Fixed Penaly Notice - should I go to court?

goomba

The fact that I was pulled over when the police approached me, I wasn't actually driving at the time. Their sirens were not on when they pulled up.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

actually there is a defense.

OP did the police take a tyre tread depth on the tyre you had a ticket for, and were they in prescibed limits for the 70% of the centre curcumfrence of that tyre and did they photo that tyre?

was the defect tyre on the same side as the punctured tyre? was that tyre legal like above.

do you have both tyres? do you have pictures of these tyres?
or do you have the specialist tyre centre report on what happened to the tyre that was ticketed and will they support this in a court?

you have 28days to pay the ticket and accept the fine and points, or you can follow the steps on the back of the ticket to defend at court.

if your heading the court rout, then i would suggest getting an experienced solicitor, or you can use duty solicitor at court but i would reccomend your own solicitor.

i would cast the same the post in http://forums.pepipoo.com/ there are non judgemental helpers there that would help you through the process, registration is free and a response is fairly swift.

if i were you in the same situ i would try a chellange at court with the right help behind me.

if you accept the points and fine, then you only have three left to play with and a slip up speeding or some other simple thing they can get points on your for and your retaking your tests with higher insurance costs.

perhaps from what ive read and i'm no expert here, there is a glimmer of a defense here.

but if your tyres were illegal on the rear, and the fronts was illegal upon bursting, then i would not challenge, but if there was decent tread depth to both and only defect was a small lump that you got a report for saying it was caused at the same time a good front tyre blew due to a pot hole then i would go the court rout.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

goomba wrote: »

The fact that I was pulled over when the police approached me, I wasn't actually driving at the time. Their sirens were not on when they pulled up.

they dont need sirens to stop an already pulled over/disabled car, they can draw a defense to say you were putting yourself in danger by stopping the car on the hardshoulder/emergency layby and not standing well clear of the scene itself all they have to say is that they assesse the danger risk and looked at the car to confirm it was in working order to be moved off, or it was actually disabled and could not be moved and you needed to be taken to the nearest safe place such as a services to call for help, as you had already alerted RAC and advised the safety gargon thats when they checked the car for further potential safety risks.

goomba

thanks atrix, they didn't take any measurements but they took a picture of the rear tyre with the bump. I'm getting both tyres (2 on the left side) changed tomorrow and will check tread depth as well but I'm sure they are both legal, the front one is in the boot but it's quite badly damaged.

I hadn't called RAC when they turned up, it's a dual carriage way and I was right next to the traffic but they weren't talking about the car being a danger just gave me 3 points for a tiny little lump and left.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Portly_Pig wrote: »

Why do they need tread depths for a bulge in the wall?

And while you're quoting the law, three starters is 75%.

im not quoting law, you seem to cant differ between law and legislation. and im not quoting neither.

and three quarters is the word your after and quite correct 75% but when your dyslexic whats .5%? anyway.

im offering an opinion, its a bit harsh to be issued with penalty points if both good condition tyres got damaged due to a pot hole, at the time the vehicle wasnt being driven, at that time OP had hazards on and awaited some sort of assistance, its knowladge the police can assist in making a call to a mobile tyre unit, or take the vehicle to aplace of safety, ive known some police officers to actually get hands dirty and get the tyre changed then follow the car to the nearest tyrecenter, the officer here just saw an opertunity to issue a ticket and get onto the next.

do you think this ticket was issued fairly?

add something constructive here, i would love to see you actually offering advice instead of criticism.

Ultrasonic

goomba wrote: »

Started walking back to his car to drive off, I go after him saying I have no idea how to change a tyre, makes a pathetic attempt to help and then leaves. (Phone battery was also dead and ended up having a nightmare, but that's not really relevant...)

At the time it was all a bit of a whirlwhind and I didn't really fight my corner but looking back i feel quite hard done by. I called RAC to fix the puncture,...

Reading this again this morning the part that concerns me slightly is the way you were obviously left distressed at the side of a slip road on a busy road. Can I just check, had you been able to phone the RAC before the police left?

Out of interest, you talk about a pathetic attempt to help change a tyre. If you had been able to replace the punctured front tyre did the police say they'd have been happy for you to drive on with the damage to the rear tyre?

goomba wrote:

I'm getting both tyres (2 on the left side) changed tomorrow and will check tread depth as well but I'm sure they are both legal, the front one is in the boot but it's quite badly damaged.

Wherever you get your tyres changed should help you out, but if the two right hand tyres have similar wear levels and are both radial (highly likely) then it will make sense to move the right rear wheel onto the front left, and then end up with the two new tyres on the rear. Having a situation where on each axle you have a brand new tyre on the left and a fairly worn tyre on the right wouldn't be ideal.

goomba

The officer told me how to apply the jack, the bolts on the wheel were too tight to undo because they had been tightened by the machine last time. He told me he wasn't payed for this and have to sort it myself or call breakdown services, and left at that point. He said I could drive off if I fixed the front punctured tyre.

thanks for the advice on the tyres, I'm off to get them sorted now so will report back in a while

atrixblue.-MFR-.

goomba wrote: »

The officer told me how to apply the jack, the bolts on the wheel were too tight to undo because they had been tightened by the machine last time. He told me he wasn't payed for this and have to sort it myself or call breakdown services, and left at that point. He said I could drive off if I fixed the front punctured tyre.

thanks for the advice on the tyres, I'm off to get them sorted now so will report back in a while

dont forget to get a report on the two tyres that are damaged. perhaps keep them aswell never know you might need them top show a court if you proceed down that rout.

also as above, have the tyre guys rotate them so the wear is even.

if what you say is accurate, and that he just upped and left you on a busy slip road with no mobile to call anyone he is not a man, he's just a pratt.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Portly_Pig wrote: »

But the tyre isn't good if the sidewall is damaged is it?

you just cant educate pork these days can you.

prowla

Firstly, the police did you a favour by pointing out the bump on the rear tyre; without that you could have just assumed it was OK.

Secondly, I think they were rather harsh to impose the fine & points, given that you were on the same journey where the incident happened.

However, if they wished to do it by the book and pick an easy target, then you've been got.

You'd like to think that common sense could come into play, but I guess things aren't always fair...

(IMHO, you didn't do anything particularly wrong, so you've been hard done by.)