Speeding

[moaeedsajid]

A colleague of mine has just been caught by VASCAR unit doing 99 in a 60mph limit. It was a dual carriageway (no barriers and single lane opposite).

Are there any decent websites on minimising the hit this will have on his wallet\license.

It's the first time he's been caught speeding , I'm assuming he's in his 30's and has been driving a while. He currently has a twin turbo Supra....

Thanks.

[Matthew_McNally]

believe 30 over the limit is an automatic ban?

[TheNissanMan]

There's a link somewhere on here I posted a while back about someone who didn't sign the NIP. Can't remember the full details but something along the lines of filling out the NIP which is a legal requirement but not signing it as an admission of guilt. There is a loophole in the law that without the signiture it can not be produced in court, there is documentation on the link to show the processes the guy went throuhg but he couldn't be taken to court and hence no fine/points....

I would troll through my posts but unfortunately there's quite a few of them and would take gaes to find, I also can't remember the title of the post so can't search from that, I just know it is on the forum somewhere, prolly under general discussion....

[Deejay]

There's a link somewhere on here I posted a while back about someone who didn't sign the NIP. Can't remember the full details but something along the lines of filling out the NIP which is a legal requirement but not signing it as an admission of guilt. There is a loophole in the law that without the signiture it can not be produced in court, there is documentation on the link to show the processes the guy went throuhg but he couldn't be taken to court and hence no fine/points....

I would troll through my posts but unfortunately there's quite a few of them and would take gaes to find, I also can't remember the title of the post so can't search from that, I just know it is on the forum somewhere, prolly under general discussion....

Rhaines is right, there is a loop hole, apparently all the car magazines are telling people to do it and the police are now harrasing people who don't sign it. But there is no law (at the moment) stipulating that you must sign it. So no signature no fine.

Check up on it first though, also here's a good site for all you guys:

http://www.12points.co.uk/

[TheNissanMan]

I believe it goes something along the lines of using the NIP as an admission of guilt. It was a Court Clerk who came accross the problem when he was sorting the NIP returns and found one unsigned, he checked with the internal legal representatives and due to the loophole in the law the offender had to be let off as they couldn't issue a summons for him to go to court.

[gordypix]

I was very lucky when I got stopped at 130mph and done for averaging 104mph on the M25 six years ago.

I got a 2 week ban, £150 fine but NO points.

No change to my insurance.

I was very lucky.

[toymota16v]

speed trap bible got some good advice

this ones good as well

[TheNissanMan]

I have just found the article in question so here for your information....

Clerk finds speed gun legal loophole Feb 28 2003

By Elwyn Roberts Daily Post Correspondent

A NORTH Wales driver was unaware last night he had escaped a motoring ban, after a legal loophole was discovered by a court clerk.

Police fear it could open the floodgates to thousands of motor-ists across the UK, caught by speed cameras and laser guns, also escaping driving bans.

Last night North Wales police admitted that a change in the law is needed to plug the loophole.

It was discovered by a magistrates' clerk dealing with speeding charges against Phillip Dennis, of Whitford, near Holywell, in his absence. Magistrates said that they had no option but to find the case against him not proved.

The loophole involves a form sent by police to the registered owner of a car caught on speed cameras. The form asks who the driver was at the time.

It is an offence not to fill in the form and name the driver - but significantly there is no requirement to sign it.

However, for it to be used as evidence in court, the form has to be signed, otherwise a court cannot take any notice of it.

Flintshire magistrates' clerk Paul Conlon realised Mr Dennis's form was filled in but not signed, and so could not be used as evidence.

It was, said Mr Conlon, a loophole in the law. Magistrates said they were not happy but had no option but to find Dennis, 34, of Gwibnant Farm, Downing Road, Whitford, not guilty.

Chairman John Beard suggested police should go back to defendants and ask them to sign the form.

But he was advised that as the law now stood, the only requirement was to stipulate the name of the driver and that there was no legal requirement to sign it even if police did go back and request a signature.

One legal expert said later: "Yes, I can confirm that vehicle owners asked to confirm the name of the driver must complete the form but there is no legal requirement to sign the document.

"On the other hand it is true that it cannot be admitted as evidence unless it is signed.

"This will need a change in the law. Some people simply pay the fixed penalty and that is the end of it.

"This only affects those people whose cases go to court and where the prosecution are asked to prove their case. If the form is not signed then they cannot do so.

"It would be unfair for the police to go back and ask people to sign the form without first cautioning them that the law does not require them to sign it."

A spokeswoman for North Wales Police said later that there was no one available to comment at present.

But one police source said that the loophole had been known about for some time and there was concern that once it became known "it could open the flood gates."

"The police generally have been waiting for someone to appeal against a conviction on this point but no one had yet.

"We have basically been keeping our heads down. Some of my colleagues say we should just make sure people sign the forms but others are a bit concerned that to do that is tricking people into something they do not have to do.

"The trouble is when this is highlighted they will all be sending the forms back unsigned."

[suepj]

Sorry can't agree with this. If an NIP is not signed the case is sent to the CPS who issue a summons. The summons is for the original offence and has no relation to the NIP.

[knowlson]

Say you get caught speeding. Police pull you over give you a ticket or a

producer. You don't do what it says.

Your case info is then sent to the local CJU (CRIMINAL JUSTICE UNIT) to be

input onto their computer system.

They will then send out a summons to you, to attend court, they also send a

copy to the court so they can make up a file. This can take up to 2

months from when offence first took place.

But if its a Narey case, I have no idea how they work! (it's something like:

you get caught speeding, next week you have to appear before the court the

following week) How and why this works I don't know. This is done trough the

CPS (CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE).