Just checked this thread again. Furthest relevance to OP of the week award goes to ……

I'd just assumed it was still arguing over speeding…

No idea it had got this much fun.

DirtyLyle – Member

Whenever there's multiple posts on a forum topic I now skip to the end to see who's being a knob, why they're being a knob, and what they're bing knobby about. Just in case I'm missing something vital, like.

wooooaaahhhh-a fellow Convoy fan?

Court the morn. What suit?

birthday suit.

claim insanity.

sorted.

Whatever happens, good luck!

I pled guilty by letter to the charges, the Procurator Fiscal’s assistant said it would be better if I were to respect the authority of the court and the gravity of the charge and that I attend.

Only been in a court once for a civil divorce case. I feel a bit spooked going there as a crim’.

Turn up late and say sorry but you “had to stick to the speed limit this time”

“Court the morn. What suit?” dress like you are going to tea with your headmaster/vicar/with the in laws for the first time. Make a sober sensible effort to look smart and normal. do not dress to stand out . Do not go for bling and flash do not wear your disco suit.

Magistrates courts are very busy and relatively informal they will realise you are out of your depth and guide you through the process. You will stand out head and shoulders above the usual dross that come before them.

Do take the time to work out your income and outgoings you will be paying a fine and costs and a victim surcharge so you need to give them some financial info to fix the level and rate of repayment. Best of British.

magistrates guidelines for 70mph in a 50 limit are 4-6 points on licence or disqualify for 7-28 days and a band b fine which is 100% of relevent weekly income,and costs and victim surcharge.

Brilliant.

Surf-Mat gets proven wrong in a discussion about speeding, says ‘whatever'(I thought only middle aged fat women in America and 13 year old girls said that) and starts slagging people off for where they live, then posts a picture of a wave, with no person actually visible in the picture and uses this as proof he is a great surfer.

Genius.

I’d be ready for whatever gets thrown at you. A straight speeding offence would probably have got you 3 points; now that you’re going to court that’s very unlikely. So although the MOT offence is non-endorsable, the lack of valid MOT has probably led to your court appearance. Anyway, you’re going to court now, and there’s no getting out of it.

Do the sensible thing and take it seriously. Dress appropriately, speak (when spoken to) in a considered manner, and do not attempt to justify your actions. Quite the reverse, you should state (again, only if asked) that you understand you shouldn’t have been speeding, and that you have no excuse. Point to your good driving record and lack of points. The lack of MOT you could perhaps position as a memory thing – you thought it was the following week etc – but make sure they understand that you’re fully aware that it’s your responsibility and are not offering excuses.

Contrition worked reasonably well for me in my court appearances – coming across as not giving a damn will just cause you more grief.

On the legal side of it, see if your insurance (or AA/RAC) provide for a solicitor. Many do (though you might have to pay something towards it) and it’s worth doing. Again, it shows that you’re taking it seriously, and that you’re trying to present your mitigation as best you can, whilst fully accepting blame.

Financially, make sure that you are very careful about what’s labelled as, effectively, discretionary expenditure. You may well get fined a large amount, so the more of your income which can be classified as non-discretionary (i.e. on mortgage, pension contributions, childcare etc), the better. Bear in mind that lying to the court is a whole new level of trouble, so don’t do that!

My experience of a similar offence (no MOT issues, but I was going just under 90 in a 50), again with a clean license, was 6 points and £1000 fine. That was a decade ago, and they’re a bit tougher on speeders now.

No chance of a ban for this, unless they hate you; I estimate that you’ll get 4-5 points and a £3-400 fine (depends on how much you earn, obviously).

As nickf says, be smart, respectful and remorseful and take it well regardless. Dont embelish or try and justify your actions (from your original posting I doubt you will).
I had to go to magistrates court 5 years ago for a minor clash of wingmirrors (5 points and £185 fine, cheers then!). Mainly because i didnt report it to the police.
As i said good luck and hope it goes as well as it can for you!

You’ll get off for sure 😆

I reckon 4 points & £150-£200

Thanks for that folks. I was sent a form asking for details of my income etc. I work as a self employed artist. My income is sporadic. I can work for six months preparing for an exhibition with little or no income and no guarentee of reward. I therefore couldnt realistically complete the form as it didnt make provision for peculiar nature of my work. I sent a covering letter with my plea to outline this.

As I said in the OP I admitted responsibility on the day and when charged. I renewed my MOT a couple of days after I was stopped. It was a week or so out of date.

Good luck.
Be subserviant and say how awfully sorry you are alot.
If the Magistrate or Judge is an old duffer do not mumble . Think about what you are going to say and project it to the questioner. Do not look at the floor and mumble into your boots with your hands in your pockets. I dont think shrugs will go down too well either.
As your lack of ability to show income / expenditure you might get less in fines and more points.
Be prepared for 6 points and £200 in fines.

Let us know how it goes .

and turn your phone off before going in

Best of luck

NO bullshine excuses. They have heard it all before.

Don’t bother going, I’ll phone em and tell them that you are exempt from prosecution as you’re no longer on british soil but instead your riding the wave of awesomeness just off the south coast, forever, because you can.

So, I’m not beind bars. But the penalty is to be deferred to do an insurance check.

When I was stopped by the Police they did a vehicle check. It showed I had no MOT and also no insurance. Which I knew was incorrect, either a computer error with the Police or the Insurance company.

