Chip, I know the road very well. The potholes are at the bottom of a very steep hill. You need to control your speed coming down the hill then slow even more for the last 150 metres which is riddled with potholes that can’t be avoided. By heavy braking we are talking about dropping from 30mph to less than 10 with 150 metres to go to the t-junction which is a stop not a give way. Regular users of this road all do the same to avoid damaging their cars.
I didn’t say I was braking aggressively, the police officer did.

If what the OP is saying is true then yeah, put a complaint in, but more often that not, the full truth doesnt always come out on internet forums. There is always 2 sides to a story!

Unfortunately for you the opinion of two officers is enough to convict with regards to speeding. No calibrated devices needed. If you end up in court by and large the mags side with the police. The expectation is that there is no need for the police to lie about speeding motorists.

Did he say something like I’m reporting you for the offence of…..
Or have you got paperwork?
if it’s the former I think they have 6 months to get it to court
If it’s the latter you’ve got 14 days to pay the fine or possibly take s speed awareness course

If you got none of the above it was proberbly just a power trip. I wouldn’t bother complaining to a senior officer. That could cause more trouble than it sorts.

euans2 – Member

If what the OP is saying is true then yeah, put a complaint in, but more often that not, the full truth doesnt always come out on internet forums. There is always 2 sides to a story!

That’s one reason you need dash cam nowadays (front, rear, both sides) in order to prove that you are innocence.

When officers stop you, I bet you, you are guilty first until proven innocence or at least they consider you as guilty otherwise they would not stop you, not the other way round. Try it and see what’s the probability like. 🙄

I was stopped by officers because I was driving on the same road many times (4-5) in one night (I was driving around in order to charge my car battery and checked out my new TomTom coz I did not drive it for a while) and they stopped me to say I was driving funnily and brake aggressively (yes, I did brake at a roundabout aggressively because of a taxi turning in at the last minute cutting across me but no cars was behind me so how did they know). I bet central CCTV monitoring the roads must have alerted them of a strange bloke driving around … 🙄

MartynS – Member

If you got none of the above it was proberbly just a power trip. I wouldn’t bother complaining to a senior officer. That could cause more trouble than it sorts.

^^^ this. There are simply too many zombie maggots around nowadays so get at least one dash cam …

The paperwork and the procedures to complaint will destroy you instantly. i.e. read the procedures to complaint, the procedures for the procedures to complaint and read the small print in all then take up courses to understand the procedures to complaint, that’s before you are even consider arguing with the zombies.

Martyn, I was given a ticket and told me it was being sent to central processing who will contact me

craigxxl – Member

Martyn, I was given a ticket and told me it was being sent to central processing who will contact me

Damn! That boils my piss as I think most STW members are so law abiding I thought (actually consider) you lot are brain dead zombies, and if you get a ticket just like that what chance do I have when if I switch to 3rd world driving style? Worst still your insurance (another lot of zombie maggots) cost will go up as a result.

I feel sorry for you or … me …

😮

If you believe you are hard done by surely it is best to lodge a complaint, if only because if this officer genuinely went around stopping people for no good reason and all of his victims did the same surely their unreasonable behaviour would then become apparent to their superiors due to a disproportional amount of complaints levied against them.

chip – Member

If you believe you are hard done by surely it is best to lodge a complaint, if only because if this officer genuinely went around stopping people for no good reason and all of his victims did the same surely their unreasonable behaviour would then become apparent to their superiors due to a disproportional amount of complaints levied against them.

That’s assuming their superiors know how/where to check for offiers’ records or keep records of officers involvement in details. I bet the superiors are not even computer literate … 🙄

Edit: … in the 3rd world the officers would stop you and give you some bollocking or point their pistols (they like that) at you but would seldom/not give you a ticket.
They do like pointing their pistols at you though so the technique is to beg for forgiveness by saying how shinning their pistols are and they would let you go (you are actually begging for the pistol not to misfire) …
Also, if you want to bribe them you need to know the market price i.e. the cost of a full fine deduct 20-30% off that and bargain like hell … 😆

My guess is that this will go nowhere if you forget it . very hard for non traffic officers in a van to prove speeding very hard to prove due care by evidence you were braking on a potholled road if risk was caused they were careless by driving too close to you impossible to prove number plate offence you have a photo of your plate they will have had a works BlackBerry or private mobile and could have taken a photo. But if you make a complaint they may feel professioaly bound to try and press some charge to legitimise their conduct. Andrew Mitchell’s big mistake was his parting shot to the officer that he would take matters further.

