Well that said, i have upto date tax, insurance, MOT etc, so i am not worried about that and there was no traffic car down the road. It is a well known location for that van, so i should have been more vigilant when approaching, but the question still remains why the officer hurried out the van to take a photo of my vehicle before i passed.

Well, here is the exact van if that helps. A friend took this photo as he works opposite, and was actually photographing the random guy who was talking to the officers. The rear hatch is clearly open when he took this earlier in the day, but when i went past in the evening it was closed...[ATTACH=CONFIG]43307[/ATTACH]

Hi, i have a question because i am a little bit confused as to what happened when i was driving past a mobile speed camera van today. I have seen this van before in the local area and it always parks with the rear facing camera operating out of the back window which opens up and has a lense sticking out. Only, as i was approaching the van, i could see the white windows on the back were closed, as if they had already packed up and ready to go (it was almost 6pm). Then as i was about to go past, one of the officers rapidly jumped out the van and took a photo of my car with a digital camera. There is a chance i may have been doing more than 35mph upon inital approach to the van but i did slow down. I'm just wondering why he did this, is it because the machine couldnt take a photo due to the latch being closed, so he had to take one with his camera instead? Are they going to try and match his digital camera photo to some data on the machine? There was a car right behind me so how do they know it was the car behind which triggered it? I don't understand what happened to be honest or how that could stand up in court? Maybe i'm wrong, but some advice would be nice, thanks.

The officer in question has just been round like the Inspector asked him to. When he arrived he asked me how i felt about last night and i said i felt slightly aggreived at the situation. He stated he was just trying to do his job. He then offered me another FPN for £60 like the Inspector said he would. I've bit my tongue and accepted the new FPN. To me this just says that it would never have gone to court anyway, but it's a risk i've decided i cant be bothered to take. I'll pay it within 28 days...

No i was not cautioned. Update is that i have just got off the phone to the area Inspector on duty at the moment, he aplogised for any rude behaviour on the officers behalf, but that any summons will still stand. He has spoken with the officer involved and as it stands he was entitled to give me the FPN and not the optional VDRS. It was down to the officers discretion at the time. He also got the impression i was telling the officer how to do his job, which i was not, i was merely asking why he was not using the VDRS. The inspector said he will have a chat with the officer again and see if he is willing to offer me another FPN, to which i can accept and pay £60. If he does then i might accept it, but he also said that if the CPS do decide they want to prosecute me, he said it doesnt usually involve a higher fine, just the court costs from bringing the case forward. He said it's a 50/50 wether they will prosecute me or not, apparently alot of these dont end up going through anyway, it depends how small they actually class the plate to be.

