Bungi, at the time, were you informed of the type of equipment fitted to the vehicle, and shown the play back of a video if used/ fitted?

I would concur with a lot of things that have been said. In my experience i would involve a brief right from the start. The 'system' reacts to their imput with a scurry, and accepts their requests for the various items as they are just doing their job. I guess we as individuals dont quite command the same attention.

The comments about aggravating the system and appearance are spot on, particularly in a Magistrates Court.

The whole thing may turn on just one point and not necessarily evidence! For example, i have seen a persistant disqualified driver who was banged to rights caught driving, arrested, identification not an issue, etc, have his 10th time for this offence quashed in Court because the prosecution did not serve the defence with a notification of the individuals ban on this occasion. An admin error, totally oblivious to the fact of this persistant Offenders ways. This is called an abuse of position.

I have seen a defence Solicitor dancing up and down the waiting area in the Court singing, "Its only a game show!" which it is.

If your occupation is on the line then I would suggest You have to appear! Pleading Guilty, and it being dealt in your abscence means you dont get to put a personal touch on your case. You are not there to waste the Courts time merely to plead a case that may have a devastating effect on your otherwise good character.

I quite like the idea of Morals, but this has nothing to do with the ideal world. The fact that you did or didnt do it, only comes into it when the evidence is overwhelming, and video evidence does have this effect. A picture being a thousand words.

In short mate, get a brief and let them aquire all the info. Document factually what you remember about the incident chronologically, similar to a statement. Dont get too poetic as if it is on video you will look silly. However if it is on video and you can get a copy, you could use this to your advantage to example road conditions, traffic volume manner of riding etc. etc.

Speeding
 

Been there, 107mph on the M10, got the 14 day ban and £200 fine.

Plead guilty, attend court, get a good brief who knows and is known by the local bench, get a letter from your employer stating that anything over 3 weeks is a sacking and eat ENORMOUS amounts of humble pie.

If you don't attend they will think you don't care, regardless of any employment circumstances.

If you don't attend they can still ban you - they'll just send you a summons forcing you to attend on another day so they can tell you about it.

If you act humble, look scared, and show remorse it might just help - don't look at it as compromising your principles or being beneath you, as I doubt you really care too much about the magistrates opinion of you, you just want the smallest penalty for something you have to accept you did.

If you get a smaller ban due to your job situation, expect a bigger fine, as they'll get you one way or the other.

If your licence is clean and you have no past speeding history, play this card too. It can all help.

My brief expected 4-12 week ban and £1,000 fine and I got away lightly by by previous good record and looking ***** scared/grovelling (without sucking up too much) in the court!!!

Good luck!

G

PS. Regardless of wheat we think of the speeding laws and how they're applied, it certainly slowed me down and I try NEVER to see 3 figure speeds on the UK roads these days 'cause it's just not worth the worry/hassle/costs!

the plea that you need your licence for work does not carry much weight in my experience.
I took the , solicitor, take the boss along to plead for you route some time ago. Made no difference, the judge was chomping at the bit to but in while the brief spoke for me so that he could say " ban for 1 month, £165 fine. Hardly even polite enough to let him finish speaking.
The next guy up after me was done on the same day by the same cops. for 1 mph less (104) He also pleaded that he needed his car for his job.
Because he was a company director he won and got no ban larger fine.
Go figure, if he was a company director could he not afford a driver. I was just a field service engineer at the time with a real risk of loss of livelyhood.

I would just add that if you are going to request various items of evidence such as video, calib/certs etc, why get a brief involved at that stage. It's common knowledge that every letter a solicitor writes on your behalf can cost in excess of £50 easily. As long as you're courteous and know a bit of the terminology, you can get most bits that you need to make a decision on your next course of action (I did).

In my case I wrote up to 7 letters to the Procurator Fiscal (my 'fau-pas' was north of the border) and made numerous phone calls before all evidence was released. That saved me a fortune and I was safe in the thought that by doing it myself I didn't miss anything cos I had a vested interest in the result unlike some solicitors who are just concerned with taking your money.

Request the info, get it, analyse it, and if you think you have a case then go to a brief and get them to give you a legal observation without spending a penny.

Only my tuppence worth being a tight Yorkshur g1t.!!!

On the above, the reason Co/Directors often get off lightly is that being in their position they are responsible for many people's livelihood's not just the one. Courts don't like to be seen to effect a large amount of people with one judgement and thus treat these individuals a little differently.

[Edited on 27-8-2004 by Guido]

I got pulled in a car some years back on the M1, was well over 120 (believe it or not) but summons said 100, guess the traffic guys thought it would be enough for me to get well chopped. Went to court having pleaded guilty, took the (then) wife along and stuck her wailing at the back with my baby son. It was a lady magistrate and I got away with a fine, a few points and that was that on the true grounds that I'd done nothing dangerous and hadn't caused an accident, also that losing my licence would not just affect me but my family as I'd lose my job.

When taken by the usher to pay the fine I asked if she thought it had been worth going to court, she reckoned I'd have got a ban for sure if I hadn't.

Basically the whole speed issue is bollox, it isn't the real killer, we all know that but it's an easy target. Whatever you have to do to beat the system go ahead and don't worry about the morals, the legal system has little regard for morality or justice.

speaking of justice, example 1, speeding of say 100mph on a motorway, on a bike, punishment, banned from driving and fined couple of hundred, rider loses job resulting in inability to pay mortgage/bills etc ......example 2, quoted from mcn last week, `a driver who was talking on his mobile phone and swerved into the path of a motorcycle, killing the biker, was convicted of dangerous driving and fined £3000`.......justice, what justice ??:mad:

Don\'t let the ******** get you down!
 

Bungi
I got clocked at 136 on the A5 and ended up with an SP30 2 Months ban, with £300 fine & £30 costs.
A friend of mine was clocked at 146 om the M20 and got a 2 month ban with a £250 fine! Less than me, can you believe that...

Basically, you will get banned over 100mph.
You could get a brief but I was told "why pay for a solicitor when all theyre gonna do is put mitigation before the bench" You could do this yourself.

Better still just ride in France! Good luck

really helpfull stuff everone thanks

hopefully for the benifit of others as well as myself

Take it from me mate, dont defend yourself! There is a certain skill / appreciation of the whole procedure, that you will not have, having not frequented the Courts.

That said it hurts me to say pay for a Solicitor, money grabbing, time wasting, spineless lot that they are!

And what is it you do for a living, andyb?

From anecdotal evidence, I would say, Bungi, defend yourself. Be cringingly humble and as polite as a public school boy standing in front of the headmaster who is wielding a cane. Be prepared to bare your arse and keep everything crossed.

Good luck. :rolleye::rolleye: