@UK Drivers (Speeding)

[Polka]

In times like this it sucks not being able to tell the police you are The Stig I presume.

[[R-DEV]Masaq]

I'd keep the fact you're an ex-copper very quiet if I were you. Catch the magistrates on a bad day and they may decide to get pissy with you just to make a point - it's not unheard of.

As for advice on "getting out of it" Space, keep that to yourself. I don't particularly care if it's legal, it's still pretty low. End of the day it's taxpayer money that's wasted when people dick around the system and force re-prosecutions or adjournments, and the cost of a court's time and effort in sorting out the mess is greater than the cost of just stumping up. You commit the offence or make the mistake, you cough up as the decent thing to do.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by Harrod200

Did he do the reaallly slow walk to your window and give you the 'Oh hello, Mr. Schumacher' routine?

Umm no. McClaren is based about 10 miles from me, in my county. I heard a story from when I was still in about one officer stopping Lewis Hamilton in our area, and him asking "Who do you think you are.. Lewis Hamilton?".

Originally Posted by Chef

In times like this it sucks not being able to tell the police you are The Stig I presume.

It does, Chef, it really does!!

[Harrod200]

Originally Posted by Rico

Umm no. McClaren is based about 10 miles from me, in my county. I heard a story from when I was still in about one officer stopping Lewis Hamilton in our area, and him asking "Who do you think you are.. Lewis Hamilton?".

"Yes, yes I do. And here's my licence to prove it."

[BloodBane611]

Originally Posted by space

I got out of a ticket last year. I didn't receive the speeding ticket, so the offence turned into a Section 172. I missed the court date, and got 6 points and £400 fine. I then filled out a Statutory Declaration saying that I knew nothing about it, and it was all wiped (You have to file the stat dec within 2 weeks of the court date). Lovely lady at the court office said that they never reprosecute for a Section 172, and from my experience that seems to be the case.

If you've returned the NIP then you can do the same thing, but they will reprosecute - it will give you time though, because it takes a couple of months to go back through the system. Just let it go to court, and then do a stat dec saying that you didnt know about the court date. Everything will be wiped and go back to square one, before it starts again.

Jerking the legal system around for a legitimate offense is just irresponsible. If you don't like the laws, vote to change them. The more people who do what you do, the worse government works. If you can't be bothered to pay your tickets, move to a country that doesn't have them. There are much more productive ways to spend your life than running circles around your own government.

[space]

Originally Posted by [R-COM]BloodBane611

Jerking the legal system around for a legitimate offense is just irresponsible. If you don't like the laws, vote to change them. The more people who do what you do, the worse government works. If you can't be bothered to pay your tickets, move to a country that doesn't have them. There are much more productive ways to spend your life than running circles around your own government.

If you read my post, I stated that I only found out that they don't re-prosecute afterwards - personally I was shocked, as I was perfectly willing to plead guilty at take the points and the fine. I wasn't trying to get out of it, but I did

Its easy to be all self righteous on a forum, but Rico obviously needs his car or he wouldn't have made the post - in his situation a lot of people will go to see a lawyer, who would probably give exactly the advice I gave, except they would charge him £100's for the privilege. For all you know, he may lose his job unless the date is put back or some other serious effect on his personal life, so all I was doing was telling him that there are other options.

[[R-DEV]Masaq]

Originally Posted by space

Its easy to be all self righteous on a forum, but Rico obviously needs his car or he wouldn't have made the post - in his situation a lot of people will go to see a lawyer, who would probably give exactly the advice I gave, except they would charge him £100's for the privilege. For all you know, he may lose his job unless the date is put back or some other serious effect on his personal life, so all I was doing was telling him that there are other options.

I accidentally knocked over my ex's mother, breaking her femur and putting her in hospital for over eleven weeks. Fifty one weeks ago and the settlement is still pending. For reason's I'm not about to go in to, my insurance company didn't have to cover me if they didn't want to and could have ducked out, leaving me to cover a civil claim myself and potentially open to criminal prosecution for driving without insurance. Could have cost me my job and all future employment in my field, potentially.

I sought free advice; it cost me nothing as it was from a charity and was enough to persuade my insurance company to accept liability for the accident.

So no, I'm not speaking self-righteously as a forum preacher; I've made my own cockup and yes, I'm still paying the price terms of my own guilty feelings on the subject and a massive hike in my insurance premium. My ex's mother is paying a far greater price in terms of lack of mobility and permanent damage... it's why you gotta be careful with motors, kids

[Harrod200]

The problem with codified law is that there will always be loopholes, and as long as there are loopholes, there will be lawyers to exploit them. Ideally law would be intention-based, both in the intent of the law and taking into account the intent of the offender. Problem with that is that it's much more dependant on the judge...

[Scot]

Is it true, that you have a tattoo, of your face, on your face?