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Monday, 13th October 2008

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'Speeding ticket man should be prosecuted'



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Published Date: 13 July 2008
By Matthew Squires
Furious motoring campaigners today demanded a speed camera technician who was sacked for failing to correctly calibrate a speed camera be hauled before the courts.
The Association of British Drivers (ABD), the UK's biggest independent motoring campaign group, say they are "incandescent" the technician, who has never been identified, has not been charged with a criminal offence.

What do you think> Leave your comments below

The man was sacked after a probe found he failed to correctly calibrate a mobile speed camera – which incorrectly caught hundreds of motorists.

Around 1,500 penalty points were rescinded, 545 offences withdrawn and an estimated £35,585 covering fines and payments for speed awareness courses had to be refunded.

Despite knowing the correct checks had not been made, the technician, who worked in Penwortham and Blackpool, signed documents needed for court cases to certify that the equipment had been working correctly.

Today Hugh Bladon, treasurer of the ABD, said: "We are absolutely incandescent that this person has effectively got off.

"If you went to court and said it was your wife who had been caught speeding and it was found that it was you, you would be done for perjury.

"He should be hauled before the courts."

Lancashire Police dismissed the civilian employee after a disciplinary hearing and an Independent Police Complaints Commission-managed investigation.

Video tapes of his work were analysed and 41 of the 435 tapes checked were found to have faults.

But the Crown Prosecution Service said there is not enough evidence to proceed with any court action against the technician.

A spokesman said: "There is insufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction."

The ABD was founded in 1992 as a British motorists' advocacy group.

The full article contains 294 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 13 July 2008 8:17 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Preston
 
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Bill Whitehead,

13/07/2008 11:27:55
I think it's irrelevant wether the technician is prosecuted or not, taking revenge on one technician does not solve the inadequacy or incompetence of the speed camera project as a whole.

There are much bigger issues than simply one technician that got it wrong. When it comes to prosecution, how about prosecuting the people responsible for authorising the presence of mobile speed camera vans on accident blackspots for year after year, allowing the accidents to continue while raking in the revenue on a site that in the days when we still had common sense would have been closed, remodeled, repair or redesigned to prevent the accidents from happening in the first place.

Irresponsible behaviour by the authority itself should be where any prosecutions should be made on the grounds of culpable negligence.
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Simon Butler,

Leyland 13/07/2008 20:28:06
That this man should not be prosecuted is a travesty of justice; he made false statements in writing to a court; now if that doesn't amount to perjury, perverting the course of justice, or some similar offence, it damned well ought to. The whole thing stinks of a cover-up. Those wrongly persecuted may have had fines repaid, & penalty points rescinded, but what of those who have lost their jobs because they've had their licences snatched from them? Damage such as this cannot be undone; their lives may be ruined for good. This "technician" should go to prison for a long, long time, and also be made to fully compensate in full, financially, those whose livelihoods he has ruined.
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very concerned,

13/07/2008 23:18:17
bill well said
what another joke from lancashire police as they are behind our local sceeme
forget the temp speed vans
enforce the limit
change the surface or layout of the roads
lead by example dont speed in marked cars when your not responding to a call
dont barrel through red lights KILLING and injuring INNOCENT motorists( as you did twice in less than 12 months within 100 yards of my and my childrens home) just because you want to catch a burglar
we dont care that you want to meet your figures
we would rather we live than read of a burgular being caught, the court case would be the least of any officers problems if they even come close to hitting one of my children, they would need to ask to be kept in custody to stay alive till the end of their court case

get your priorities sorted
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HappyTogether,

Lancs 14/07/2008 00:34:50
very concerned - I am very concerned that you are suggesting that you would murder a police officer should one of your children be killed by a police driver. I think that is a very sick thing to say, unless I have misinterpreted it. It's the same old story on here, the police are either driving too quick, or arriving too late. One minute, you don't want burglars caught, the next minute you do. Just be grateful there are still police officers out there, working day in day out to do their best to catch just some of the bad guys & girls out there. Which accidents are you referring to 'very concerned?' Were the police held to be at fault for them?
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WorkerBee,

14/07/2008 12:14:43
#1 - "it's irrelevant whether the technician is prosecuted or not"

You are absolutely missing the point. Take out the issue of the offence - speeding - as it is not strictly relevant to the key issue here. If someone has been accused of perjury then they should face court. If they work for the police then there is a real public confidence issue here if they do not.

