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Praise for Essex Police (yes you read that right!)

Just thought I'd share this little story with you all...

I am normally a very careful driver, I don't speed (at least anything above 75mph) and I'm always the first one to take the p*** out of boy racers who I see stopped at the side of the road for speeding.

However, last month I was caught out a bit. I was on my way to Romford for the dog racing for a friend's birthday. I had no sat nav and had no idea which exit I was supposed to be taking off the A12. One of my other friends was driving as well so I just followed him. I was carrying three of my female friends, all of whom were drinking in the car.

Unfortunately he is not the slowest of drivers himself! I found myself doing in excess of 80mph to keep up with him. Around Boreham I spotted a police car with the lights on behind me and slowed right down and pulled into the left lane to let it pass. Then it pulled in behind me. My immediate thought: 'oh s***....'

I pulled into a slip road and stopped, meanwhile all my friends still sat there drinking and no idea what's going on. Then the police officer (woman) got out of the car and came up to my window.

"Can you please exit the car as safely as possible ad bring your licence with you" Oh Christ, I thought, I'm going to get 3 points on my licence...I could really do without this.

I went over to the police car and she said to me "Do you know how fast you were going?" to which I replied "Not sure...I'm assuming above 70mph?" (I genuinely couldn't recollect how fast I was going)

She said "I've been following you at a constant speed for just over a mile. At one point you were doing 94mph. Apart from that, you were at a constant speed of at least 90mph."

OH MY GOD. I'm not a expert on driving offences but even I know that 94 on a 70 road is 6 points and a £100 fine. And in my case, since I've had my licence less than two years, 6 points means disqualification. Which means I would have to take both my theory and practical tests again. And on top of that it would make getting insurance extremely difficult.

But that wasn't all..."Did you notice how close you were to the car in front of you?" ......WHAT? "Tailgating is a very serious offence, if that car had braked suddenly you would have gone straight into the back of it." Oh brilliant.

Then the clouds parted and a ray of sunshine beamed down on the scene.
"Do you have any previous convictions?" Well no, I didn't, apart from a £30 fine for not wearing my seatbelt early this year, which isn't on my record. "On this occasion I'm going to pretend I didn't clock you speeding, and I'm only going to make a note of driving without due care and attention. For this I do have to caution you, so you do not have to say anything....etc...."

She then referred me to the station sergeant, who recommended I attend a Driving Improvement Course, which would cost me £190, but upon completion no further action would be taken against me, meaning no penalty points and no fine.

I am so amazingly grateful for what this police officer did for me, effectively saving my licence and hundreds of pounds in restests and licence and insurance. Luckily my criminal record now only consists of a caution (and an ASBO from when I was 14, but that's another story...)

There are some nice'uns in the police force!
Mastercard:£450/£700 [strike]Car finance: £0/£8200 [/strike]paid in full![strike]Credit agreement (laptop): £0/£550[/strike]paid in full! Barclaycard: £500/£750

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