than impressed with the standard of work he is doing, suggest that he self-fornicates, and drive off while he is trying to finish speaking to you.
You later realise that your actions may have made you look like a scum bag of sorts, instead of the decent law abiding, tax paying, middle class citizen and employer that you are, but you don't care because you are still really mad, but then your mind turns to the potential penalty:
Is the offer of a speed awareness course at the discretion of the issuing officer, or is it decided by the Police 'speeding department' (or whatever).
All hypothetical of course.
Thank you
Lord Marylebone said:
Hypothetically speaking:
Lets say you were pulled over by the Police for doing a handful of MPH over the speed limit. 46 in a 40.
The conversation is very pleasant at first and the officer, who appears to be around 14 years old, says "Nothing to worry about, just going a tiny bit too fast there, take this as a warning, I'll just check your details and you can be on your way Sir"
He asks when you last committed a driving offence, and you say "I got awarded 3 points, 22 years ago, but never anything else."
He says "Ok, thats no problem"
He takes your licence and goes to his car, takes absolutely ages making various calls over the radio and typing on his handheld device, comes back and then announces you will be receiving a letter through the post with an option to go on a 'speed awareness course', having made no mention of any sort of potential punishment previously during the conversation, just 'a warning'.
You then engage the officer in deep and meaningful questions about whether he has managed to solve all the serious crimes in the area, such as the violent burglary of your parents house, which still remains unsolved, you then very briskly take your photo card licence back from the officer, inform him that you are less than impressed with the standard of work he is doing, suggest that he self-fornicates, and drive off while he is trying to finish speaking to you.
You later realise that your actions may have made you look like a scum bag of sorts, instead of the decent law abiding, tax paying, middle class citizen and employer that you are, but you don't care because you are still really mad, but then your mind turns to the potential penalty:
Is the offer of a speed awareness course at the discretion of the issuing officer, or is it decided by the Police 'speeding department' (or whatever).
All hypothetical of course.
Thank you
Nothing to worry about, he wasn't a real policeman, they need to be a minimum age of 18 before they can apply.Lets say you were pulled over by the Police for doing a handful of MPH over the speed limit. 46 in a 40.
The conversation is very pleasant at first and the officer, who appears to be around 14 years old, says "Nothing to worry about, just going a tiny bit too fast there, take this as a warning, I'll just check your details and you can be on your way Sir"
He asks when you last committed a driving offence, and you say "I got awarded 3 points, 22 years ago, but never anything else."
He says "Ok, thats no problem"
He takes your licence and goes to his car, takes absolutely ages making various calls over the radio and typing on his handheld device, comes back and then announces you will be receiving a letter through the post with an option to go on a 'speed awareness course', having made no mention of any sort of potential punishment previously during the conversation, just 'a warning'.
You then engage the officer in deep and meaningful questions about whether he has managed to solve all the serious crimes in the area, such as the violent burglary of your parents house, which still remains unsolved, you then very briskly take your photo card licence back from the officer, inform him that you are less than impressed with the standard of work he is doing, suggest that he self-fornicates, and drive off while he is trying to finish speaking to you.
You later realise that your actions may have made you look like a scum bag of sorts, instead of the decent law abiding, tax paying, middle class citizen and employer that you are, but you don't care because you are still really mad, but then your mind turns to the potential penalty:
Is the offer of a speed awareness course at the discretion of the issuing officer, or is it decided by the Police 'speeding department' (or whatever).
All hypothetical of course.
Thank you
Having said that if he was above the minimum age you could have effed up big time in the latter stages of your meeting and made his day. You could even be his first collar, taking his virginity so to speak
The real question is why would you want to take a speed awareness course in the first place if you have a clean licence? It will cost about £100 either way and 3 points makes a minimal difference to your insurance costs but an awareness course will cost you a day of your life. Surely its much better to take a FPN for a first offence and save the course for the second time you get caught where the clock on the original 3 points will have already ticked down by several months or even years if you are lucky.
Monkeylegend said:
Nothing to worry about, he wasn't a real policeman, they need to be a minimum age of 18 before they can apply.
Having said that if he was above the minimum age you could have effed up big time in the latter stages of your meeting and made his day. You could even be his first collar, taking his virginity so to speak
Well I’m sure all that will be of great relief to the protagonist of this hypothetical scenario Having said that if he was above the minimum age you could have effed up big time in the latter stages of your meeting and made his day. You could even be his first collar, taking his virginity so to speak
Lord Marylebone said:
.......You then engage the officer in deep and meaningful questions about whether he has managed to solve all the serious crimes in the area, such as the violent burglary of your parents house, which still remains unsolved..........
Do you also (hypothetically) ask CID Officers, Fraud squad Officers, British Transport Police Officers, Serious and Organised Crime Officers, Vice Officers etc., etc., if they've managed to stop all the speeding drivers? 
scottyp123 said:
The real question is why would you want to take a speed awareness course in the first place if you have a clean licence? It will cost about £100 either way and 3 points makes a minimal difference to your insurance costs but an awareness course will cost you a day of your life. Surely its much better to take a FPN for a first offence and save the course for the second time you get caught where the clock on the original 3 points will have already ticked down by several months or even years if you are lucky.
The course is online at the moment, took me 2 hours and I could sit at home. I have a clean license which is much better than not....easy choice tbh!scottyp123 said:
The real question is why would you want to take a speed awareness course in the first place if you have a clean licence? It will cost about £100 either way and 3 points makes a minimal difference to your insurance costs but an awareness course will cost you a day of your life. Surely its much better to take a FPN for a first offence and save the course for the second time you get caught where the clock on the original 3 points will have already ticked down by several months or even years if you are lucky.
