£60 fine and 3 points.

gk172

Dave101t wrote: »

the police can use their own judgement and at the roadside, the husband should of explained the situation clearly. also, far better to 'pay under protest' and appeal, than refuse and go to court...

Unfortunatley the police were not interested in hearing anything, hubby even offered to show them the bluetooth kit and his call logs but they refused.

gk172

D_e_n_i_s_e wrote: »

the police just 'made it up' tht ur fella was on the phone?!

rofl

pay up, and be sensible in future - and u shouldnt be so daft in believing everythin ur fella tells u!

Why should we pay for something thats untrue and for hubby to take 3 points onto his clean licence for an offense he didnt commit!!!! Would you admit guilt for something you didnt do!!!!

DaveF327

Best advice so far has been to consult a solicitor.

To put minds at rest and to satisfy the curious, here's what the law actually says:

Road_Vehicles_(Construction_and_Use)_Regulations_1986_(as_amended) wrote:

Mobile telephones
110.—(1) No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a road if he is using—

(a) a hand-held mobile telephone; or
(b) a hand-held device of a kind specified in paragraph (4).

.....
(4) A device referred to in paragraphs (1)(b), (2)(b) and (3)(b) is a device, other than a two-way radio, which performs an interactive communication function by transmitting and receiving data.

(5) A person does not contravene a provision of this regulation if, at the time of the
alleged contravention—

(a) he is using the telephone or other device to call the police, fire, ambulance or other emergency service on 112 or 999;
(b) he is acting in response to a genuine emergency; and
(c) it is unsafe or impracticable for him to cease driving in order to make the call (or, in the case of an alleged contravention of paragraph (3)(b), for the provisional licence holder to cease driving while the call was being made).

(6) For the purposes of this regulation—

(a) a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function;
.....
(c) “interactive communication function” includes the following:

(i) sending or receiving oral or written messages;
(ii) sending or receiving facsimile documents;
(iii) sending or receiving still or moving images; and
(iv) providing access to the internet;

Regulation has been edited for brevity; edited stuff includes "causing and permitting" clauses as well as clauses for supervising learner drivers and that definition. Full text is here if anyone needs it.

Guys_Dad

Good advice, but wait till you get the paperwork from the police as solicitors cost money - far more than £60 per hour - and it is better to have the facts gathered and written down to keep their costs down.

You do realise that the cost of a solicitor and barister will vastly exceed the cost of any fine and, even if you win, you may not be awarded costs?

I know that there is a principal at stake, but as a previous poster wrote 2 policemen's word against your husband's?

I can only say that I was charged with speeding some years ago, which I contested. There were 2 policemen, one got the car type wrong, another was sitting at the front of the court telegraphing answers to his colleague when the latter was giving evidence and one magistrate was dozing and seemed to be asleep.

The police admitted that the first policeman who had the camera and the second were some distance away, with a bend in between and that there was a turning on the left between camera and police who were stopping offendershidden from the first and some cars did dodge up there having seen the speed trap to avoid being nicked. I know, because the car ahead of me, another vauxhall, did just that!

Result? 3 points and a fine ! Absolute joke.

So do try to get all your facts and defence together, but be prepared to lose, even if you are 100% in the right.

gk172

Thank you all again :T, we have had a few excellent pieces of advice but we are tied till we get something in writing through and we can take it from there and contact a solicitor if needs be, unfortunatley we are not covered via our insurance legal cover so a solicitors costs will be out of our pocket so will use if and when needed.

bargepole

gk172 wrote: »

Thank you all again :T, we have had a few excellent pieces of advice but we are tied till we get something in writing through and we can take it from there and contact a solicitor if needs be, unfortunatley we are not covered via our insurance legal cover so a solicitors costs will be out of our pocket so will use if and when needed.

If you do decide to use a solicitor, please do not go to your local high street property conveyancer/ will writer, as they will be as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

There are a small number of solicitors who specialise in motoring offences, you can find a list of them on pepipoo. And you can claim your costs back if you win, the proposed change in that system hasn't happened yet.

Guys_Dad

bargepole wrote: »

If you do decide to use a solicitor, please do not go to your local high street property conveyancer/ will writer, as they will be as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

There are a small number of solicitors who specialise in motoring offences, you can find a list of them on pepipoo. And you can claim your costs back if you win, the proposed change in that system hasn't happened yet.

Agree about the solicitor. But there is no automatic guarantee that you will be awarded costs if you win.

Gordon861

Go to the officers station right away and register a complaint, you want to get an officer to come out of the station and see that a proper hands free kit is installed in your car now. You don't want them to claim that you installed it after the event and before you went to court.

Contact your mobile phone company and ask them the proceedure for getting phone records of particular times/days for use in court.

When you go to court you need to show reasonable doubt on the charge, it's not up to you to prove you didn't make the call.

gk172

My hubby went to the main office the afternoon it happened as he was quite annoyed and explained all about the carkit and the officer refusing to even look at it and was asked was it vindictive or could it have been a genuine mistake, the officer who spoke to my hubby said he was the first person to come in and querie the charge and believed/sympathised hubby but said it had to go to court, plus the carkit was fitted by the dealership when we bought the car so there is no doubt of it being fitted recently. The phone records have been requested but we dont know how long these take to come through or even how long before we hear anything from the police/court?

Thanks for looking in.

Gordon861

The court could take anything upto 6 months I think. I got stopped for speeding one time and wasn't given a FPN, 5 months later the summons arrived.

Who did you speak to at the station?
If it was the desk officer that's no good, you should actually register it as a complaint at the station. To do this it needs to be a sergent or inspector and it's a proper private discussion rather than a chat at the front desk.

I would also be raising the point that the officer implied that you were complaining just to be vindictive.

You need to demand that the complaint is taken seriously and is recorded so it can be referred to later, get a reference number.