police witness statement incorrect

[me_n_ze]

I need help....

The other month I was driving around a roundabout in Essex and went past 2 police officers on motorbikes. I was followed by one officer and he pulled me over and the officer said I was on the mobile phone. I explained that the van has hands free kit fitted as standard by mecsedes (2012 Mercedes vito). the officer still charged me with the offence by the road side, I said I wanted to go to court to defend that I was not holding the phone.

as a mobile engineer I spend a lot of time driving from site to site contacting customers and the office, and was chatting hands free at the time of being stopped.

after a few week the police witness statement was sent to my address, and the statement says that both officers was about 15 meters from the road side. they said the both was able to view me drive by for about 2 seconds and had a clear view. but one officer says he saw me with my right arm holding the phone to my left ear!!!!. the other officer says he saw me hold the phone with my right arm to my right ear.

I have been back to the site where the police officers was parked up and measured the distance from the road and if they was 15 meters from the road would have been set back behind a gate and a mud bank. their view would have been of a side view as passed them. they would not have seen a clear view up the road. I have checked the tracker on the van and shows that I travelled from stationery start and covered 200 meters and the average speed was 28mph . I would say that I must have passed the officers at over 30mph.

I have to attend court at the end of this month and both officers are to attend and give evidence of what they both see. CAN the officer change his statement in court after he has signed his first statement saying he saw something different to his colleague.

 

 

a minor note: when the officer at the side of the road said he sew me on the phone I said I wasn't and when I said the van had hands free the officer had a 2 second pause for thought before saying "your still getting done for it"

[firstclassx]

In my experience, if 2 policemen, particularly officers who have served for a while, in court, say you were on your mobile phone, regardless of any small technicalities, (left/right ear, couple of meters difference etc), the Magistrates's are still likely to form the opinion that you committed an offence.

 

Looking at this realistically, as a Magistrate, who's version of events would you believe?

 

Yours, as someone who is trying to avoid a conviction, claiming the police are lying or;

 

2 police officers, who don't really stand to gain anything from testifying that you were on your phone and who both corroborate the fact they each saw you using a mobile phone, albeit with some minor inconsistencies.

 

You need a decent, but probably expensive traffic solicitor or think about changing your plea to secure a discount IMO.

 

The £60 FPN with 3 points may have been a better idea... which I assume you refused?

[citizenkain]

yeah,another driver getting done!

[me_n_ze]

yes the fine would be just £60 and 3 points but why should I bend to this sort of action from the police. The police do make mistakes and I shouldn't have to pay for it.

you say that both officers stick together how is it they didn't get the statement correct from the start. how comes they don't read their own statements before signing them and correct them. I believe the other officer had no way of seeing and wrote down what he thought he saw and that's why its not the same. I know if I was to write a statement I would read it and sign it after going over it and stand by it 100%

[me_n_ze]

just to add to this

my sister was out with her husband in their vw camper and was pulled over. my sister was asked to get out the car and when out the car the officer said she was getting booked for chatting on a mobile phone. when she said to the officer that the vw camper van is a left hand drive. he was very sorry and let her go. if it was a case of his word against her then he would have charged her but the fact she was able to prove by fact that the camper is a left hand drive made him have no chance of pushing a mistake and charge her.

[unimatrix1066]

I ve fitted rear view and forward view cameras to my van , if you had them fitted you could have produced this proving them wrong and to be lying.

If you drive a lot I would recommend this especially for any accidents as proof as nowadays people make things up to blame you