Safe Speed Forums

Motorist's triumph may turn speed gun to scrap

Daily Mail, Thursday, January 25, 2007, Page 21

By Ray Massey, Transport Editor

A MOTORIST had his conviction for speeding quashed yesterday after a court found the speed gun used to prosecute him may have been inaccurate.

It is the second time this month that a case has been thrown out after problems with the hand-held police device were highlighted.

A third case is under way that could prove the final nail in the coffin for the controversial LTI 20-20 speed-trap, which has been used to prosecute thousands of drivers.

A growing body of evidence against the laser device is putting intense pressure on the police and the Government to withdraw it.

Yet it remains popular with forces across the country.

In the latest case, Brian Wiltshire, 48, was clocked by an LTI 20-20 yards from his home near Caton in Lancashire last year.

It showed he was driving at 39mph in a 30mph zone.

He pleaded not guilty to the offence, but was convicted in June. However, he was adamant he was driving within the limit and contested the ruling.

His lawyers argued he had no case to answer because the officer operating the device had not done the correct checks beforehand.

The conviction was overturned by a judge at Preston Crown Court after experts confirmed that the speed guns could give incorrect readings if they are not set up properly.

Last night Paul Smith, of road safety campaign group Safe Speed, said: `This could spell the death knell of one of Britain's most notorious speed traps.

`Laser speed meters do make mistakes - I've seen them with my own eyes. It all adds to the crisis of confidence and the Home Office must withdraw them.'

A Daily Mail investigation two years ago exposed glitches in the way the camera can work.

It clocked a parked car at 22mph and a wall at 44mph, while a bicycle at walking pace registered 66mph.

Earlier this month, David Lyall had his speeding conviction quashed after a two-year battle to convince the courts he was driving below the 50mph limit.

Magistrates found the LTI 20-20 failed to spot a lamp-post which interfered with its beam.

Mr Lyall, a 58-year-old technology development manager, was driving from Swindon to nearby Highworth when police targeted him on the dual carriageway. A few days later, he received a £60 penalty notice accusing him of driving at 59mph and imposing three points.

Eventually he was cleared at Devizes Magistrates' Court, where Dr Michael Clark, an expert on speed cameras, concluded that Mr Lyall was wrongly convicted.

Dr Clark said of that case: `It was a landmark ruling because the court was unhappy with the error trapping device, which did not kick in when it was supposed to.

`Mr Lyall was not driving above the speed limit. I believe there are thousands of motorists who have been wrongly caught out.'

Attention is now focused on a case in Hull which could well make or break the camera's future. Darren Fernie, 40, from Lincoln, is accused of breaking the speed limit on the A63 in Hull in October 2004.

He was caught by an LTI 20-20 in the back of a marked police van parked at the side of the road.

Fernie is alleged to have been doing 49mph in a 40mph speed limit but disputes the conviction and insists the equipment was not fit for purpose and was not used correctly on the day he was caught.

Tele Traffic, which manufactures the speed gun, says the Home Office had approved it only after `many thousands of tests'.

http://www.lancastertoday.co.uk/ViewArt ... ID=1994620

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

So how can the Home Office still maintain that they are accurate for motorbikes?

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