I attended court this morning…and for those of you that dont know…
I was almost knocked off my bike leaving the Ace and coming down the Slip Ramp on to the A40 some time ago. A lorry in the far right lane swerved over and almost crushed me against the left hand lane railings. I hit the gas seeing as there was a van right up the pipes and shot through the deminishing gap right through a speed trap (officer with a handhelp pro lazer III). He cuts me the slack saying he saw what happened and the lorry drivers being stopped as we speak. Hes Sarge aint having none of it but says he aint giving me a road side fine and points and he,ll give me the chance to speak in court…ok I thought…fair do,s !!
Today I step in to court and tell it like it is…“Guilty Sir but this is why” I tell him the story and quote the arresting officer…Up steps an Ex Police Motorcycle Cop who is now advisor to The BMF and Bennets Insurance to speak on my behalf saying if I never did what I did I could have been hurt and at worse killed !!!
The Judge listens, has a chat with his two oppo,s…asks about my licence…it gets passed over…clean…not even as much as a parking ticket in eons !..He has another pow wow with his oppo,s and then clears his throat and says…
£60 Fine, £70 Court costs and Three Points Goodbye Barro !!!
thats terrible! god you would hope that the judge would be prepared to accept the situation as a act of safety rather than a slap on the wrist and points plus fines! doesnt give us much hope eh?
What a bunch of ******s ! So they all agreed that what you did was the right thing to do but still they did you for it? What happened to discretion? What happened to fair?
You should have just hooked a foot back over your plate, pinned it wide open and shot off into the distance. Perhaps…
Sorry to hear about that. Doesnt surprise me though to be honest. Speedng is considered so antisocial by the authorities, oh and dont forget its high revenue generator for the government!
Even with a reputable copper on your side, people that work in the legal world are a WASTE OF SPACE. Ego-maniac power hungry part time judges (read magistrates) are the rough end of an unpopular bunch.
Apologies to any lawyers on here, but I do feel lawyers are parasitic scum bags that take advantage of the fact taht humanity is a pretty untrustworthy and untrusting bunch. Bring back mediation that DOESN’T cost the two sides and involves NO money as a result of positive or negative verdicts and you would genuinely get justice…
Meantime with the system we’ve currently got, lawyers get rich and no one gets a fair deal anymore.
You’re only equal in the eyes of the law if you’ve got enough money to afford the lawyer to buy that equality.
Sorry Barra, glad you got three points and not an oaken cloakin though!
What speed wwere you doing? were you facing a ban but got a lesser sentence?
Why did you “plead guilty”? Evene with mitigating circumstances you admitted to commiting an offence. What you should have done is pleaded not guilty and then used your argument that to have not exceeded the proscribed speed would have put your life in danger and doing so was the only option. You do not commit an offence where breaking the law is necessary to preserve your (or others) life. Of course you would have to argue that slowing down was not an option.
That’s not quite how it works, VFR. The facts seem indisputable in that Barro did commit an offence if you compare his actions to the criteria laid down in statute as to what constitutes this particular offence. So to plead not guilty may have been misinterpreted by the magistrate as Barro trying to waste court time, because it would then have to be taken even further by the court system. I imagine that’s why he was advised to plead guilty.
But it’s the mitigating circumstances that are very important here. Barro was, basically, forced to commit the offence, or risk serious injury or worse. That’s also indisputable. It seems to me that the magistrate’s a numpty and hasn’t taken this into account, or at least not to the extent which he should have done.
A problem here is that the UK uses caselaw to set precedents. I’m not saying it would happen here, but I know that with a lot of smaller cases, decisions do come out being very unfair, because magistrates and judges have to consider the “floodgate” argument, i.e. that if you let one person get off with having committed an offence because they had a genuine reason, loads of eejits will come along and try it on with the same excuse, when in fact they were actually committing the crime.
In this particular case, I would appeal, however. I think that the fine etc that you came away with, Barro, are unwarranted penalties, particularly as you don’t have any previous form. From caselaw examples which I studied at uni when it came to criminal law, judges are obliged to consider things like previous form.
Although I didn’t qualify as a solicitor in this area (I’m a corporate finance bod!), let me know if you think I can do anything to help, Barro.
Pleading not guilty was not an option as I had committed the offence and was given the slack there and then by the officers who,s statements read what I told the court so it could only strengthen my case to be open and honest as to why I was standing there in the first place, couple that with having an ex police officer supplied by my legal team with 26years pi$$ perfect service and now acting as an advisor to the BMF and Bennetts Insurance backing my claim seemed a good fight to me !!!
Bottom line was…they went by the book becouse I couldnt call the lorry driver to admit dangerous driving, there was no cctv and I had no other evidence at my disposal apart from what the prosecution had which was the calibration stats and the reading from the Gun. The Police Officers actions in the way of not making a bias statement had the effect on the day of giving the judge the impression a road side fine and points wasnt warranted as the offence carried a heavier sentence in court.
So a plea of guilty warrants the mandetary sentence !
As for a ban and lesser sentence…I dont think that comes in to play as I have had a license since 1982 and it contains not a blemish…ever. until now !!
That’s real crud mate, I’m so sorry for you Why do you have to pay when you were trying to stay alive? It should be the truck driver that got done for dangerous driving! Grrr, magistrates, eh!
