Clarkson cleared of Speeding - Hire cars?

fox2319

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6982514.stm

Apparently the case was "fatally flawed" as Alfa Romeo only had details of who the car was loaned to, not who the driver was. As a result, Clarkson did not name who was driving and the case was dropped in court.

Just wondering how this would relate to hire cars where more than 1 person has access to the car (or is on the insurance). Our company frequently hires cars which any employee may drive.

vikingaero

I thought that with company cars it's the duty of the directors of the company to record who is driving what and when. Not sure if this would relate the same way with a hire car though.

dzug

The hire car company tell the authorities who the car was hired to - and probably charge him a fee for admin for doing so.

The authorities then go after the hirer, who is required to tell them who was driving. What happens if he 'can't remember' I'm not sure.

louidog

A relation of mine has a large company with cars that are driven by all the employees....one of them got a speeding ticket but no one was sure who was driving. My relation got a big telling off for not keeping records of who was driving and a whacking £1,000 fine!

I got caught speeding in a courtesy car and was eventually tracked down and got the 3 points

Crabman

I don't understand this - if Alfa Romeo knew the car was loaned to Jeremy Clarkson, why didn't the authorities simply pursue him (being the person who had responsibility for the vehicle) to find out who the driver was

mjr600

'The flaw is the law'

It's a technicality of the Road Traffic Act, know about it, use it and you don't get a conviction. Can't blame Clarkson all he did was use the legislation lawfully to his advantage.

Crabman

Out of interest what exactly is the technicality here? From what I see it looks like the reason this case flopped was because the prosecution didn't offer any evidence. Still don't see why they didn't ask Clarkson who was driving, after all, he was the one in charge of the car.

balsingh

Crabman wrote: »

Still don't see why they didn't ask Clarkson who was driving, after all, he was the one in charge of the car.

Might have somethgn to do with the fact that he was Clarkson????

fox2319

Personally, I can't understand how he got off. As stated above, he would have been the person Alfa knew was in charge of the car so it should have been up to him to tell the police who was driving it.

Maybe the police tried to say he was the driver rather than charge him with failing to provide the details.

Ho-hum

custardy

im guessing the loophole was it would be insured for blanket cover.
so open for a few people to drive on that day.
whereas when you hire a car you only have designated drivers.
so say its only your name on the hire agreement,you would be struggling to say it wasnt you

roddydogs

Dont you know by now theres on rule for the rich and famous, another for ordinary people!