Tory MP on board
Discussion
From the Sun: www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003382597,00.html
85mph MP's camera fury
A TORY MP banned from driving for doing 85mph yesterday slammed the number of speed cameras on the roads.
Edward Garnier, 50, was given a two-month ban plus a £250 fine under the 12-point totting up rules.
He was in his Audi when he was snapped over the 70mph limit on a dual carriageway in January, Northampton magistrates heard. It was his fourth speeding offence.
The MP for Market Harborough, Leics, said afterwards: “Northampton is notorious and has speed cameras around every corner.”
He added: “I am not trivialising this, but I have not committed a criminal offence.”
85mph MP's camera fury
A TORY MP banned from driving for doing 85mph yesterday slammed the number of speed cameras on the roads.
Edward Garnier, 50, was given a two-month ban plus a £250 fine under the 12-point totting up rules.
He was in his Audi when he was snapped over the 70mph limit on a dual carriageway in January, Northampton magistrates heard. It was his fourth speeding offence.
The MP for Market Harborough, Leics, said afterwards: “Northampton is notorious and has speed cameras around every corner.”
He added: “I am not trivialising this, but I have not committed a criminal offence.”
Good. Obviously, whilst sympathising with the chap in question, it's encouraging that members of the establishment are squealing under the oppression...
A realistic overhaul of the whole scamera and generally dubious frisking of the motorist per se, will only happen when those in the palace of the mighty start to experience the folly of that which affects the masses.
Indeed, following sommat on ze boite des betes recently, in a manner not dissimilar to that historical matter of parliament legislating for an effective sewage system around the Thames during the 1850s, when, following a period of inactivity and sustained outbreaks of cholera, it was actually only when the hopeless members themselves were 'stunk out' by the pungent aroma seeping through their ivory ventilation system that the appropriate remedial action was hurriedly enacted...
So perhaps when one of Gob Almighty's legal courtiers from the DPP get nabbed and banned, we might suddenly start to see a new raft of 'think tank' analysis detracting from the original theory that scamera prosecution and all it's works were the salvation of Islingtonites everywhere...
Gosh, I may just have to cancel my subsription to T2000 after all.
A realistic overhaul of the whole scamera and generally dubious frisking of the motorist per se, will only happen when those in the palace of the mighty start to experience the folly of that which affects the masses.
Indeed, following sommat on ze boite des betes recently, in a manner not dissimilar to that historical matter of parliament legislating for an effective sewage system around the Thames during the 1850s, when, following a period of inactivity and sustained outbreaks of cholera, it was actually only when the hopeless members themselves were 'stunk out' by the pungent aroma seeping through their ivory ventilation system that the appropriate remedial action was hurriedly enacted...
So perhaps when one of Gob Almighty's legal courtiers from the DPP get nabbed and banned, we might suddenly start to see a new raft of 'think tank' analysis detracting from the original theory that scamera prosecution and all it's works were the salvation of Islingtonites everywhere...
Gosh, I may just have to cancel my subsription to T2000 after all.
_Al_ said:
alans said:
I think a letter of support will be winging its way to Mr Garnier.
alan
Coupled with the words; "So what are you going to do about it?
Naturally and I will post any reply here. Might be nice to have him sign the petition.
Alan
>> Edited by alans on Friday 22 August 11:20
Contact him here:
www.edwardgarnier.co.uk/
or here:
garniere@parliament.uk
or here:
020 7219 4034
>> Edited by deltaf on Friday 22 August 12:26
www.edwardgarnier.co.uk/
or here:
garniere@parliament.uk
or here:
020 7219 4034
>> Edited by deltaf on Friday 22 August 12:26
This should read "Tory MP NOT on board"
I emailed him and this was his reply. Needless to say I replied and gave him some of the facts. Idiot!
Sorry to disappoint you even if it means missing out on letters of support but the Sun
got the story wrong. I have never spoken to them about this apart from complaining
to their lawyer, Tom Crone, just now. I have written a letter to him for publication in
the Sun asap which I set out below and which you can forward to the website if you
like. I would not want to mislead anyone about what I did or said in court or later
that day. The Sun got the story from a local freelancer or news agency who
probably lifted it off a 3 week old issue of the local paper and either he, they or the
Sun garbled it.
Edward Garnier
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Tom Crone Esq
Legal Manager
News International Ltd
tom.crone@newsint.co.uk
22 August 2003
Dear Tom
We have just spoken on the telephone about the misleading article about me
headlined "85mph MP's camera fury" which appeared on page 39 of today's issue of
the Sun. As I told you this article is factually inaccurate in a number of respects as
well as making some damaging and false implications about me. I set out below a
letter, which I would like to see published in the next possible issue of the Sun. Could
you please email me to let me know when it is to appear. I expressly reserve my
rights against News International and the editor of the Sun.
Yours ever
Edward
The letter is as follows:
I was surprised to see the article about me in last Friday's Sun headlined "85 mph
MP's camera fury" reporting on my 2-month driving ban imposed by Northampton
Magistrates' Court on 5 August anyway, but particularly because it got so much
wrong. Let me try and help you get it right and in so doing disabuse your readers of
the false impression of me they may have got from the article.
I was not furious nor did I "slam" the number of speed cameras in Northamptonshire
on Thursday as reported or at any other time. I never spoke to anyone from the Sun.
I pleaded guilty to doing 85mph on an empty dual carriageway last January months
ago by letter and repeated my admission of guilt to the court on 5 August. I made no
excuse for the offence and accepted without complaint the decision of the court.
After the court hearing a local newspaper reporter telephoned me to ask me about it.
