Motoring offence, crossing red x on motorway

System

Didn't see the red X or the one after it and didn't see the TWO TO THREE MILES OF WARNINGS OF AN IMPENDING LANE CLOSURE. Having driven over 2000 miles a week on UK motorways for many years I've yet to come across a red X lane closure that wasn't signposted as a lane closure on any roadside message boards or overhead gantries for at least 2 miles prior to the closure. If someone told you that they'd not seen a warning on roadside message boards that are maybe 200 sq.ft in size and had passed under at least FIVE gantries indicating the lane closure before they got to that point would you question their fitness to be on the road?

Comes as no surprise you didn't notice a police car given you missed not only the red X above your lane but the "↙︎" signs on the four gantries prior to the one with the X.

Seriously OP you shouldn't be on the road.

Mercdriver

Tarambor wrote: »

Didn't see the red X or the one after it and didn't see the TWO TO THREE MILES OF WARNINGS OF AN IMPENDING LANE CLOSURE. Having driven over 2000 miles a week on UK motorways for many years I've yet to come across a red X lane closure that wasn't signposted as a lane closure on any roadside message boards or overhead gantries for at least 2 miles prior to the closure. If someone told you that they'd not seen a warning on roadside message boards that are maybe 200 sq.ft in size and had passed under at least FIVE gantries indicating the lane closure before they got to that point would you question their fitness to be on the road?

Seriously OP you shouldn't be on the road.

To be fair to him, he has said he had only just joined the motorway and this was the first gantry. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'm confused how he wouldn't see a red X when others did.

ETA: OP has started thread on pepipoo.

Billy_Bullocks

Tarambor wrote: »

Didn't see the red X or the one after it and didn't see the TWO TO THREE MILES OF WARNINGS OF AN IMPENDING LANE CLOSURE. Having driven over 2000 miles a week on UK motorways for many years I've yet to come across a red X lane closure that wasn't signposted as a lane closure on any roadside message boards or overhead gantries for at least 2 miles prior to the closure. If someone told you that they'd not seen a warning on roadside message boards that are maybe 200 sq.ft in size and had passed under at least FIVE gantries indicating the lane closure before they got to that point would you question their fitness to be on the road?

Comes as no surprise you didn't notice a police car given you missed not only the red X above your lane but the "↙︎" signs on the four gantries prior to the one with the X.

Seriously OP you shouldn't be on the road.

I'd question your fitness.

I've yet to see it on a message board and seen numerous red X's.

Billy_Bullocks

Mercdriver wrote: »

To be fair to him, he has said he had only just joined the motorway and this was the first gantry. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'm confused how he wouldn't see a red X when others did.

ETA: OP has started thread on pepipoo.

And only the one tool entertaining him.

Nodding_Donkey

Nice to hear that people are actually prosecuted for this. I hate sitting in traffic and seeing the 'rules don't apply to me' brigade sailing past in the closed lane and making my wait longer.

debtdebt

Let's hope the OP doesn't breakdown on a live lane of a motorway and someone else fails to notice an X on the gantry...

arcon5

Lawyers charge large sums to get people off on technicalities, not always successfully though.
They can do such because they are specialists, they know the law, they know its application. They are not layman with an English GCSE.
You need proper help as your defence sounds blooming awful. Even if they did have some merit, it's worded so poorly it will be overlooked by a judge as having no substance.
Best thing you can do is plead guilty.

Happychappy

Marbo wrote: »

I am being prosecuted for failing to comply with red X/lane closure on motorway. I am defending against it because I believe the officer wasn't in position to witness any offence , is charging me in an abusive/unfair manner. I drove on a probably closed lane but I haven't noticed the red X or the police car, I suspect it was in elsewhere , not in position to see the mentioned gantry and the signs displayed on it.

I would like some advice, comments on these aspects:

- the officer makes a mistake in Notice of Intended Prosecution saying the offence occurred between junction 6 and 6a of M1, actually the incident was in between 7 and 6a. In her witness statement, she mentions the right junctions though.

- In her written witness statement the officer uses gantries numbers to specify her position but we can't find those type of inscriptions on the gantries, she must of have used a specialised map not accessible to the public.

-it was a manual detection. What does it mean: she wrote my reg number in a notebook or she used a handheld device? In her statement is mentioned a ANPR camera but after I asked for any ANPR records I received an answer that 'no material to disclose'

-I pleaded not guilty. In case I am found guilty can I add mitigating circumstances after that ? It was heavy traffic, difficult to find a gap in between the slow moving lorries and I was driving very slow.

- The officer wasn't present at the first hearing but her presence is required because I am challenging her statement. The second hearing was rescheduled because she couldn't attend court in that day. If she can't attend court, the hearing is postponed again, can I ask the charges to be dropped?

:rotfl::rotfl: You dont see the red X which thousands of other motorists do, you don't see the police car, so allege it wasn't there ? however, you then talk about trying to wriggle out of it should you be found guilty with the excuse that traffic was heavy, there was no gap, clearly perjury and untrue as you didn't even try to move out the red X lane, the clue being that the quiet private little lane you were in had little or no traffic as you more than likely were the only fool in it, and you drive looking no further than the end of your bonnet and didn't even look at the gantry.

You try the barrack room lawyer disclosure for ANPR when clearly the officer witnessed the offence, the officer you couldn't even see, she didnt use technology, just her own eyes, and now you doubt her evidence, I wonder what your next defence will be, and where the hell is the abusive, unfair manner of prosecution coming from ? the eternal victim, why do you think they are picking on you ?

Ask for the charges to be dropped, cos it upsets you, ummm that should work :T

soolin

Mercdriver wrote: »

To be fair to him, he has said he had only just joined the motorway and this was the first gantry. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'm confused how he wouldn't see a red X when others did.

ETA: OP has started thread on pepipoo.

The thread there is going about as well as the one on here !

I'm glad OP posted there though as there are some very useful people who can often be persuasive about the likely outcome and perhaps save the OPs money

Mercdriver

soolin wrote: »

The thread there is going about as well as the one on here !

I'm glad OP posted there though as there are some very useful people who can often be persuasive about the likely outcome and perhaps save the OPs money

The OP has revealed more detail there too. It seems there was traffic in all three lanes and he came off the junction and re-entered. The OP has no sympathy from me. Since there was traffic in all three lanes so he decided to try and jump the queue.

I would be surprised if there weren't white arrows in advance on the gantries above the road telling people to move to the right before the red X. What he may have found was that while hoping it would be another white arrow it was a red X and those in the middle lane weren't letting him in thinking (correctly as it happens) that he was pushing in.

I think leaving out the information here that he left the motorway in order to rejoin to push in is quite disingenuous on the OP's part and leaves us wondering what else he has decided to exclude from his account.

For the benefit of others, this is what the OP said in pepipoo:

"I knew the lane might be closed. What I actually did was bypassing the queue (not nice, I know) using the slip roads, left the motorway at a junction then return on it. The slip road was open and met the motorway just before the gantry where allegedly commited (sic) the offence."

mark1959 wrote: »

Were you pushing in?

This answers your question , I think!