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'Terrier' on tail of lying speedsters
A BANBURY team is using the latest technology and a change in the law to catch speeding drivers trying to escape punishment.

PC Pat Knight, Thames Valley Police roads policing officer in charge of fixed penalty offences, has pioneered a new approach that is seeing offenders imprisoned, banned from driving and having their car seized and sold or crushed.

His team, based in Crouch Street, has started using the latest in face-recognition technology to expose people who falsely claim they were not driving the car at the time of the offence.

And its use of perjury laws and a change in magistrates' powers has seen cases dealt with quicker and more appropriate offences meted out.

"False declaration – it's a massive, massive problem," Mr Knight said.

"People think by lying about who's driving they'll get away with speeding and by giving false addresses we'll give up chasing them; we won't.

"I'm like a terrier; when I get my teeth into something I don't let go and I'll keep coming after offenders until they're caught and punished."

A case in point was taxi driver Majid Shirvani of Great Missenden. After being caught speeding in High Wycombe he provided driver details of an American relative.

Mr Knight brought in a specialist to compare Mr Shirvani's driving licence picture with the image on the speed camera, they matched. Shirvani continued to claim his US relative was responsible and signed an official declaration to that effect.

He was charged with perjury and appeared before Banbury magistrates in July. After changing his initial plea of not guilty to guilty he was sentenced to 46 days in prison and banned from driving for six months.

Magistrates had wanted to destroy his car but it had been sold on. This was the first time such technology was used and Mr Knight said he now had about 75 false nomination cases in the pipeline where he intends to use the technology if possible.

All Thames Valley speed camera offences are initially dealt with in Banbury.

He explained that false nomination had been an effective way of avoiding points and fines so in 2005 the Department of Transport called for dedicated police teams to crack down on it.

Most teams had been prosecuting under Perverting the Course of Justice which has to be tried at crown court so is costly and time consuming.
The time limit for prosecution for a speeding offence is six months and that can be passed in a drawn-out case, meaning punishment is limited to something relevant to the remaining charge. Mr Knight did his legal homework and found someone tried for perjury could be dealt with by magistrates within seven days.

He found that since 2004 magistrates have had the powers to give punishments relevant to the overall crime rather than just the specific charge, so even if perjury was the only charge outstanding, a motoring-related punishment could be made.

A spin-off of this approach was that exposing people willing to give false declarations regarding driving often led to the discovery of other crimes like driving while disqualified or uninsured, benefit fraud and immigration offences.

Mr Knight said his methods were now being adopted by teams across the UK.

The maximum punishment for avoiding a speeding offence by false declaration is a £5,000 fine and two years in prison.
12 October 2006

"False declaration – it's a massive, massive problem," Mr Knight said.

Magistrates had wanted to destroy his car but it had been sold on.

Sad isn't it.

Must get my veil out.

.....benefit fraud and immigration offences.

Given that the actual offence here was a non-driving one, what justification is there for destroying his car? Or is this the start of having your car crushed becoming just a handy catch-all punishment for any sort of offence?