Had a ‘notice of intended prosecution’ through the post the other day. Apparently i was doing 36mph in a 30mph area. I’m usually very careful in built up areas as a rule.
Where i live, there are very few gatsos, just a few arrive alive vans. I remember seeing one a while ago, as they are quite difficult to miss! I remember seeing it from afar and looking at speedo,…30mph, so i passed it at smack on 30 too.
Surely my speedo can’t be that way out? I had my wife follow me in a car recently just to check it’s accuracy,…yup, smack on??
Is it worth me appealing this, or just taking the points and getting on with it?
Ask them to provide proof if you’re certain you were doing 30mph and write to say this. If there’s any doubt though…I’d just let it go and as mentioned before, ask to do the driving thingy day!
Unlucky. Which area was this? 36mph is actually quite low to be done in a 30mph.
Most speedos are very unrelaible, but usually over read, not under. How convinced are you that you were only doing 30mph? You could get your bike tested on a rolling rd to see how accurate your speedo is, but unfortunately the only was you’re guaranteed to find out how the police measured your speed is to go not guilty, and ask for the Crown’s evidence in disclosure… and then you’ll have to find out how accurate that particular method is… or instruct some solicitors who are specialists in road traffic law to defend your case - which may be expensive…
You will probably be offered the speed awareness course–DO IT, you pay to sit there and learn how not to speed in a car and thats it basically, no points and insurance doesn’t need to be told.
I wish we had the chance of the speed awareness course when Dave and I both got done on the M23…but then Hampshire Police have nothing better to do!
By the way, I wouldn’t be so narky about them if they’d actually noted the make and model of my bike by looking at it rather than asking me while the bike was sat in front of them! :w00t:
My Dad was driving in his car when he saw the white [but nicely labeled] camera van in its usual place, as he’d seen it countless times before, then wittered on to my Mum about all the tourists they’ll catch and not noticing he was doing…34 in a 30 limit.
He attended a speed awareness course to save the points (never had any before) and said he’d prefer the points next time (yeah, I know he has to take the points then). All the participants were over 40, had only been slightly over the limit and had never been caught before; they all found it excruciating to be lectured like naughty school children when they weren’t the type of people to cause accidents.
So, if you do take the course, make sure you take plenty of chill pills and don’t take it personally.
BTW, my council sends out tax bills with the police amount listed on the page such that when the letter arrives all you can see is your address and 'Surrey Police '. Lots of fast heartbeats before opening the letter (“Oh, god, they got me with that camera I didn’t notice until I had to brake hard…”) to find out it’s council tax and the full bit is ‘Surrey Police Allocation from this amount £xxx.xx’. They’ve got me several times as I always seem to forget the last time…
I did a speed awareness course in Harlow having been caught doing 38 in a 30 in Epping,people varied from 18 year old oiks up to blue rinsers,all of us caught at 38.Three hours of chat,free tea and coffee,not to painful.Did’nt want the three points so glad to have the alternative:D
Pass through the same camera everyday,just switched off one night and caught!!!
going into lewisham, the camera by the hospital? if so, that’s a little bugger up there, one of the small yellow cameras you don’t see immediately because of foliage. i know it because i’ve forgotten it’s been there a couple of time and had to slow down pretty sharpish.
The ACPO standard for speeding is 10% + 2mph. So no one should really be getting done for anything less that 35mph… some forces has a more generous approach and you could be looking at 10% + 4mph… it looks like most people here who’ve been done for less than 10% +2mph were stuck on by Camera Safety Partnership Vans… or Highway Robbery Van’s as they’re more widely known. I was in Scotland at the weekend and the van there was parked at the end of a piece of dual carriageway… it clearly had sod all to do with safety and everything to do with revenue generation.