Hi guys, so i will start from the top, i was pulled over last night by 2 Police officers pretending to serve in the public interest. They said they had stopped me for having an 'undersized' front number plate. Now, i do not dispute the fact my front plate is not regulation size (it is 3/4 size). I did not deny the offence at the time and admited that it was too small. Here is where the fun begins... The officer who seemed to be taking charge then came and nealt down by the open passenger side door and said "i have pulled you over and warned you about this before haven't i" I said "No you haven't, you must be mistaken". He looked confused and afew minutes later after talking to his colleague, he came back and said that it must have been someone else they were thinking of. I got no aplogy. Now, i know of alot of people locally who have had issues with the Police regarding registration plate conformation. These have always resulted in the VDRS (Vehicle Defect Rectification Scheme) being followed, as per section 4.1.3 of the publication. This is a procedure used for minor motoring offences, for both parties to resolve the issue as quickly as possible whilst maintaining confidence in the Police Force. Details if this publication can be found on the Dorset Police website. Now, this particular officer was clearly taking a disliking to me from the moment he pulled me over, stating that i am abit young to be driving a car like this (2003 BMW ClubSport). His tone of voice and attitude were not that of how a Police Officer should act. I was very polite at this point and offered to change the registration plate there and then on the road side, due to the fact not only a week ago the car went through it's MoT, so the original plate was still in the boot of my car. The officer refused to let me change the plate saying i clearly did not care about 'flauting' the law. I then said okay, so your going to give me a VDRS notice then? (This requires you to produce proof of fixing the defect via an MoT station in 14 days). He replied "No, i don't want to, i'm going to give you a £60 FPN and thats it". I know as a matter of due course that the VDRS is always offered first (especially considering this was a first time offence), so an FPN was clearly not the right avenue to take, and it was very apparent that the only thing this officer was interested in was extorting £60 from my person. It appears it is one rule for some and one rule for others. Where is the judicial law in that? At that point i said well if thats the way your going to act, then i will not be signing anything or entering any sort of contract which says i have to give you £60. He looked at me, closed his little book, and said "okay, your going to court then". His colleague then went around the front of my car and took a photo of my undersized registration plate. Now, as far as i understand, even if i decided not to sign the offer of an FPN, he is still supposed to give me the ticket which says i opted to go to court, there is a box on the FPN to which i am supposed to tick to say i am taking this option. Instead, i received nothing. I did not confirm my name, address, or date of birth to anybody nor was i asked to do. The officer closed the car door and walked off. I then drove away with absolutely no proof to say i had even been pulled over or am being charged with an offence leading to court. The only thing i did was produce my driving licence at the start of the incident, which he gave back to me without asking me to confirm who i am etc. I could have been anybody claiming to own this car. I am so disgusted with the officer's attitude and lack of following protocol, that i have written a detailed formal complaint to the Chief Constable of the local constabulary. I have not yet submitted this complaint, but i wanted to get it in writing while it was fresh in my mind. Do you think i should submit a complaint, or just wait to see what happens? Should i have received a ticket to say i opted to go to court? Thank you in advance.

I havent tried personally, but the Clerk who dealt with my Producer has. I went into the Police Station reception today and waited for about 20 minutes while he tried to sort things out. He apologised and said he doesnt know how this could happen. He asked me for my contact number and passed it onto the CPS who were on the line at the time. He said they are 'going to see what they can do' and give me a phone call very soon. As you say, i have a letter of indemnity from my Insurance company arriving tomorrow which should quash all of this anyway. As i'm sure that all they really care about is whether i was insured or not. Hopefully once the CPS see this letter it will be job done...

Yes i chose to produce my documents at my local nearest station, and that is where i went. I asked to see some sort of supervisor yesterday but the clerk at the desk said there wasnt anybody i could talk to! And yes i find it hard to beleive there is no CCTV either, but i had a good look around and she appears to be right, there isnt any cameras on the front of the building or in reception. I will be going back today, as apparently the guy who dealt with my documents is on shift. So i need to hear what he has to say about it and if nessercary get some sort of written statement from him confirming i did produce.

Hi everyone, i should probably seek some legal advice for this, but i thought i would try here first. I'm in a very odd situation which has probably never happened to anyone here before. I received a Court Summons today for an offence which i know i did not commit, but in all honesty, i don't know how to prove otherwise. Basically i was given a 7 day Producer after being stopped by the Police back in January 30th 2010. I therefore produced my Insurance documents to the specified Police Station within the given time frame. The guy at the desk took all the nessercary details, i saw him write stuff down on a green pad and he also photocopied my Insurance and kept the photocopy for himself. He said it was all okay and i went on my way. I thought nothing more of it, and now today, 5 months later, i receive a Court Summons for failing to produce my documents to a Police Station within the 7 days, and as a result, now have the charge of driving without insurance aswell. Neither of these offences have any truth in them. I can prove i was insured on the given date with a Letter Of Indemnity from the Insurance Company (i no longer even own the vehicle in question). As for failing to produce, well thats complete b*ll*cks, because i did produce, and i can remember exactly what the guy looked like. I went into the Police Station today and they said they have absolutely no record of me going in there in January, and neither does the Central Ticket office have any record of my documents being passed onto them. So this is why i have received the summons in the first place. Either someone in the Police station hasnt done their job properly, or someone in the Central Ticket office hasnt. Either way i did my part, and now im the one being accused of driving with no insurance because of a gross clerical error. Do you think if i show my letter of Indemnity from the Insurance in court, and prove that i was insured, then the offence of failing to produce will be dropped? It's difficult for me to prove i did go in there, as i have no witnesses apart from the clerk who dealt with me (and i have to hope he remembers me), he wasnt there today, and apparently there is no CCTV on reception either. Any advice on what to do next is much appreciated, Steve.