Since when was braking an offence? I think if I were accused of braking aggressively my response would be, “and?” The only situation where that would be dangerous would be if the vehicle behind was driving too close. Oh, wait.

he reckoned that one letter wasn’t clear due to his headlight reflecting.

I fail to see how their incorrectly adjusted headlights is your concern either.

My guess is that you’ll hear nothing more about it, they were trying to intimidate you. Personally I’d be reporting them, but then I have a thing about bullies.

Speeding but wasn’t. If you had noticed straight away it was a copper, would this have panned out in exactly the same scenario. Absolutely?

May be worth getting photos of the potholes etc before they get filled in just in case? What exactly did they report you for? Sounds really petty, if you weren’t dealt with politely without reason and they were c*cks, worth making complaint otherwise they’ll keep subjecting others to the same behaviour. Can’t see you have anything to lose other than devoting the time to do it.

Nightjacks penultimate point

http://nightjackarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/survival-guide-for-decent-folk-240708.html

OP what Exactly did you get at the scene. It sounds like from what you say you’ve been reported and you have paperwork.
If that’s the case something Will come of this, the other bad news is he’s reported you for a speed higher than the threshold tor a course (above 42 in a 30)
I’m not sure if they now have 14 days or 6 months to deal with this (a camera ticket is 14 days I don’t know about a roadside stop)

If he just said I’m going to report you. He was just saying words to scare you

Head over to pepipoo for some decent advice

Agree that pepipoo is good, you will get decent advice there, including from serving or retired experienced traffic cops who have as little time for the nobs you encountered as the rest of us do. If you do go on pepipoo then don’t try and give a biased account (not suggesting you have done), blaggers get caught out very quickly on there. Good luck, sounds like a pile of shite to me, and I wouldn’t want to go up in the box to give evidence about that incident 🙂

MartynS – it will be six months, because provided it was done correctly, he’s had his Section 1 warning (verbal equivalent of an NIP).

Police can be obnoxious from time to time and do daft stuff. One of the most idiotic drivers I knew as a kid was a traffic cop. I’ve been undertaken by an marked police 3 series BMW doing 120 before. Of course if I did such a thing I’d be nicked (yes I can confirm he was going that fast and I know it was an unmarked police car as he put his blue lights on – hidden in reversing light cluster – in order to force his way back into my lane. I assume he’d got the hump as he had earlier nearly crashed into me moving into my lane without looking.

I was cautioned and then given a Traffic Offence Report. The code for the offence is RR84061, exceed 30mph local traffic order and the speed is quoted as +45. No explanation was given as to how my speed was calculated and as I previously mentioned the way he kept getting close up to me he wasn’t keeping a distance to match my speed.
From the back of the form it appears I just wait for them to decide what action will be taken.
I have his details on the ticket but not hers. Not sure if relevant or not that when I was cautioned again before he handed the ticket to me I asked for it to be recorded that he had driven aggressively behind me coming way too close for safety just so they could read my number plate, which was clearly visible. It would have been much safer to pull me over and read the plate. As I said this the male officer said “bear in mind that I have only one line left on this page to this down” to which I replied “then you’d best get another to ensure you write it all down”. He then replied that it was the last page and he didn’t have another notebook. I said it wasn’t my problem and he needed to record what I said. The female officer continued my statement in her book.

As said the word of two officers is enough “evidence” to convict in court.
You can make an official complaint regarding th officers actions. That may result in the ticket being scrapped but I wouldn’t bet on it. If you really want to fight it, be prepared to go to court, collect your evidence and see a solicitor.

Plus 45 in a 30 is bad news I’m afraid. I would go on the attack as your going to get hit with 3 points as that’s over the limit for an awareness course. It’s drink drive season I’m surprised they never breath tested you as well.

Online complaint, officer falsified a police report, his driving manner caused you to feel harassed, alarmed and distressed. ‘Aggressive braking’ is his opinion and wouldn’t be an issue given he had given you the legal requirement of braking distance. The fact that there were two of them in an ill equipped vehicle to even record your speed makes no difference. Don’t even listen to the advice of police officers on here because half the nitwits can’t do their own job. Ask for an official apology and a response otherwise it will be escalated to the IPCC. You will get a letter from the divisional commander of central division to address the issue. I’ve been this route more than once, don’t feel intimidated they are there to serve you and must follow the same laws we do.

