Done For Speeding

djcj

djcj

djcj

Associate
Joined
20 Sep 2005
Posts
1,603
I have just been pulled by the police for speeding. Driving down a completely deserted motorway @ 01:45am. He had been following me for some time without me realising, i saw a pair of headlights behind me, but due to it being so dark I didn't know it was a police car until he finally put his blue lights on. As i was sat in his car he showed me his speed camera readout sat on the dashboard. He had measured my average speed on 4 seperate occasions whilst following me, and the lowest readout was an average of 104.51mph. I asked what happens next, if its points and a fine, and he said anything over 100mph you're pretty much guaranteed to be summoned to court with a possible 1-6 month ban :(

I commute to work down the motorway on a 42 mile round trip each day so a ban would seriously mess me up in work terms. I work 17:30 - 01:30 so @ 01:30 in the morning there is no public transport avaiable and a car is a necessity. A ban would effectively put me out of a job. Does anyone have any similar experience of being done speeding at such a high speed? Is there any way i can plead with the courts not to ban me? I have been driving for 10 years and have no points or previous offences on record at all.

Edit: Didn't know whether to post this in motors or general section?
 
Last edited:
djcj said:
I commute to work down the motorway on a 42 mile round trip each day so a ban would seriously mess me up in work terms. I work 17:30 - 01:30 so @ 01:30 in the morning there is no public transport avaiable and a car is a necessity. A ban would effectively put me out of a job. Does anyone have any similar experience of being done speeding at such a high speed? Is there any way i can plead with the courts not to ban me? I have been driving for 10 years and have no points or previous offences on record at all.
Click to expand...

Your last paragraph will help but not an absolute defence to for the speeding, doing it at 2am with no traffic is not a defence either. It really depends on the day and how persuasive your solicitor is, there are cases where if a car is a necessity and without it will cause hardship and the driver will let off with a high points instead of a ban but the chances of that depends on a case by case bases and slim at best generally.
 
Damn, just thought of something else. Do i have to inform mt insurance company? Will this immediately increase my current policy price or just increase when i next try to get insured?
 
You are probably going to have to do some driving course that cost around £100, and doing it will reduce the ban period down 25% (should you get banned).

As for insurance, I would think so (not sure on this) but until the court date you are not guilty ... yet.
 
djcj said:
I have just been pulled by the police for speeding. Driving down a completely deserted motorway @ 01:45am. He had been following me for some time
Click to expand...


Nice to see they're doing something useful :rolleyes:
 
Your last sentence should work in your favour (previous unblemished driving history), but nowadays I'm not sure the whole "need car for job" plea is taken into consideration simply because at the end of the day if your licence was so important to your job you shouldn't/wouldn't have been speeding in the first place.

Sorry if that sounds sanctimonious but that's just the way it is.

Your best bet (I would guess) is to get a letter from your boss confirming that your licence is absolutely essential to your job, and hope the judge is in a good mood.
 
Do NOT use the defence that you need the car to commute or else you'll lose your job - the courts are liable will take the "well you should have thought of that beforehand" attitude.

They're most likely to be lenient if there are other people who, through no fault of their own, will be adversely affected by you receiving a ban. This may be dependents but can also be your employer. If they are prepared to make a statement that you losing your license would affect them badly (such as having to sack you and losing their investment in your training etc) then this can (and indeed did in the case of an employee of ours a while ago) help.

I do have to say however, that if you need your license that badly, why were you doing over 100mph? I'd strongly recommend seeking legal advice on the best way to approach this.
 
Using a car for your livelihood defense is only likely to work if you're actually driving for a living I would have thought, but I'm not a lawyer so it's better to seek professional advice.

Jokester
 
djcj said:
I have just been pulled by the police for speeding. Driving down a completely deserted motorway @ 01:45am. He had been following me for some time without me realising, i saw a pair of headlights behind me, but due to it being so dark I didn't know it was a police car until he finally put his blue lights on.
Click to expand...

:( Bad luck, you are about find out that the only "victim" of your heinous "crime" is you. If your standard of driving was otherwise good, coupled with the virtually empty motorway it might persuade a court to give you a smaller ban and larger fine, but as you need your car you should seek legal advice ASAP.

A little late now, but always assume a following car at night is a copper and slow down. If they also slow down and continue following rather than overtaking, you can be pretty sure they are police.
 
gambitt said:
I'm sick of this world.
Click to expand...

well, you could just step onto the motorway in front of the OP :)


If they charge the OP with driving at 104MPH, then it may just be a 10day -3 week ban. Hire the best (i.e. expensive) legal representation if you want to minimize the impact on your driving but it will not be easy and no ban will mean lots of points and a large fine
 
Mr_White said:
Nice to see they're doing something useful :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

highway police that are patrolling the motorway in doing their job shocker!

I got stopped at 7am down a country lane, doing 42 in a 30, 2 weeks ago. I was polite and admitted that i knew the speed of the road and said that i was doing around 40mph, he was a nice bloke, told me not to do it again and added my name to a list in his book.
quite amazed that they were out at 7am, but im sure over the next 2 hours they would have stopped quite a few people!
 
Assume this was in England however a guy I work with got done for doing 94 on a motorway (M8) in Scotland, they first of all charged him with dangerous driving as it had been raining they reduced this to speeding before it hit court however they flung the book at him pretty much. A 6 month ban, a £300 fine and 6 points. I thought it was a bit harsh as it was late at night and the road was empty, luckily he can cycle to work but he had just past his bike test aswell so his motorbike is off the road for 6 months. Its made me slow down.
 
Morba said:
highway police that are patrolling the motorway in doing their job shocker!
Click to expand...

Yup, following and then pulling over a perfectly safe driver barely going over 100mph average, on a completely deserted motorway at 1:45am, really useful.
 
A completely deserted Motorway? Really? Thats why there was a car behind you, right, becuase the Motorway was completely deserted?

If your license is so important to you that you can't live without it what on earth were you doing hammering along at an indicated 110mph+?
 
Mr_White said:
Nice to see they're doing something useful :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
lol yes like enforcing the traffic regs. Sorry 104mph minimum average is unnacceptable no matter what the conditions were (no beef with the OP). Just out of morbid fascination - what was the highest reading?

I seem to rememeber the "hardship" defence carried much more weight if others (i.e. family) would be affected by you loosing work although I may be wrong...
 
Dangerous Dave said:
Assume this was in England however a guy I work with got done for doing 94 on a motorway (M8) in Scotland, they first of all charged him with dangerous driving as it had been raining they reduced this to speeding before it hit court however they flung the book at him pretty much. A 6 month ban, a £300 fine and 6 points. I thought it was a bit harsh as it was late at night and the road was empty, luckily he can cycle to work but he had just past his bike test aswell so his motorbike is off the road for 6 months. Its made me slow down.
Click to expand...

I didn't think you could get a Ban, points and a fine I thought you could only get two of them :confused:
 
[TW]Fox said:
A completely deserted Motorway? Really? Thats why there was a car behind you, right, becuase the Motorway was completely deserted?

If your license is so important to you that you can't live without it what on earth were you doing hammering along at an indicated 110mph+?
Click to expand...

Don't always assume your speedo overread or GPS is accurate, I was in my mates car when he got done for 94 and his speedo was reading 95 in his 10 year old 406 not exactly renowed for a accuarate speedo and GPS was saying 88. Policeman said GPS isn't as accurate as people think, the police cars speedo is calibrated by moving the car over a set a distance as this is more accurate than GPS. Remember there is a fudge factor put on gps by the US Government and they can't give accurate speed when going up or down hills.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom