complaint? He should count his blessings, take the lessons, and move on.
Life isn’t fair.

Sounds like your mate was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but eventually got a result.

As others have said, just better not to get into that state/situation again.

Just put it down as a life lesson – the polis are dobbers – and aviod them at all costs in future.

Just put it down as a life lesson – the polis are dobbers – and aviod them at all costs in future.

to be fair most are pretty decent. Or at least thats my experiance of them , as a law abiding citizen.

Its a fair point about walking away though..it is a lesson learned. Not one that I needed teaching, but clearly he did. Even if you are in the right, you’re still in the wrong is my approach to dealing with law enforcement!

It does seem unfair that hes had to stump up 1.5 k though as not entitled to legal aid. It was a minor offence, but what do folks do if they are facing a lengthy case? Obviously not applicable to my mate, but is there recourse if you spend thousands clearing your name? I’m not talking about OJ Simpson levels of Defence manipulation where he clearly bought his freedon..more in cases where the police have a pretty flimsy case and it still goes to court before getting thrown out or found unanimously not guilty? I’m sure it must happen on a regular basis..

tpbiker – Member
…It does seem unfair that hes had to stump up 1.5 k though as not entitled to legal aid. It was a minor offence, but what do folks do if they are facing a lengthy case?…

No, the problem is he drinks to the extent he gets “mouthy”. That’s the real problem and one day it will have more unfortunate results.

He got mouthy with the police and gets away with it? Lucky chap. Count his blessings and stop the behaviour that causes it.

No, the problem is he drinks to the extent he gets “mouthy”. That’s the real problem and one day it will have more unfortunate results.

He got mouthy with the police and gets away with it? Lucky chap. Count his blessings and stop the behaviour that causes it.

well thats quite an assumption given you know very little of the guy and I assume didn’t see the charge sheet! ..i’ll admit he can be a bit beligerent, but never seen him remotely aggresive, and its only ever within our group.You seem to have blindfully acepted he did somethig wrong?

If there was a case to answer hed have been convicted, the PF could have easily accepted the breach of peace plea deal. But he didnt as he took one look at the charges, the character references and the evidence and threw it out…

I suspect I’m a better judge of whether or not he did anything wrong..Given hes gone 41 years without any brush with the law, or fighting, or run ins..I think you may need to reassess your assumption that he has a problem with his drink…

one of the things on the charge sheet was that he was suspected of spiking the girl he was withs drink! She got drug tested and was found to be just exteremly pished. As a mate he was getting her home as he works with her. According to him his only ‘crime’ was saying she was fine with him, which resulted in him being lifted.

Not sure that the result means he was ‘extremely lucky’!

Your mate could raise an issue/file a complaint with the police force in question but it’s not worth it, believe me I’ve been through that process and occasionally still pay for it. There are some utterly 100% genuine cops out there as I’ve (thankfully) met one who gave evidence in my favour regarding a false accusation pursued by D&G police but even if your mate wins he’ll still be hounded as his card will be marked so to speak, best to tell him to mark it up to experience and walk away but walk away with the knowledge that it’s for his own good to stfu if ever questioned or stopped by the police. State the absolute minimum you have to and make sure you understand the application of the law as many officers are rather power hungry and will try it on.

tpbiker – Member
…well thats quite an assumption given you know very little of the guy and I assume didn’t see the charge sheet! ..i’ll admit he can be a bit beligerent, but never seen him remotely aggresive..

Yeah, but a third party is not going to know he’s not remotely aggressive, are they?

Mouthy in public when in contact with the police suggests he’s a numpty or cannot control himself after a drink. There’s no cure for the first, but the other is in his hands.

And if I’m unsympathetic it’s because I had a mouthy mate like that. He never accepted he was causing trouble or that he was at fault. The police are fine – they’ll usually only clean up the dumbo, but run into a bunch of neds and you end up having to wade in or watch your mate get beaten to a pulp. Too many good nights out got ruined.

My mate hired a lawyer, however 3 days before the court case he chickened out, and offered a plea bargain of guilty of ‘breach of peace’ rather than face the Assault charge. (he still denies any wrongdoing)

Anyway his lawyer took the plea deal to the proc fiscal who took one look at the case and threw it out as a waste of time and no case to answer, with absolutely no evidence by prosecution on offer. He didn’t even want to accept the Plea deal..

I would be pretty pissed off with the lawyer who advised him to take a plea bargain ( I thought that only happened in the USA ) if it was obvious that there was no case to answer .

The fiscal would surely have seen it long before the three days, as they take the charges and evidence and decide whether the pursue the case or not.