Speeding fine calibration certificate?

flopsy1973

Hi
Got caught speeding on 17 Sep and asked for evidence as I can't remember being flashed. Not sure if reading the calibration certificate right but the inspection is in date but the calibration has expired. See below for cert

facade

What you need to do is show that the device is now over reading by sufficient margin that you were travelling below the speed limit when it erroneously recorded your speed at the stated value.

It won't be, as even if it is out of calibration, it won't have drifted that far and can still prove that you were speeding.

In all likelihood, if your defence is that the device recorded you as speeding when you were travelling below the limit, the prosecution will bring one of their expensive experts to Court to testify that this could not possibly be the case, and your defence would fail, adding a small fortune to your costs.

Unfortunately, there is no directive that a device cannot be used as evidence of speeding once the site calibration expires (which would be a nice "get out of jail free" card....)

Keep_pedalling

It says valid until 18th Jan 2026. 

The reason you weren’t flashed is that speed camera uses infra-red and can catch you traveling in both directions.

RandomTourist

Fixed penalty (assuming you were going fast enough) £100, 3 points, all sorted.

Go to court: whole day spent in court, 3 points still, fine bigger plus victim surcharge, costs for an expert witness £600, as you'll still be convicted.

Choose.....

ThorOdinson

It's impossible to challenge these things. The cameras can have all sorts of faults, the mobile ones get banged about and set up wrong... But you can't get the camera to test it, you can't prove anything. 

The only real defence is to have a camera recording your speedo, and ideally with a GPS recording speed as well.

Car_54

RandomTourist said:

Fixed penalty (assuming you were going fast enough) £100, 3 points, all sorted.

Go to court: whole day spent in court, 3 points still, fine bigger plus victim surcharge, costs for an expert witness £600, as you'll still be convicted.

Choose.....

The guideline on costs for a straightforward trial is c£600. If an expert witness is called, the costs will be much higher.

Mildly_Miffed

ThorOdinson said:

It's impossible to challenge these things. The cameras can have all sorts of faults, the mobile ones get banged about and set up wrong... But you can't get the camera to test it, you can't prove anything.

It's not a mobile camera.

The lat and long of the location are given on the second page.
Put them into google maps, and what's that on the pavement? A big, tall, and very yellow stick in a Welsh urban default, so 20mph zone...
https://maps.app.goo.gl/JMQf4XaZZtcZYWgh6

Approaching that at 9 metres per second, it really ought to have been quite visible for a fair while.

The OP is bang to rights, and challenging the ticket on conspiratorial trivialities will only delay the inevitable, and make it more expensive.

Take the course if offered (likely <31mph), or the fixed penalty (<35mph).
If the speed was too high for a fixed penalty, submit no attempt at justification to the course, simply an apology.

Cheslea2010

You've been caught. Get it paid and learn from it

Nasqueron

ThorOdinson said:

It's impossible to challenge these things. The cameras can have all sorts of faults, the mobile ones get banged about and set up wrong... But you can't get the camera to test it, you can't prove anything. 

The only real defence is to have a camera recording your speedo, and ideally with a GPS recording speed as well.

If you're going under the limit you won't get flashed or caught by camera, simple as that. Find any case of a camera falsely reading and the tickets will be squashed 

facade

Mildly_Miffed said:

ThorOdinson said:

It's impossible to challenge these things. The cameras can have all sorts of faults, the mobile ones get banged about and set up wrong... But you can't get the camera to test it, you can't prove anything.

It's not a mobile camera.

The lat and long of the location are given on the second page.
Put them into google maps, and what's that on the pavement? A big, tall, and very yellow stick in a Welsh urban default, so 20mph zone...
https://maps.app.goo.gl/JMQf4XaZZtcZYWgh6

Approaching that at 9 metres per second, it really ought to have been quite visible for a fair while.

The OP is bang to rights, and challenging the ticket on conspiratorial trivialities will only delay the inevitable, and make it more expensive.

Take the course if offered (likely <31mph), or the fixed penalty (<35mph).
If the speed was too high for a fixed penalty, submit no attempt at justification to the course, simply an apology.

I didn't follow up on the location.

That is Pontybodkin which is famous as one of the most lucrative cameras in Wales- "which catches everybody". It is even the first image in this article https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/10-most-prolific-speed-cameras-31964340 (mind you, it is a xxxxpost article, so likely just clickbait)

It is a VECTOR-SR- the type that projects it's own grid onto its video for interpreted speed measurement, with secondary radar. It can also spot if drivers are not wearing seatbelts, or holding a mobile 'phone.

I'd argue that they are difficult to spot amongst other street furniture before you are caught, which is the intention!

(If you could get a prosecution cancelled easily there are many thousands of others who would be doing the same- if there is one camera in the whole of Wales that would be 100% unchallengeable this one would be it)

Best defence is an up to date speed camera database with an alarm, Waze will do. 

Obviously you can drive at below 20mph all the time that you are in Wales too

matt_drummer

facade said:

Best defence is an up to date speed camera database with an alarm, Waze will do. 

Obviously you can drive at below 20mph all the time that you are in Wales too

The best and totally foolproof defence is to be aware of the speed limit at all times and ensure you don't exceed it