Am i heading the wrong way down a one way street?

[mercedesg]

Hi can anyone help. Have been driving down the same street once in a while for years as i know someone who lives there. A couple of weeks ago i drive down the street to find a police van at the top of the road and the women inside it waving at me. I drove down to the house that i was visiting which was a few houses away from the van and tell the owner jokingly that i must have done something wrong as there is a police woman beckoning me and she is still waving at me. I walk up the road to see what is the matter and she points to a sign above her van which is a no entry sign and tells me i have commited an unlawful act by driving into a no entry road. She then proceeds to ask my details as she says she needs to send me a ticket. to cut a long story short i ask her why she cant give me a ticket on the spot and she tells me that she has no ticket book. After getting my details and promising to send me the ticket she tells me to get off as she has work to do....

The next day 4 policemen come to my house to interview me and issue me with court proceedings for Failure to comply with the indication given by a no entry sign lawfully placed on or near a road. When i asked them why couldnt i just have a ticket they said that the PSCO who stopped me could not give me a ticket.

My beef is this - ok i drove down a temporary one way street (the next week they had removed the signs and all was back to normal) i can deal with that and a ticket but can anyone out there tell me why i am being taken to court and have to pay all the associated costs with going to court because the PCSO did not have her ticket book on her she confirms in her statement i received that she wanted to confirm my name and address in order so she could send the ticket to the right person and address. Can a special constable issue a traffic ticket? if so why did she not have her ticket book on her? Do people think its right or wrong that i should go straight to court! Obviously i am biased because its me that it has happened to so would like valid opinions. I would also like to add that if i hadnt been looking at the blooming police van i would probably have noticed the no entry sign.

[green_and_mean]

A PCSO and a Special Constable are two different things for a start a Special has identical powers to a regular Constable. Unfortunatly the option of sending you a summons or issuing a FPN lies with the Police you cannot decide how you wish to be dealt with.

[petej2811]

On the other hand, if you were promised an FPN and you find yourelf now being presented with court proceedings thi could constitute an abuse of process.

If you have indeed received the summons then I would urge you to go and see a solicitor. If you cannot afford to hire one privately then on the day you may attend court and ask to speak to the duty solicitor.

Suggest to them, if indeed it is true, that you were told you'd receive a ticket and that you agreed with the PCSO, if indeed you did, that the matter would be dealt with that way.

The police may not give people tickets or say they're going to give people tickets and then deal with them another way unless the defendant has failed themselves to comply with some requirement.

I'd argue you were promised a ticket and then having been so promised and lulled into a sense of security about the outcome (as one would be) you were ambushed by a mass of officers, sending four people to deal with traffic is ridiculous. Therefrom you were questioned, you believed the said questions to be routine as you had been promised a ticket by the PCSO, iagain if this is true. You provided your accound believing you would still be dealt with by way of a ticket, if that is true, and then you were told you were being reported, totally contrary to what you had been promised the previous day.

That sounds unfair, it sounds like an induced confession which could potentially be excluded under S76 or S78 PACE and to proceed would be an abuse of process.

If you feel that to be the case and feel like fighting it then run that past your brief on the day.

PJ

[mercedesg]

Hi thankyou for you answers.

What should i put on the forms that i have to send back to the courthouse. There are several options - attend court and plead guilty, attend court and plead not guilty, i wont be attending court and plead guilty. Obviously i am guilty of the offense but there is no checkbox for attend court, plead guilty and then complain about the court charges etc.

Just to clarify it was a PCSO that told me she would be sending me a ticket. On the witness statements also it was noted that i asked twice why they could not give me a ticket there and then but the reply that was given to me was not noted on the witness statements however it does state that i had to confirm name and address so i could be sent the ticket to the correct address so that rather confirms that she couldnt or wouldnt give me a ticket there and then but her intentions at that time was to send me one.

[mercedesg]

Hi another quick question is it usual to receive a summons as i did on the 8th December post date marked 6th December for court appearance date 19th December it really does not give me a lot of time to get my act together on this. As i cannot even start to deal with it until tomorrow monday 10th December as solicitors do not operate weekends so only 9 days to act?

[petej2811]

Originally Posted by mercedesg

Hi thankyou for you answers.

What should i put on the forms that i have to send back to the courthouse. There are several options - attend court and plead guilty, attend court and plead not guilty, i wont be attending court and plead guilty. Obviously i am guilty of the offense but there is no checkbox for attend court, plead guilty and then complain about the court charges etc.

Just to clarify it was a PCSO that told me she would be sending me a ticket. On the witness statements also it was noted that i asked twice why they could not give me a ticket there and then but the reply that was given to me was not noted on the witness statements however it does state that i had to confirm name and address so i could be sent the ticket to the correct address so that rather confirms that she couldnt or wouldnt give me a ticket there and then but her intentions at that time was to send me one.

Get a local solicitor to advise you from this point on. These items are food for thought and I think that trying to advise you about this over the internet beyond a general overview is not wise.

[petej2811]

Originally Posted by mercedesg

Hi another quick question is it usual to receive a summons as i did on the 8th December post date marked 6th December for court appearance date 19th December it really does not give me a lot of time to get my act together on this. As i cannot even start to deal with it until tomorrow monday 10th December as solicitors do not operate weekends so only 9 days to act?

That's normal. Instruct local solicitors and give them the idea above.

PJ