It was a friendly conversation and at no time did I say or give him the impression (nor
did his newspaper report) that I was furious or had a problem with the presence of
speed cameras in Northamptonshire. Indeed I have campaigned for them in my own
constituency. This reporter sympathised with me to the extent that he volunteered
that there are lots of speed cameras in that county, which borders with my
Leicestershire constituency, and they catch plenty of otherwise law-abiding people.
I agreed with him. He then asked how I felt as an MP and QC now that I had a
criminal record, to which I replied, as is the fact, that I had committed a motoring
offence, not a criminal offence, but I was not trivialising the matter. His report
appeared in the local paper on 5 August but it said nothing about my being furious or
slamming the number of speed cameras because I wasn't and I didn't.
I know that Tory MPs in the story books are supposed behave like Mr Toad but in real
life this one is really quite a reasonable bloke who got caught speeding, put his hands
up, paid the fine and is doing the time. Boring but true. Now let's get back to the
Hutton Inquiry, the Test match and the new football season. Must dash now - it
takes a bit longer to get home by bike.
Yours truly,
Edward Garnier MP
I emailed him and this was his reply. Needless to say I replied and gave him some of the facts. Idiot!
Sorry to disappoint you even if it means missing out on letters of support but the Sun
got the story wrong. I have never spoken to them about this apart from complaining
to their lawyer, Tom Crone, just now. I have written a letter to him for publication in
the Sun asap which I set out below and which you can forward to the website if you
like. I would not want to mislead anyone about what I did or said in court or later
that day. The Sun got the story from a local freelancer or news agency who
probably lifted it off a 3 week old issue of the local paper and either he, they or the
Sun garbled it.
Edward Garnier
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Tom Crone Esq
Legal Manager
News International Ltd
tom.crone@newsint.co.uk
22 August 2003
Dear Tom
We have just spoken on the telephone about the misleading article about me
headlined "85mph MP's camera fury" which appeared on page 39 of today's issue of
the Sun. As I told you this article is factually inaccurate in a number of respects as
well as making some damaging and false implications about me. I set out below a
letter, which I would like to see published in the next possible issue of the Sun. Could
you please email me to let me know when it is to appear. I expressly reserve my
rights against News International and the editor of the Sun.
Yours ever
Edward
The letter is as follows:
I was surprised to see the article about me in last Friday's Sun headlined "85 mph
MP's camera fury" reporting on my 2-month driving ban imposed by Northampton
Magistrates' Court on 5 August anyway, but particularly because it got so much
wrong. Let me try and help you get it right and in so doing disabuse your readers of
the false impression of me they may have got from the article.
I was not furious nor did I "slam" the number of speed cameras in Northamptonshire
on Thursday as reported or at any other time. I never spoke to anyone from the Sun.
I pleaded guilty to doing 85mph on an empty dual carriageway last January months
ago by letter and repeated my admission of guilt to the court on 5 August. I made no
excuse for the offence and accepted without complaint the decision of the court.
After the court hearing a local newspaper reporter telephoned me to ask me about it.
It was a friendly conversation and at no time did I say or give him the impression (nor
did his newspaper report) that I was furious or had a problem with the presence of
speed cameras in Northamptonshire. Indeed I have campaigned for them in my own
constituency. This reporter sympathised with me to the extent that he volunteered
that there are lots of speed cameras in that county, which borders with my
Leicestershire constituency, and they catch plenty of otherwise law-abiding people.
I agreed with him. He then asked how I felt as an MP and QC now that I had a
criminal record, to which I replied, as is the fact, that I had committed a motoring
offence, not a criminal offence, but I was not trivialising the matter. His report
appeared in the local paper on 5 August but it said nothing about my being furious or
slamming the number of speed cameras because I wasn't and I didn't.
I know that Tory MPs in the story books are supposed behave like Mr Toad but in real
life this one is really quite a reasonable bloke who got caught speeding, put his hands
up, paid the fine and is doing the time. Boring but true. Now let's get back to the
Hutton Inquiry, the Test match and the new football season. Must dash now - it
takes a bit longer to get home by bike.
Yours truly,
Edward Garnier MP
Well if he was my Tory MP I'd now NOT be voting for him. Can someone please explain to me why he only got a 2 months ban, the rest of us would have got a six month ban under totting up guidelines. I mean why does an MP have to have a licence, it's not as if he's a doctor on call or something.
DAZ
DAZ
How feeble of him.
I should have known better than to attach false hopes to a member of the clan 'slippery serpentium.'
Great Uncle Carzee's usual cynicism in all things blue-rinse related utterly vindicated...again!
Looks like they really are all the bloody same: to quote Bill Paxton's character in 'Aliens,' albeit recontextualised for the purposes of the UK motorist's continued, never ending persecution: "Well that's just great! That's just f@*ing great! Now what the f@*k are we supposed to do? We're f@*ked!" Or something like at least.
Come to think of it, wonder who the crew of the Nosterwhatsitcalled would be if it were manned by the PH glitterati? And would that make Michael Palin the Queen "b1tch" of the proceedings?
{Aside: Great shame that: I adore Palin's comic genius - can't believe he's do down on petrolicism.
}
I should have known better than to attach false hopes to a member of the clan 'slippery serpentium.'
Great Uncle Carzee's usual cynicism in all things blue-rinse related utterly vindicated...again!
Looks like they really are all the bloody same: to quote Bill Paxton's character in 'Aliens,' albeit recontextualised for the purposes of the UK motorist's continued, never ending persecution: "Well that's just great! That's just f@*ing great! Now what the f@*k are we supposed to do? We're f@*ked!" Or something like at least.
Come to think of it, wonder who the crew of the Nosterwhatsitcalled would be if it were manned by the PH glitterati? And would that make Michael Palin the Queen "b1tch" of the proceedings?
{Aside: Great shame that: I adore Palin's comic genius - can't believe he's do down on petrolicism.
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