Safe Speed Forums

Magistrate and his lecturer wife tried to dodge £60 speeding fine by changing car number plates

By David Wilkes
Last updated at 6:29 PM on 05th December 2008

As a magistrate, Michael Rodger ought to have realised that no one is above the law.
But when his wife Diane, a lecturer, was caught speeding, they went to extraordinary lengths to try to prevent her being fined £60 and getting three points on her clean driving licence.

After consulting an internet website for tips on challenging speeding tickets, they altered the car's appearance.
They changed the style of the Skoda's number plate and removed stickers from its windscreen in a bizarre attempt to persuade police it had been 'cloned' and that she was not the driver, Derby Crown Court heard.

But their elaborate ruse failed when police visited them and immediately recognised Mrs Rodger and one of her two young daughters as the driver and passenger from the photographs taken on a mobile speed camera.

The couple wept as Judge David Brunning told them they had been 'staggeringly stupid' and that he had 'just been persuaded' not to send them to prison. Instead, they were each given six-month jail sentences, suspended for two years.

They were also ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work each and to pay £5,000 costs between them after admitting intending to pervert the course of justice.

The couple tried to hoodwink police after Mrs Rodger, 42, was caught doing 40mph in a 30mph zone near their home in Bakersfield, Nottingham, in April.

A letter was sent to Mr Rodger, 43, who is the car's registered owner and also a deputy churchwarden, requesting he provide the driver's details. He then asked police for photos of the offence.

Over the next three months Nottinghamshire Central Ticket Office, which deals with speeding fines, received five letters contesting the ticket, all signed by 'Mr Rodger JP'.

They variously claimed he had no knowledge of the offence, that the car was regularly used by others, that the car may have been 'cloned', that the car was parked in Nottingham city centre at the time of the offence and that the captured image was not clear enough to identify the driver.

The letters also claimed that the middle letter on the number plate was indistinct and that his vehicle did not have stickers in the windscreen, unlike the images of the speeding car.

Siward James-Moore, prosecuting, said when Mr Rodger claimed enlarged pictures were still too unclear police asked him for his own photos of the car.

Mr James-Moore said that when they received the pictures police noticed the windscreen was 'free of clutter' and that the style and spacing of the numbers and letters in the number plate was different.

When officers visited the couple and asked who had written the letters, Mrs Rodger stated she had, while Mr Rodger claimed he had signed them without reading them. Thomas Elmer, defending Mr Rodger, said: 'It was his wife who wished to evade the penalty but it was their joint idea how to go about it.

'They were equally responsible. They simply did not think through what they were doing.'
Sarah Knight, defending Mrs Rodger, said the couple had no previous convictions but both had now lost their good name. She added: 'She is extremely highly thought of, both socially and professionally.' Rodger, a bus driver, has resigned as a magistrate in Nottingham. His wife has since paid the speeding fine and has three points on her licence.

Judge Brunning told the couple: 'It is almost beyond belief that you should have done what you did. You embarked on a course of dishonesty to escape this small penalty.

'Given your family background and faith, it was an extraordinary and staggeringly stupid decision that has led to disgrace for you both and put your jobs and livelihood at risk.'

Yesterday, Chief Inspector Andy Charlton, head of Nottinghamshire Police's Roads Policing Unit, said: 'What is especially disappointing in this case is that someone who was charged with upholding the law should try to prevent it taking its true course.
'It doesn't matter who you are or what position you hold, the law applies equally to everyone.'

But their elaborate ruse failed when police visited them and immediately recognised Mrs Rodger and one of her two young daughters as the driver and passenger from the photographs taken on a mobile speed camera.

The couple tried to hoodwink police after Mrs Rodger, 42, was caught doing 40mph in a 30mph zone near their home in Bakersfield, Nottingham, in April.

'Given your family background and faith, it was an extraordinary and staggeringly stupid decision that has led to disgrace for you both and put your jobs and livelihood at risk.'

Yesterday, Chief Inspector Andy Charlton, head of Nottinghamshire Police's Roads Policing Unit, said: 'What is especially disappointing in this case is that someone who was charged with upholding the law should try to prevent it taking its true course.
'It doesn't matter who you are or what position you hold, the law applies equally to everyone.'

So what is it about the "speed camera" that really causes more anger than a pull by us? (Of course .. we are polite.. objective... courteous and fairly "cuddly"