I suppose I value keeping a clean licence over the value of half a day or a day of my time.scottyp123 said:
The real question is why would you want to take a speed awareness course in the first place if you have a clean licence? It will cost about £100 either way and 3 points makes a minimal difference to your insurance costs but an awareness course will cost you a day of your life. Surely its much better to take a FPN for a first offence and save the course for the second time you get caught where the clock on the original 3 points will have already ticked down by several months or even years if you are lucky.
I think if you have received points in the last 3 years you are not offered a course so it wouldn't work to take the points and save the course for later. Happy to be corrected on that if I am wrong.scottyp123 said:
The real question is why would you want to take a speed awareness course in the first place if you have a clean licence? It will cost about £100 either way and 3 points makes a minimal difference to your insurance costs but an awareness course will cost you a day of your life. Surely its much better to take a FPN for a first offence and save the course for the second time you get caught where the clock on the original 3 points will have already ticked down by several months or even years if you are lucky.
For a lot of people 3 point's would make a fair difference to insure especially those who haven't held a lisence for too longbobtail4x4 said:
did you tell him you pay his wages?
they like that
I can imagine they do. It must instil a warm sense of civic pride.they like that
Years ago I discovered something else they like.
When they stop you for no reason on your way home from a late night at work, start asking you if you have been drinking, then breathalyse you, when it shows 0.00 they try to make a friendly joke about it all by saying “Take the straw off the top of the machine for me please, and you can keep that and take it home as a little souvenir”.
You then fail to take the straw and reply with “you can take your own rubbish home with you, I’m not doing it for you”
They really enjoy that little joke.
Lord Marylebone said:
I suppose I value keeping a clean licence over the value of half a day or a day of my time.
It is not just the half day though, you pay for the pleasure of some ex-plod to top up his/her pension and it allows him/her to keep up his/her sarcasm skills while you have to sit there helpless to respond as they threaten to cancel your attendance on the lovely course so you would then end up paying for the course and the fine and three points.There is a fine selection in the english language of four letter words that describe both these courses and those that run them.
Never again I would rather just have the three points.
Lord Marylebone said:
I can imagine they do. It must instil a warm sense of civic pride.
Years ago I discovered something else they like.
When they stop you for no reason on your way home from a late night at work, start asking you if you have been drinking, then breathalyse you, when it shows 0.00 they try to make a friendly joke about it all by saying “Take the straw off the top of the machine for me please, and you can keep that and take it home as a little souvenir”.
You then fail to take the straw and reply with “you can take your own rubbish home with you, I’m not doing it for you”
I’m intrigued to know what their reply was to that and the outcome of who caved in and took it.
They really enjoy that little joke.
Years ago I discovered something else they like.
When they stop you for no reason on your way home from a late night at work, start asking you if you have been drinking, then breathalyse you, when it shows 0.00 they try to make a friendly joke about it all by saying “Take the straw off the top of the machine for me please, and you can keep that and take it home as a little souvenir”.
You then fail to take the straw and reply with “you can take your own rubbish home with you, I’m not doing it for you”
I’m intrigued to know what their reply was to that and the outcome of who caved in and took it.
They really enjoy that little joke.
Geffg said:
Lord Marylebone said:
I can imagine they do. It must instil a warm sense of civic pride.
Years ago I discovered something else they like.
When they stop you for no reason on your way home from a late night at work, start asking you if you have been drinking, then breathalyse you, when it shows 0.00 they try to make a friendly joke about it all by saying “Take the straw off the top of the machine for me please, and you can keep that and take it home as a little souvenir”.
You then fail to take the straw and reply with “you can take your own rubbish home with you, I’m not doing it for you”
I’m intrigued to know what their reply was to that and the outcome of who caved in and took it.
They really enjoy that little joke.
Years ago I discovered something else they like.
When they stop you for no reason on your way home from a late night at work, start asking you if you have been drinking, then breathalyse you, when it shows 0.00 they try to make a friendly joke about it all by saying “Take the straw off the top of the machine for me please, and you can keep that and take it home as a little souvenir”.
You then fail to take the straw and reply with “you can take your own rubbish home with you, I’m not doing it for you”
I’m intrigued to know what their reply was to that and the outcome of who caved in and took it.
They really enjoy that little joke.
the breathalised him and it came back zero, "you said you had had a drink" yes he replied 3 cups of tea,
the cops just about stripped his car at the side of the road searching for anything they could pin on him.
Geffg said:
Lord Marylebone said:
I can imagine they do. It must instil a warm sense of civic pride.
Years ago I discovered something else they like.
When they stop you for no reason on your way home from a late night at work, start asking you if you have been drinking, then breathalyse you, when it shows 0.00 they try to make a friendly joke about it all by saying “Take the straw off the top of the machine for me please, and you can keep that and take it home as a little souvenir”.
You then fail to take the straw and reply with “you can take your own rubbish home with you, I’m not doing it for you”
They really enjoy that little joke.
I’m intrigued to know what their reply was to that and the outcome of who caved in and took it. Years ago I discovered something else they like.
When they stop you for no reason on your way home from a late night at work, start asking you if you have been drinking, then breathalyse you, when it shows 0.00 they try to make a friendly joke about it all by saying “Take the straw off the top of the machine for me please, and you can keep that and take it home as a little souvenir”.
You then fail to take the straw and reply with “you can take your own rubbish home with you, I’m not doing it for you”
They really enjoy that little joke.
They kept the straw.
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