If there is a CCTV around that road you might be able to use it …

Online complaint, officer falsified a police report, his driving manner caused you to feel harassed, alarmed and distressed. ‘Aggressive braking’ is his opinion and wouldn’t be an issue given he had given you the legal requirement of braking distance. The fact that there were two of them in an ill equipped vehicle to even record your speed makes no difference. Don’t even listen to the advice of police officers on here because half the nitwits can’t do their own job. Ask for an official apology and a response otherwise it will be escalated to the IPCC. You will get a letter from the divisional commander of central division to address the issue. I’ve been this route more than once, don’t feel intimidated they are there to serve you and must follow the same laws we do.

Bravo. Thank goodness an expert has arrived.

thegreatape – Member
Bravo. Thank goodness an expert has arrived.

Ya, someone actually make sense here.

Aggressive braking … bloody hell … that is the same words I got when they let me go. 😯

Definitely report to his superiors ASAP.

If it does go to court this will be useful evidence. If not, it could be what stops you from having to go to court.

Speaking as someone who has spent days on end (and thousands of pounds) in court defending myself from untrue accusations prosecuted due to police fuckwittery, do all you can to stay out of court, and all you can so that if anything does go to court you have evidence at least of your side of the story being consistent.

And next time, brake check them properly then when they run into you make sure all occupants of your car have “severe whiplash”.

@pk they didn’t breatherlise him as they weren’t traffic cops and they did have a breatherliser. See what @pitchpro said, that’s the course of action.

Pitch pro +1
Ignore the squares on here.
Get the complaint recorded.
Police work for the public.
Some police are bell ends.
Report, record, follow up the apology.
Email / recorded letter better.

Not going into details but this has happened to me and I got compensation from the police man (bell end twit) that stopped me.

Good luck

If you’re in Scotland, don’t expect this to be quietly dropped. The procurator fiscal seem to be taking all manner of long shots – even when the evidence refuting the charge is made plain to them 9 months before the court case. Further, they’re disinterested in even fixing mistakes on the charge because the magistrate will discount them.

I was charged with speeding and contested it in court. Thankfully my evidence was bulletproof and the PF ended up looking foolish and my case was dismissed. But it should never have gotten anywhere near court.

45mph is over the limit for a fixed penalty, so if you’re found guilty you’ll have a criminal record – same situation I was in. For starters, get photographic evidence of the way your number plate looks (time stamped by the camera), and get video evidence of the road to demonstrate the pot holes/implausibility of driving at 45mph. And check the signage on the road. It may be wrongly signed, in which case you’ll be guaranteed a dismissal. It’s a real shame that a few crappy cops destroy faith in the whole system. While you’re getting done on a dodgy pretext, the police have yet to even contact the taxi driver that drove into me and then drove away 3 weeks ago. AKA no further action. Wrong targets and bad results. Good luck!

One final thing – expect months to pass before you hear anything more. It doesn’t mean it’s been forgotten about. I waited 8 months before I got the date for the first pleading diet. And eventually went to court 13 months after the alleged (and non existent) offence.

When I say I’m surprised it’s because they never got traffic involved.

The plod do a hard job and fools in hats and hi viz jackets make it even harder. Every job has idiots I’m afraid.

I assume you have gone back up the hill from where you were stopped and noted every road sign to make sure you are right, re the speed limit on that section of road.. . . ?

Or let us all have a look on Street View

pk13 – Member

The plod do a hard job and fools in hats and hi viz jackets make it even harder. Every job has idiots I’m afraid.

Those with power are the ones that create nightmare for many and they should be put to hard labour ploughing padi field like ox.

There’s a very simple but handy device on mobile phones called “audio record”, or wtf . I’ve got this on a shortcut on my phone for such circumstances. Easier said than done in the heat of the moment, but if you can remember to hit that Record button and slip it into your top pocket or whatever….

Always take their badge numbers too.

Bravo. Thank goodness an expert the pleb has arrived

As noted the force is not perfect but ACAB is an equally sad response to reality.