Speeding attending court

[BazzaS]

Looking for some help,

 

Wife was caught speeding doing 51 in a 40 zone.

 

She has asked to attend court as they had the time at 8.46 (photo evidence) however where the photo was taken was at least 6 miles from where she works and starts work at 9am.

 

The road was down to 1 lane due to the cycle lane being built and traffic was at peak time when she set off.

 

She signed in at work for 8.59am and her case is that she couldn't have been pictured at the time stated as it would have been impossible to get the 6 miles in the allotted time they apparently caught her speeding.

 

Not sure how this would hold up in court? I have warned her myself that the court could look at the view that the reason she got to work at the time she signed in for was because she was speeding.

 

She has been driving for over 25 years and never had any speeding fines just lately she has had a spate of bad luck. in the last 12 months.

 

She was caught doing 35 in a 30 by a road side camera and didn't notice the sign had changed from 60 to 30 in about 20 feet it was only me in the car with her at the time that suddenly clicked and said I'm sure that said 30 and we were crossing over the white lines as I said that and she hit the breaks but it was too late got the flashes from the camera.

 

She took the speed awareness course for that one.

 

She then got spotted by a mobile camera in Oct doing 48 in a 40 and took the points for that one. giving her 3 points

 

She then got caught on the same stretch of road in Dec doing 51 in a 40 and this is the one she is going to argue over with the time.

 

Start of Jan this year she was court doing 58 in a 50 after over taking a car doing 20mph and didn't notice it was a police van as there was no markings on it as it was facing forward. however when the letter came there was no photo evidence present as stated on the letter as she had slowed to 40 after overtaking the car and this could have been present on the image.

 

I've asked the police for the photo but they said they didn't need to provide this as evidence for her speed but would produce it in court if they needed to. I have suggested that she just take the points for this one as well.

 

This will take her to 6 points (not inc) the one she is going to court over that would take her to 9 points.

 

She is worried and annoyed at the same time that in 25 years she's never had a speeding ticket and all these have come at once and scared she might lose her license.

 

This would probably cause her to lose her job as couldn't get across the 7 miles journey to get our daughter to Nursery in time for her to start her job at 9am as 2 buses are needed to get where she works and in peak time wouldn't make it on time.

 

Just wondering if anyone has gone through anything similar and could offer some advice.

 

I suspect they'll be able to produce the calibration certificate for the camera to show the speed recorded and timings are correct.

 

Can your wife show that the clock used to give the time written down (when signing in for work) was correct?

 

I suspect they'll be able to show an audit trail demonstrating the timings on the images can't have been altered.

 

Can your wife show that the sign in times can't have been altered?

(Especially given your thread : http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?459872-Office-staff-altering-sign-in-times&p=4860557#post4860557

Where you say that have been altered)

 

So I don't hold out much hope that "camera not an accurate record" is going to work well.......

 

Been driving 25 years with no problems, and now 4 offences in a year (3 since October 2015)

Worked in the school 5 years without problems, but now late for work 15 times since November 2015, sufficient to have now faced first verbal warning.

 

You need to look at the underlying issues causing her to be late (and speed) as otherwise you'll be left looking for loopholes ......

Did the problems with your daughter start (or surface) in / around October 2015?

[BazzaS]

Don't get me wrong I can see it from the courts eyes. I wasn't in the car with her at the time but I can only go on the fact that my OH is telling the truth 6 miles in about 14 mins with roads works down to one lane and peek time traffic, traffic lights and that there is about a 5 min walking distance to clock in where she parks her car. I guess it is upto the court to decide if she is telling the truth.

 

Would she be wise to take her car with her on the day? she has 6 points and whether the court decides a ban would this be instant as the letter doesn't state anything about whether you shouldn't drive or not.

 

"6 miles in about 14 mins" : that shows an average speed of 25.8 mph.

unfortunately: that shows did 25.8 across the whole 6 miles but says nothing about how the average was achieved.

She could have done a flat 25.8 mph throughout.

She could have done 1 mph for 7 minutes and then 50.6 for 7 minutes or 6 mph for 10 minutes and the remaining 5 miles in 4 minutes at 75 mph.

 

I'm not saying she was speeding, and if she wishes to put them to strict proof : go for it. I'm just saying that the court may well say "6 miles in 14 minutes" doesn't show she wasn't speeding at the point the prosecution say she was. If they produce evidence she was speeding she'd have to discredit that evidence, and relying on "6 miles in about 14 mins" won't achieve that on its own.