DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS A 'CRIME'???????
DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS A 'CRIME'???????
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Moose1978

Original Poster:

645 posts

269 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/new...

"A motorist has been fined for defrosting his car outside his home because he left it unattended with the engine running.

Ken Hardman was given a £30 fixed penalty notice for leaving his engine on to warm up his car during the cold snap in the morning. "

....why is this a crime??????

Festisio

772 posts

235 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
ing pathetic.

anonymous-user

85 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
always has been.

Laird

39,731 posts

315 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
What happened to using a bit of discretion, hardly deserved a fine did it?

308mate

13,758 posts

253 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Moose1978 said:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/new...

"A motorist has been fined for defrosting his car outside his home because he left it unattended with the engine running.

Ken Hardman was given a £30 fixed penalty notice for leaving his engine on to warm up his car during the cold snap in the morning. "

....why is this a crime??????
Would love to have seen a TV interview:

"Do you feel like this is going to far Ken Hardman?"

"Is legislation in the UK getting too far Ken hard man?"

hehe



getmecoat

Edited by 308mate on Friday 28th December 18:02

Glassman

25,082 posts

246 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Moose1978 said:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/new...

"A motorist has been fined for defrosting his car outside his home because he left it unattended with the engine running.

Ken Hardman was given a £30 fixed penalty notice for leaving his engine on to warm up his car during the cold snap in the morning. "

....why is this a crime??????
'Operation Cold Start'

and

"He was prosecuted under the Road Traffic Act offence of 'quitting' which is when a person leaves their vehicle's engine running while they are not in it. "

All in the article biggrin

HTH.

mybrainhurts

90,809 posts

286 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
308mate said:
Moose1978 said:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/new...

"A motorist has been fined for defrosting his car outside his home because he left it unattended with the engine running.

Ken Hardman was given a £30 fixed penalty notice for leaving his engine on to warm up his car during the cold snap in the morning. "

....why is this a crime??????
Would love to have seen a TV interview:

"Do you feel like this is going to far Ken Hardman?"

"Is legislation in the UK getting too far Ken hard man?"

hehe

getmecoat
heheclap

Road Pest

3,123 posts

229 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Don't you just love it when technology surpasses the law without it noticing. Bit like speed limits I suppose.

vonhosen

40,597 posts

248 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Police spokesperson said:
Inspector Jo Keay, geographic co-ordinator for Copull and Wheeton, said: "As the car was parked on the road unattended and left running with the keys in the ignition the individual was committing an offence of 'quitting'.

"The officer tried to offer words of advice to the individual but the male refused to accept them and so the officer was left with no option but to issue a fixed penalty notice of £30.
Regulation 107(1) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986.
Same offence as not setting handbrake effectively when unattended.



Edited by vonhosen on Friday 28th December 18:12

Road Pest

3,123 posts

229 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Because Police Officers can deliver advice so well at times so as not to antagonise (?) the general public. Not saying all of them, just wondering how the advice may have been delivered.

vonhosen

40,597 posts

248 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Road Pest said:
Because Police Officers can deliver advice so well at times so as not to antagonise (?) the general public. Not saying all of them, just wondering how the advice may have been delivered.
If you are committing an offence you are not in a position of strength from the outset.
It's like saying "I'm not going to accept a caution", oh well charge then.

Pickled Piper

6,452 posts

266 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
I remember a fellow student being done for it many years ago when I was at Uni.

£30 fine and no points is hardly the end of the world.

I think the point of the legislation is that you are leaving a large piece of potentially dangerous machinery operational and unattended.

I don't believe the ability to have the engine running with the doors locked is an option available from Mercedes on UK cars. I am guessing he had an aftermarket accessory fitted.

I know that remote start is a common feature on US cars.

pp

Edited by Pickled Piper on Friday 28th December 18:21

aw51 121565

4,773 posts

264 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
It's a car, it has a registration mark, therefore its owner can be traced. Unlike any crime committed by persons unknown. More fool us motorists, eh?

