Does this seem fair?

Francophile

Don't know if this is the right place to ask this and hope you don't mind me rattling on a bit but I feel completely incensed. I have a 17 year old son who incidentally has never given me one moments bother in his life. He is still at school studying for A Levels and has a part time job at the weekend. He has been saving really hard and bought his first car. In Northern Ireland new drivers must display an "R" plate (restricted driver)for the 1st year of driving. My son tried at various local outlets to get a set of "R" plates and my husband and I both tried near our places of work to obtain a set but no joy. A friend of my sons told him to go to Halfords (about 10 miles from our home, don't know if you have them across the water) where he would definitely get a set. Sods Law, 200 yards from Halfords he's pulled in by the police. All his paperwork is in order, driving fine. I think the only reason he was stopped was because he was a young lad. He was fined £60 and 2 points on his license. The police officer would not listen to any excuses. Now I know technically he was breaking the law but surely the punishment should fit the crime. Does anyone know if there is a set fine for certain misdemeanours or is it down to the mood the police officer is in on the day?
I've brought my children up to respect the police but when you see joy riders and worse getting off with their knuckles being wrapped it's hard to stomach.

Ivrytwr3

Unfortunately your son knew the law and took the risk to get the plates. Why didn't someone drive him there? Pick them up for him? Ordered online and selected home delivery? Waited until someone was available to take him?

So many options.

Francophile

Ivrytwr3 wrote: »

Unfortunately your son knew the law and took the risk to get the plates. Why didn't someone drive him there? Pick them up for him? Ordered online and selected home delivery? Waited until someone was available to take him?

So many options.

I know he broke the law, the question I'm asking is, "is there a set fine for these things or does the police officer just make it up as he goes along". What's annoying me most is that when I related this story to a young goodlooking female friend, she told me she'd been stopped several times for things like not wearing her seatbelt and has always got off by batting her eyelids at the police officer. Can someone tell me where is the fairness in that!!!

MercilessKiller

There is no fairness and its such an annoyance indeed.

First of all the penalty is a fixed penalty and is usually "strict liability". In other words there is NO defence. Its a penalty no matter what.

With people "getting off" by batting eyelids... well psycologists will tell you that a lot of people lie. Why? Meh, they know more than me. But a LOT of people do actually lie.

Sometimes when someone is stopped it may be a "random stop" which I know is now perfectly legal... There need be NO excuse for an officer to stop you. Which is kind of good in a way because if someone stole my car and got randomly stopped, i'd be quite happy.

It is REALLY unfair that some people who get stopped get away. I got stopped for speeding once, and after I was given the whole "you are under arrest" speech and told i may have to go to court, he said "it was a gypsy warning as the equipment isn't working today". Some peopel would come away saying they talked themselves out of it. I say I was lucky as the car was searching for drunk drivers at 2am and not speeders!

Either way, as sick and unfair as it is, indeed he was breaking the law. Without the law, new drivers that are chav's for example who will get into joyriding would now be at a disadvantage if stopped and received the same penalty. Unfortunately they too could say "i was going to pick up the plates" thus making it hard for officials to decide who's telling the truth.

2 points isn't the end of the world he'll just have to drive carefully for a while!

vaio

Francophile wrote: »

I know he broke the law, the question I'm asking is, "is there a set fine for these things or does the police officer just make it up as he goes along". What's annoying me most is that when I related this story to a young good-looking female friend, she told me she'd been stopped several times for things like not wearing her seatbelt and has always got off by batting her eyelids at the police officer. Can someone tell me where is the fairness in that!!!

Yep, it will be a set fine & points probably with an option for either side to go to court if it’s aggravated or disputed. The court is a lottery, he might get off or he might get fined more.

It’s a fact of life that good looking females are likely to get off on minor offences by eyelid battering, males sometimes get off as well but again it’s a lottery. Be polite, apologetic and explain what is going on might work, might not. Start from the point you’ve broken the law and deserve the fine. If you get off it’s a bonus

Francophile

Thanks for your comments. I guess I just wanted to let off stem. Thanks for listening.