Yea i read the template letters etc, but it a defense which relys on not admitting she was the driver of the car, which seems a little flimsy to me? And, well, that would be a lie?

Hi guys, my girlfreind received a parking ticket today from a company called Devere Parking Services. Now, the offending act was that she was parked in a disabled bay whilst she with-drew some cash from a cash point. Obviously i cant defend her actions, it's not the best of things to do, but she has been issued with a £100 fine by this private company, which seems almost extorsion! The offence was commited on 28th December 2009, which is almost 7 weeks ago now, is there a cut off point for issuing these sort of tickets? Also, is this company likely to take court action if we were to not respond to this as some threads advise, or go down the templates route? What shall i advise her to do? Paying £100 simply doesnt seem fair. Thanks, Steve.

Hi everyone, i have a little issue, well maybe... The story goes that i got a private plate from my parents for Christmas, and i went down the DVLA office about 3 weeks ago and got it assigned to my car, so with immediate effect i swapped the tax and plates over. I tried on several occaisons after then, to inform my insurance company of the change when i got home from work in the evenings, but they never answered the phone, it just kept ringing and ringing, until the office closed. It was within their opening hours and i also tried on a Saturday morning but got no answer either. After about a week of not getting through to them, i forgot about notifying them. Then last week i was pulled over by the Police for not being insured, to which i said "the car is insured, but i have had problems with getting through to my insurance to update the reg change, i will try again tomorrow on my lunch break, but the car is insured officer, i can give you the other registration number if you like". They said they didnt want it, and simply gave me a 7 day producer to come up with the documents. I did call my insurance the following day on my lunch break and was able to finally get through to them, and i informed them i had a new registration, and that i got pulled over so need a new certificate ASAP. They said no problem. I received the updated certificate afew days later and promptly went to the station with the documents. The clerk at the desk then brought up the fact that the date on the certificate was a day after i had been pulled over, and he said i may get a comeback on it from the Police that i wasnt insured at time of the incident. So i am now wondering if i am going to get a letter or something in the post saying i am being notified of driving without insurance? Which to my knowledge holds a 6 points penalty and a substantial fine! I have spoken to my insurance about the possibilty of this and they said that the car was insured regardless of the plate change, but had i needed to make a claim, it may have been invalidated and not payed out, but still, there fact remains it was insured bar technicalities. Am i likely to receive anything from the Police regarding this? The clerk at the station desk seemed to think i would? Andif i do, what action should i take?

So has anyone here actually ignored a PCN from day one, given them no correspondance at all, and received no actual court action or debt collectors from it?

Ok, will do. Just hope my Mother doesnt give in when the next few letters arrive!

Hi, sorry i am new to this, i get the jist of what to do in this situation, but my mother has just received a PCN from 'Civil Enforcement Ltd', to which she was not actually the driver at the time of the alleged breach of an 11minute overstay at KFC, requesting the fee of £120. On a side note: (The post code of the alleged location on the Notice does not exist). Probably a typo, but non the less it is incorrect, and the car has never been parked at such an address. What is my best course of action here, should i send them the standard template letter as found on this forum which relates to this type of dispute, or should i completely ignore the PCN and not even respond at all? She is understandably worried, and does not want her name to be 'black listed' against her credit status as she runs a small business. Any help appreciated.