I had a week to produce the certificate. I couldnt find it so telephoned the Insurance company. They sent a replacement certificate. However it was dated from the date of my call, not the date of my policy renewal, 6 months earlier. I took my renewed MOT certificate and the unopened letter from the Insurance company to the Police station. A police officer then ‘called’ the insurance company who then informed me that they had no record of it. At that point I was charged. I immediatly telephoned the insurance company and they sent another certificate confirming I was indeed covered at the time I was stopped. I took this certificate the next day to the Police who photocopied it and assured me it would be forwarded to the relevant officers etc. Somewhere along the line it wasnt. I submitted a second copy with my letter pleading guilty to the speeding and no MOT to the PF.

The Crown representative hadn’t reviewed the file which they’d had for over a month, which had a copy of the certificate, so the case is to be deferred for couple of weeks. I do not have to reattend the court. I’ll be informed of my punishment by letter.

The Sherriff and the Clerk of the Court were both very helpful and smiling. My choice of a Gieves and Hawkes suit in preference to a shell suit, a baseball cap and chewing gum may have helped.

Thanks for all the help and advice on this.

Typical. Public servant goes into court completely unprepared and wastes public time and money by having to have your case re-tried. If you’d gone in to court so unprepared they’d have hung you out to dry.

Blimey! What a farce!

Your insurance company does not sound too hot either 😐

Typical. Public servant goes into court completely unprepared and wastes public time and money by having to have your case re-tried. If you’d gone in to court so unprepared they’d have hung you out to dry.

🙄

If you knew anything about the workload of an average PF you’d rephrase that.

Oh hang on you’d also need not to have the views of a dyed-in-the-wool Daily Fail reader, so you wouldn’t.

When I was 18 I was stopped for speeding, 45 in a 40, was asked to see my documents so handed everything over knowing everything was in order. Only for the PC to say do you realsie you MOT’s expired by 4 months? Hmmm, that was news to me but it was certainly the case. I was let off for no MOT and speeding and was only given a fixed penalty fine for not wearing a seat belt (because I wasn’t wearing one either). Not all coppers are bad, but booked in next day for MOT, and wore seatbelt & obeyed speed limits from then on!

MOT for me was just a fine, no points.
It is the speeding one that I guess is the problem.
Still be surprised if that was more than 3 points..
J.

mcmoonter, if you are struggling post it over on pistonheads.com (speed and law section)- there are few like me over (**** clueless) but also some traffic Police/serving officers and legal-types.

As for speeding, if its outside of a 30 limit its all fair game IMO.

Hora, this should never have gone to court. I feel I should be (have been)served with a fixed penalty & points (at the time). I’d be happy with that.

I wouldnt like to be the guy who overtook me on the A9 on Sunday night in the 911. Exiting a stretch of dual carriageway at well over 100mph in the rain. An unmarked Police car with headlights out appeared from behind an obscured vantage point. It overtook me then caught up to the Porche who then overtook overtook another car on double solid white lines on a blind corner. I saw them parked up in a layby a bit further on with lots of blue flashing lights. Thats got to be an instant ban.

If you knew anything about the workload of an average PF you’d rephrase that

No I wouldn’t. If they or their office had organised themselves properly they would have had a court date set for when they knew they would be prepared. From McMoonters comments it would seem that another couple of weeks would have been appropriate.

Oh hang on you’d also need not to have the views of a dyed-in-the-wool Daily Fail reader, so you wouldn’t

Seems abuse is the typical lefty knee-jerk reaction to legitimate criticism of a public service.

McMoonter I don’t know how easy it is for you to attend court but it might be wise to attend the re-scheduled hearing anyway to hear what the crown representative has to say in case you need to rebut any of it.

Thats got to be an instant ban.

No such thing as an instant ban. But it will probably result in a ban. Wish I had seen this thread earlier as I could have given you some sound advice.

Just for a bit of balance I achieved 50mpg average on the motorway last night at a constant 60 in a 4WD subaru

So you’ve done your bit for saving the planet hora – now go drive it like you stole it to re-address the balance… 😈

Gieves and Hawkes suit?
I’d have had you strung up from the ramparts for this crime alone! 😆

Hora, this should never have gone to court etc…

The guidelines for roadside speed checks (not cameras, no idea about them) are (for a 50mph limit) 51-59 = warning, 60-69 = ticket, 70 and over = report to PF. So you were close!

The guidelines for roadside speed checks (not cameras, no idea about them) are (for a 50mph limit) 51-59 = warning, 60-69 = ticket, 70 and over = report to PF. So you were close!

I’ve no idea how they ‘calculated’ my speed.

Does a Police car in a pursuit not have to have its blue flashing lights on if it is exceeding the speed limit?

Just caught this thread.
Has anybody mentioned what is going to happen when you get your next insurance renewal?
I got three points this year (mobile phone) £400 per year went to £700. For same cover same company. Even allowing for the general increase in the cost of car insurance ,it put the £60 fine into perspective!

Me neither, I was just mentioning what the instructions are which might explain why you didn’t get a ticket. The use of lights and sirens is at the drivers discretion, so not obligatory in these circumstances. It is for him to justify if it all goes wrong though.

McMoonter – you seem to have omitted the insurance details from the original story. I assume you pled not guilty to that offence. You presumably presented your defence to that case in court today (in the form of a valid insurance certificate). Presumably the crown had no actual evidence that you didn’t have insurance other than you failed to present a certificate at the time. I’m confused why this requires a further “check”. If the prosecution don’t offer evidence beyond reasonable doubt you should be acquitted.

Was it really a Sheriff? I’d have thought the JP court would have dealt with this. However from their (Police/PF) point of view I can see that this did warrant a court case. Speeding at 20 mph over a 50, no MoT, no Insurance (and/or failing to produce documentation) are a fairly significant collection of charges. The fact you wouldn’t plead guilty to the charges for insurance would mean it had to go to court anyway.