Still, the bloke had fair warning and refused to take advice so maybe, just maybe, the ticket is fair.

I still don't understand why people let their cars defrost themselves from cold - plenty of warm-hot water poured over the windows is far quicker, causes less wear to the cold car engine (it warms up quicker under load than just idling) and is cheaper in fuel (and fines/penalty charges) too...




Glassman

25,082 posts

246 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
aw51 121565 said:
plenty of warm-hot water poured over the windows
clap

Bring it on...

wrinx

680 posts

271 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Sounds like he should have taken the words of advice...hadn't heard of that offence!

Presumably ok on private land (one's drive for example) and the doors being locked kinda makes it redundant imho as I think the reasons for the law would be to stop others taking your vehicle and causing harm to themselves or others.

wrinx

Mg6b

6,649 posts

294 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
2 cars nicked from this police area last week when drivers left them defrosting on the drive! One still not recovered!

Sensible behaviour to leave £15K property unattended and available for anyone else to use?

Indignant when reporting the loss as well rolleyes

It will be interesting to see the insurance claim form smile

Road Pest

3,123 posts

229 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Didn't see any statistics on how many criminals were caught in the excerise, i.e. people actually out to steal cars, which may have provided a balanced view. Or was it purely an awareness exercise?
Just because you have committed an offence doesn't mean you have lost the right to be spoken to in an unreasonable manner or antagonised. Again, not that I am saying that the police in the story were speaking to the man unreasonably. The fact is the guy's car was locked and a window would have had to have been smashed for it to be stolen. Taking this into account and he was very close to the car, the car was much safer than if the doors were left open.

I am aware what the law is, as I have read the article. If awareness leaflets didn't work (were they tried?), then if this is a big enough problem for a concerted effort to be made by the Police maybe somone should check to make sure the law is suitably up-to-date?

Edited by Road Pest on Friday 28th December 18:32

Silent1

19,762 posts

266 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
Laird said:
What happened to using a bit of discretion, hardly deserved a fine did it?
He did use his discretion, the word you're looking for is leniency.

VictorMeldrew

8,293 posts

308 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
vonhosen said:
Police spokesperson said:
Inspector Jo Keay, geographic co-ordinator for Copull and Wheeton, said: "As the car was parked on the road unattended and left running with the keys in the ignition the individual was committing an offence of 'quitting'.

"The officer tried to offer words of advice to the individual but the male refused to accept them and so the officer was left with no option but to issue a fixed penalty notice of £30.
Regulation 107(1) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986.
Same offence as not setting handbrake effectively when unattended.
Regulation 98 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 also makes it an offence to leave an engine running unnecessarily while parked.

Seems there a lots of things that people do which break the laws as enacted by this power crazed dictatorial government we have.

Is is "necessary" in this context to warm up your engine AT ALL, never mind defrost the car. Legal jobsworths would probably say no, and issue a ticket.

paddyhasneeds

68,393 posts

241 months

Friday 28th December 2007
quotequote all
vonhosen said:
Road Pest said:
Because Police Officers can deliver advice so well at times so as not to antagonise (?) the general public. Not saying all of them, just wondering how the advice may have been delivered.
If you are committing an offence you are not in a position of strength from the outset.
It's like saying "I'm not going to accept a caution", oh well charge then.
Von, just because legislation is there and says it's an offence, don't you think there are times when you would expect the BiB to simply use common sense?

From the sound of it the chaps car was parked safely, and the doors/windows closed and locked.

Granted it's easy to say "Ah but what if" on the basis it may not take a car thief long to prize open the door, but if you go down that road you may as well make it a criminal offence to leave your car keys within line of sight and a fishing poles reach of the letterbox.

It seems a case of £30 gained, trust and goodwill of MOP probably lost for a bloody long time, if not permanently.

As an aside, doesn't a caution stay on some sort of record where the FPN is basically a "pay it forget it? i.e. you're arguably better off taking the FPN than the "words of advice" that were offered?
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