Thursday 16th October 2003

Welsh Politician Escapes Ban

Speeding councillor gets twelve points but no ban

---

Magistrates in Llandudno have handed out 3 more penalty points to a Welsh politician bringing his total to 12. The new president of Plaid Cymru, Dafydd Iwan hasn't been banned however as the court sympathised with his claim that it would cause hardship to his professional and political life (isn't that the idea?).

Iwan was caught by a speed camera doing 39mph on the A55 in January. Part of his defence was that he thought the speed limit on that stretch of road was 40mph (which is used to be).

Despite three previous convictions for speeding the court allowed him to have 12 points on his licence and fined him £100 with £35 costs.

[FLAT 6]

This a f**king disgrace. I went without a licence for 6 mnths thanks to a Dumfries magistrate, despite having a letter from my employer saying that my career would be damaged if I lost my licence. I understood that magistrates no longer look these circumstances into account.

Clearly the Masons are alive and well in N Wales..

[206xsi]

Feel sorry for anyone who has lost their licence, but that's one in the face of Brunstrom

[centurion07]

206xsi said:

Feel sorry for anyone who has lost their licence, but that's one in the face of Brunstrom

I see where you're coming from 206, but it's not like he got caught on a one-off offence of doing over 100mph or something & the courts had the OPTION of banning him or not. I could at least understand that, arguing the "momentary lapse" angle, but to have managed to accumulate TWELEVE points on your licence all at the same time screams habitual offender to me. Now that in itself isn't the problem (I "make progress" everywhere I can), but he quite obviously has no idea if he's managed to get caught that many times! He should have known better being in the public eye n'all, and then having the balls to cry "my career" when he's already got NINE points! I mean be honest, if your career was genuinely in jeopardy if you lost your licence, & you had nine points already, would you even THINK about the POSSIBILTY of getting anywhere NEAR the posted speed limit when you were driving? Damn sure I wouldn't. That's the whole point of the totting-up system.

I need to go & calm down now!!

>> Edited by centurion07 on Thursday 16th October 13:57

[timsta]

I've only been in the UK for about 5 years, so I'm not to sure about the legal system (other than "it suckz".)

Doesn't this set a precident, i.e. "You can't ban me, 'cos in the case of Welsh Scamera Guys -vs- Some Welsh MP Tw@t the judge found that banning would harm MP's Career"?


Tim

edited 'cos I can't spell

>> Edited by timsta on Thursday 16th October 14:27

[p7ulg]

Okay thats his excuse for these three points, what was it for the other nine.Thought the idea of the point system was to give you ample warning of what would happen to you when you reached 12.

[jmorgan]

President in charge of a party that wants full independance for Wales. Fine example being set here.

BBC said:

Minor lapses' Mr Iwan, from Caeathro near Caernarfon, told the court he had been under the impression that the speed limit there was 40 miles per hour, which it had been previously. In a hearing completely in Welsh, he described his four speeding offences in the last three years as "minor lapses." He said he drove 20,000 miles a year, half of which was in connection with his professional work and the rest for voluntary and political purposes. It would be impossible to travel to some of his destinations by bus or by train, he told magistrates. He was fined £100 with £35 costs, and three penalty points were added to his licence bringing the total to twelve

[Richard C]

centurion007 said:

but to have managed to accumulate TWELEVE points on your licence all at the same time screams habitual offender to me

Screams 'unfortunate individual lives in N Wales and tries to do 20,000 miles a year' to me. If thats your attitude you should not be upset with people who block you progress by doing 27 mile/h everywhere while watching the speedo continuously. Its the only safe way left in this damn country.

[centurion07]

Richard C said:

centurion007 said: but to have managed to accumulate TWELEVE points on your licence all at the same time screams habitual offender to me Screams 'unfortunate individual lives in N Wales and tries to do 20,000 miles a year' to me. If thats your attitude you should not be upset with people who block your progress by doing 27 mile/h everywhere while watching the speedo continuously. Its the only safe way left in this damn country.

Been misunderstood there a little bit I feel! Maybe "habitual offender" was a bad choice of words! Absolutely the situation in Brunstom's area totally sucks, & getting caught for speeding anywhere isn't the best thing to happen to you. My point was that he's been unlucky enough to get caught & get nine points on his licence. Then when he gets caught again, he whines about his job & promptly gets SPECIAL TREATMENT. Do you think this would have been the case had you or I tried that argument? I mean come on, he's got NINE points, lives/travels in N.Wales & he's STILL not paying enough attention to notice that they'd changed the limit? With nine points on my licence AND living in N.Wales, I probably wouldn't even get IN the car, let alone drive it over the limit!

[XM5ER]

I know exactly where he was caught and it is the most ludicrous 30mph limit I've come across, it used to be 40mph but 3 years ago it was a NSL dual carraige way. He is a pilock though, you really have to be asleep to miss the camera.

[sgt^Roc]

Money...Money.....Moneyyyy Chief Plod Bronstrom's middle name must be "ABBA" is this |politician a mate or something???

[roosevelt]

It's a disgrace. One rule for them, one rule for us.
What ever happened to Magistrates following the guidelines??
12 points = ban. Surely even politicians can understand that?
I would write to my MP, but chose to spend the time having a dump - far more productive.

[outlaw]

100 quid you get more than that as fine if your on the dole.

Just gos top prove once againg the whole system is bent.

one law for them another for us.

up the revolution, our times coming soon.

[pi55edoffnow]

this is exactly what will or could face any one who uses the road when will the powers that be get it into their heads speeding in its self is not a danger,just cause some jerk puts down the speed limit it is now unsafe to travel any speed above the a55 is a dual carrige way with barriers in the middle !.has any one got a comment on the m1 raodworks at 40mph ! which c**t decided 40mph was safe when every other limit is set at 50 ? more money scams or what!

[cortinaman]

its the same with the roadworks on the m25 at potters bar,the limit imposed takes the p*ss and the fact that every 10 foot there is a p*ssing revinue camera just proves its only implemented for slowing everyone down to a snails pace causing tailbacks and cash generation.

also how come when you go into these bloody roadworks you never see any bast doing any feckin work?.....come to think of it,has anyone seen any heavy roadworking machinery on the m25 at potters since they shoved all the scameras in?

[hedders]

outlaw said:

100 quid you get more than that as fine if your on the dole. Just gos top prove once againg the whole system is bent. one law for them another for us. up the revolution, our times coming soon.

I once got a £1k fine for no car tax while I was 'between jobs'..i could not believe it.

I started work shortly after that and started making payments towrds the debt, six months later I was out of work again and stopped paying and went back to court. The judge asked why i had stopped paying, seeing as i only owed a little bit more.

When i told him i was unemployed and broke, he asked if I had car tax on my car right now. And then suggested that i should take it back to the post office and cash it in, and give that money to the court, leaving me with an untaxed vehicle again. I had to try and contain my laughter..

[outlaw]

thats why i wont pay there fines.
I always refuse to pay them.

[robp]

article thing said:

Part of his defence was that he thought the speed limit on that stretch of road was 40mph (which is used to be)

What kind of excuse is that? It would not work if we tried it, so why should it for him.

Plus, i've never heard of people being "allowed" 12 points without a ban, its a totaling up system FFS