How does it look if an internal investigation has found evidence of illegality and yet no criminal action is taken? And then there are the people #2 refers to who may have lost their livelihood as a result of this person's corrupt actions.

This whole business beggars belief
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jonh,

14/07/2008 12:30:38
"Which accidents are you referring to 'very concerned?' Were the police held to be at fault for them?"

I assume that one of the accidents occurred in Leyland, where a police officer driving a van ran a red light when his view of traffic coming from the right was virtually blind. He hit a car with enough force to push it across the road, crush metal railing and leave the driver with fatal injuries.

The bushes obscuring the view were quietly cut away, the police officer did not get punished in anyway. This came a few months after an identical accident at the next junction.

Remember, if you are passing through any junction, always look for police or paramedic cars, they will not be looking or caring about you.

As for the story, yes, this individual must also face criminal charges. As others have said, if you try and falsify anything about a speeding ticket, you will suffer the consequences. This should apply in return.

In the meantime, anyone who is silly enough to get a ticket must contest it. Make the road safety quango actually have to do a day's work.
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bignorm,

bamber bridge 14/07/2008 13:59:22
To err is human, to tell lies to a court is perjury, but maybe just maybe this technician thought he was right, and if that makes him a criminal then i think the vast majority of us should be locked up.
I for one am in favour of speed camera's and speed traps, they are a deterent for speeding motorists, in the cases in question the monies where paid back and recompence instated. There would be no good in taking this guy to court and prosecuting him. There are far more important issues for the courts to be dealing with, ie: knife carrying thugs, rapists and murders, dont clog up an overloaded legal system with pettiness, particularly as the guy will probably never get another job of this importance, thats if he ever gets another job.
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Bill Whitehead,

14/07/2008 14:18:38
#5 Workerbee,

I accept your point on the issue or perjury and conceed.

But I maintain that the issue pales into insignificance when you examine the farce that speed camera policy has decended into right across the country.

This is also hardly an isolated incident of operator incompetence when you cast the net right across the UK.

Even senior politicians are now questioning the effectivness of the programs success.

You could make the same analogy with metal detectors and knife crime, you may indeed stop and search anyone carrying something made of metal, but if you fail to catch the murderer with the knife because he's not daft enough to walk through a metal detector then what good are they?.

Although it has to be said, with speed cameras it's even easier, because all the habitual dangerous driver who always travels at nearly double the limit has to do, is slow down for a 100 yards and he's off scott free, but that same camera will prosecute your granny the next morning because she just happened to be travelling at 36.

Some would argue that the granny is still in the wrong, I'd argue the authority are failing their mission statement and catching the wrong person and as we all know, two wrongs don't make a right.
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WorkerBee,

14/07/2008 16:07:19
The speed camera programme is certainly flawed as it undoutbedly has taken traffic officers off the roads leaving machines to do their jobs. The result is dangerous and uninsured drivers have far less to worry about.

Cameras also take no account of road conditions when there might be an occasion when it is necessary to go over the limit or through a red light (to get out of the way for an ambulance or fire engine, for example).

What speed cameras do is allow a saving to be made on traffic cops and increase revenue for whoever the Chancellor is in these dying days of New Labour.
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Bill Whitehead,

14/07/2008 17:22:24
So you're saying that speed cameras are much more effective at generating revenue and reigning in public sector pay than saving lives.

Doesn't sound like a Labour policy at all, does it.

At least the Americans and Austrailians are more honest about it.
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