Challenge speeding offence

Mildly_Miffed

facade said:

However, I finally noticed the date, and you will be going to Court anyway as there isn't time for a COFP. Please post back with how you get on.

It's entirely possible that there's been a chain of nominations from RK to OP, all of which were within time, and the OP is still within time to receive and accept an FPN or course.

But, yeh, it's definitely getting tight to the six month deadline.

facade

 they may explain the difference between the 2 images - and why one has a # on it 😉

I'd like to know why the one targeting the verge has # on it, I assume the # indicates that it is a stored reading rather than a live one, otherwise a live reading of 58MPH from a stationary object would be evidence that the device was faulty, and they declined to drop the case when it was pointed out.

matt_drummer

I am sure that everybody is sympathetic towards you.

The easiest way to deal with it is to take the speed awareness course if offered, pay the fine and move on.

It really is not worth the stress over some money.

We know it may be difficult but any other option will be far worse.

TooManyPoints

"...feel forced to accept poor quality decisions that I have no control over."

But no decisions have yet been made. Try to imagine you were provided with what you were entitled to - i.e. no photographs or other information. What would you have done? Because effectively that's where you are. The material you have is very unlikely to play much part in the evidence against you (apart from possibly being used to identify the vehicle).

"...but further ruins employment options too."

How will an endorsement and three penalty points ruin your employment prospects? Are you perhaps over-thinking this a little?

facade

If the first you heard about this was a letter yesterday, then you need to very quickly nominate yourself as the driver and there may just be time for them to reply with an offer of a 3point £100 fixed penalty. (Make sure that you follow any instructions exactly, they want you to give your driving licence number again with your payment, even though they already know it from the nomination)

They have to commence any Court prosecution within 6 months of the offence, so they won't offer a fixed penalty if the 28 day reply window would expire after the 6 months.

Honestly, accepting 3 points and a £100 fine is much less stress than going to Court, when it seems that you don't have a viable defence to the charge and will be found guilty with a much greater penalty.

paul_c123

facade said:

 they may explain the difference between the 2 images - and why one has a # on it 😉

I'd like to know why the one targeting the verge has # on it, I assume the # indicates that it is a stored reading rather than a live one, otherwise a live reading of 58MPH from a stationary object would be evidence that the device was faulty, and they declined to drop the case when it was pointed out.

The reason is, the speed shown is a time-averaged (smoothed) value, over about half a second. The image isn't time-averaged (or else it would have loads of motion blur), its one of a series of images that are captured every 1/60 second, or whatever the frame rate of the video is.

The reason the speed is a smoothed value is because if it were not, the reading would be rendered illegible because it would flicker between (for example) 59mph and 60mph and be unreadable, if the object's speed was around 59.9 - 60.1 mph during those few frames. So its possible the smoothed value shows the speed of an object captured in the collection of frames which go to smooth the value (ie your van), but the single frame selected does not have the van in the cross hairs. 

This is why they send 2 pictures.

If/when you go to court, the evidence will be clearer to you. They will send it in advance, to give you the chance to assess it. You might wish to change your plea at that stage.

TooManyPoints

I believe it is now too late for either a course or FP to be offered. Most forces will not offer them beyond four months.

Maybe the OP might like to tell us why there has been such a delay in dealing with this. If he circumstances permit, it my be possible to get the court to sentence at the fixed penalty equivalent.

But for that, of course, he will have to plead guilty.

Baldytyke88

Yorkshirebloke68 said:

Definitely not speeding,  I dont speed. 

So this will be your first offence. No points, just a few ££ and an online training course.

LightFlare

Baldytyke88 said:

Yorkshirebloke68 said:

Definitely not speeding,  I dont speed. 

So this will be your first offence. No points, just a few ££ and an online training course.

That boat appears to have sailed if it was ever an option in the first place.

OP has yet to state what the prevailing limit they are alleged to have broken was

Mildly_Miffed

LightFlare said:

Baldytyke88 said:

Yorkshirebloke68 said:

Definitely not speeding,  I dont speed. 

So this will be your first offence. No points, just a few ££ and an online training course.

That boat appears to have sailed

Speedboat?