Safe Speed Forums

edit: Pics from paper:



http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk/ViewAr ... ID=1737957

The great police speed trap bungle
02 September 2006

RED-FACED cops have been forced to rip up 270 speeding tickets and return fines after an embarrassing speed-limit blunder.
The tickets were wrongly handed out over a four-and-a-half month period from March 29, because police officers did not realise the speed limit of a section of road had been changed.
Officers believed the stretch of the A27 in front of Fareham College was a 30mph zone, as the signs showed, and so when they visited the area with mobile camera units they were happily snapping anybody travelling above that speed.
However, the limit on that section of the road had officially been increased to 40mph in March.
About half of the drivers incorrectly charged paid the fines and accepted three points on their licences, while many others faced legal proceedings.
All the tickets have now been cancelled, with the money being paid back or the demands for cash dropped, and all the penalty points wiped away.
The mix-up only came to light when a woman appealed against her ticket and council officers realised the speed limits on road signs did not match those on paperwork.
Officials at Hampshire County Council say notice of the change was posted to the police, but officials at Hampshire Constabulary insist no such letter was ever received.
The Safety Camera Partnership for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight – in charge of local speed cameras – admits a 'regrettable mistake' was made, although the 30mph signs were still in place yesterday.
Gwnneth Lester, 57, of The Redan in Gosport, was the woman whose appeal exposed the dodgy speed fines.
Mrs Lester, who received police vehicle training and used to work as a Ministry of Defence chauffer, was threatened with a court appearance after insisting she had done nothing wrong. She believed her car's speedo must have been faulty.
Mrs Lester said: 'I felt extremely upset when it came through in the post, I've had a licence for 40 years and I've never had a blot on it.
'I was an emergency services driver so I'm extremely careful and to get a blot on my licence at this time is awful.'
After months of penning letters and making desperate phone calls, the police finally admitted they had been wrong all along and cancelled the court case.
Partnership Project Manager Dr Marion Sinclair said: 'This is a regrettable mistake and as soon as we became aware of it we cancelled all relevant tickets and apologised to the drivers concerned.'
No-one from the council was available to comment on why the signs were not taken down and why the limit changed, because the relevant officer was on leave.

So, you pay all this council tax and if one guy is on holiday nobody can answer a query. Typical.

This sort of thing will get worse when "flexible working" is made compulsory. You will never be able to speak to anyone responsible for anything.

It will be like phoning NTL....

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

The difference is... You can't be sent to jail for not doing business with NTL.

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"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

I don't get it. I can't access that site for some reason so I can't see the full story, but from the extracts here it sounds as if the case was dropped because the posted speed limit, which was also the limit being enforced, was wrong. If that's right then this driver has escaped on a technicality, rather than being completely blameless as the article seems to imply.

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Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

I wonder if this particular road used to be 40mph in the past?

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

I quite enjoy calling NTL, well their customer retentions department anyway.

1 phone call every 3 months (apparently the billing system can't do discounts for more than 3 months at a time) sees me paying a grand total of £32.49p for 10Mbit broadband, 24/7 free phone calls (geographical numbers only) and free digital TV (the base pack only).

Granted it is true that the transparent (NOT) proxy setup is shite to say the least, and their mail servers aren't worth a wank (hence I run my own), but I will have to give them 10/10 for physical connectivity.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

It is true that all the drivers caught were exceeding the signed limit, and I am suprised that the SCP didn't mention this - previously other partnerships have said words to the effect "They didn't know the limit was invalid, so we are morally correct".

However it is only a technicality in the broadest sense - the fact is they were not breaking the law.

Gareth

What, somebody's actually increased a speed limit

<dies of shock>
In front of a college too. Children will die!

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

and I hope they all claimed Compensation for all the stress and sleepless Nights involved by this?

I am confused!
pleased but confused...

There is a 30 limit out side a colllege.
The police saw it as a "danger spot" with enough accidents to warrant a speed camera"
The council decided without consultation to rais the speed limit on a road identified as a dangerous place.

So who was using what set of statistics?
A) I cant remember a speed limit being raised in Hampshire.
B) Don't they talk to each other at all?
C) Have safespeed secretly taken over its first local council and wew are now working from within... If so congratulations

Well done Gwynneth she knows how to work the press earlier this year council bailifs threatened to take her gnomes and the story made it to India!

.... and there was another victim on pepipoo

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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

for "danger spot" read "road with an inappropriately low limit" and for "enough accidents" read "enough people safely exceeding it"

She made the sunday mirror

3 September 2006
SPEEDING FINE GAFFE
POLICE officers have had to rip up 270 speeding tickets and return fines after an embarrassing speed limit blunder.

Officers using mobile speed cameras did not realise for four months that a stretch on the A27 in Fareham, Hants, was no longer a 30mph zone.

It was raised to 40mph in March but speed limit signs were not changed.

The mix-up came to light when Gwnneth Lester, 57, from Gosport, Hants, appealed her fine. She said: "I was so upset. I've never had a blot on my licence."

A Hampshire Constabulary official said: "It's a regrettable mistake."

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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