Fixed Penalty Screw Ups

If you are caught by a speed camera and therefore disqualified under totting up how hard done by would you feel if a couple of YEARS later the authorities wrote to you to say "Sorry, we made a mistake, we want to remove those penalty points now and give you your money back?"

We are presently dealing with a case where exactly that happened. He lost his licence, his job, his house and nearly his relationship. He managed to re train and has since been working in a job that doesn't require him to drive but as you can imagine,he feels justifiably upset.

We contacted the Authority concerned to ask how many such letters were sent out to be told that 900 had gone. This nightmare could have been repeated at least 900 times.
We are told that it occurred because of a "signage issue" and that we should really speak with the Council. Well, you can bet that we will be speaking to the"counsel" but it is going to be the counsel (QC) who can assist in bringing a civil remedy that provides some recompense for this poor man and his family.

It is not the first time and it won't be the last. I suppose it is human nature to assume in our sophisticated society that the authorities and the speed camera boys always get it right but in my own experience nothing could be further from the truth. An important aspect of evidence in some speeding trials can be something called the "measured half mile" This is the distance that the police use to calibrate their some equipment etc by checking against this undisputable distance they can perform the Speed = distance over time calculation and work out that everything they have is in tip top accurate condition. The problem is when some wee road worker comes along, digs up the road and then puts the white square back in the wrong place! Yes, it does happen. As a routine procedure we check the measured half mile that is referred to in cases and we measured it we discovered that it was several yards short of the 1/2 mile and therefore every prosecution that had relied upon it should have fallen. We were certainly successful in having the Crown drop our case but I sometimes wonder if they contacted everyone that had been prosecuted?
If you want to know how you should deal with a speeding trial you can get plenty of free information from the roadtrafficlaw.com website or if you have a concern regarding a "False Penalty" then please just give us a call and we will provide you with a free initial consultation.