There’s been a very interesting admission quietly made by the “police” in recent days…
Thousands of drivers have been issued speeding tickets …even though they weren’t exceeding the speed limit.
According to National Highways, a “technical fault” meant that some variable speed cameras continued enforcing a lower speed limit from a previous section of road after the limit had been increased on the gantries…
In other words, Drivers stuck to the — usually ridiculous — speed limit displayed above the road, but were still fined!
National Highways say that only around 0.1% of fines have been issued incorrectly.
And yet the “police” have taken cameras offline, are refunding fines, and removing penalty points.
Something smells fishy to me here…
Do you honestly believe they would do *any* of this if it truly affected just 0.1% of drivers?
As long-term Members will know, I’ve written many times over the years about cases where:
– Speed limits were changed overnight, with inadequate signage;
– Signs with an incorrect speed were installed;
– Cameras were known to be faulty, or wrongly configured.
And yet none of these tickets were ever cancelled, and no fines were ever returned…
In one fairly recent case, thousands of motorists were fined on the A20 after a speed limit was wrongly reduced.
And even when the “police” admitted the sign shouldn’t have been there, they still refused to cancel the penalties!
So why the apparent honesty now?
I strongly suspect the problem is far bigger than they’re letting on…
If this issue only affected a handful of cases over several years, why are they not taking their usual stance of “its been done, there is nothing we can do to reverse it”…?
My other question is; what are they going to do about the cases where Motorists were banned, lost their job, or saw their insurance premium skyrocket?
I think we can safely assume: nothing!
I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on this.
Do you believe the “0.1%” figure?
…or do you think its likely far more Motorists have been affected than is being let on?
Let me know what you think in the comments!
All the best,
Adam
The ods are that this is much larger than the police arer letting on and that they reducing their exposure to claim that they are being fair to reduce refunds and compensaton – after all, the game is to maximise fines and income.
Is it any wonder the police are not respected anymore! As has been stated before the police use all sorts of underhand methods to trap drivers.If I needed to visit a police station,my nearest one is in Dover.I live in Sandwich.I also understand that the station is only open office hours! BGK
Patently under this current Government, let alone the last quasi conservative government, the motorist is seen as an easy cash cow! The cost of fuel, the cost of road tax, the persecution of the motorist in all waks of life and now the total dishonesty of the authorities is totally unacceptable but when you live in a totarlian state that is Britain now what more can we expect! I do have a point to raise on a lot of motorists though who totally ignore the Highway code, which is a sensible and logical rule book, but these motorists who ignore those rules bring the rest of honest motorists into direpute by their either total ignoranc of the rule or their total disregard as they feel the rules do not apply to them!
Apologies for typos
Why not ask for the actual number falsely prosecuted Adam (not % as that means nothing) under a FOI?
Yes!
Just heard from my nephew the following which endorses Adam’s message:
“Robert got caught, signed up to a speed awareness course and was then told it has all been cancelled because of the error!”
So that’s probably a big 0.1%. :-(
Yes I have been the victim of this,overhead signe said 50 mph but I was prosacuted for exceedind 40 mph. Did the speed awarness couse £90
Driving along M25 between J8-J10 couple of weeks ago when variable speed limit reduced from 70-50mph ‘Reports of debris on road’. Highways Agency vehicle ‘resting off road, no sign of any debris from start to end of speed reduction so was this a further cynical attempt to reduce overall speed. I frequently drive around M25 overnight and the speed reductions on empty, open, road on the southern section that I use is a regular feature.
We were travelling down to Folkstone a few years back. It was 3 am and not a single vehicle is sight. The gantry said there was “Congestion ahead” and the speed was reduced to 40mph! AT 3 AM??? They were having a laugh. Those putting the messages on gantries are having a laugh! They forget to take the messages off when the problem has gone. It’s the same with the speed limits. One evening when we were going home along the M25, the one gantry showed the limit as being 70, the next one said 50, but just as we got to the 50 gantry it changed to 40. A few gantries later, the speed changed from 60, to 50, back to 60, then down to 40 within 2 minutes. This is how THEY CAUSE THE ACCIDENTS ON THE M25! It took us 2 and a half hours to get home that night. A few weeks later, it only took us an hour and we couldn’t work out why at first, then we realised that the speed limit had been national speed limit the entire time we were on the M25!
THEY CAUSE THE CONGESTION AND ACCIDENTS ON THE M25, not the motorist!
In truth Adam do you really believe anything the state police say ? any statement they issue will always be of the covering their arse variety, the days when a police officer /Authority, was respected are long gone, and in all probability will never return and indeed continue to deteriorate .
Well said…
It goes far beyond just motorists (eg facial recognition cameras). After China, I believe we are the most surveyed country in the world (I haven’t fact checked this, but read it in an article I trust).
1984 is coming 40 years late, who would want to live here now?
Does sound fishy. I have also noticed, especially on the M25, that there are cameras on the variable section on the signs that reduce the speed limit. Sometimes you do not see the speed until late, especially as 60 or 50 looks similar until too late.
I was fined for doing 57mph in a 50mph zone having been photographed by a camera. This in despite the fact that the North Wales police have a policy of allowing 10% above the speed limit plus 2mph which to me calculates to 57mph. I was informed that to prosecute or not is discretionary?????
Hi Adam, happy new year. I trust you had a merry Xmas, I know I did but wonder if one or the other of us overdid it with the Prosecco. We all saw this on TV and it’s a Highways England programming fault, consistent with a Comment I made years ago that Smart motorways seem to be managed by idiots (no offence). Then you say in Para.5: 0.1% of Fines but in Para.8: 0.1% of Drivers and you continue in this vein. Big difference between Fines and Drivers. In Para.6: Cops refunding Fines, removing Penalty points seems fair enough but Para.16: Motorists banned, lost job, insurance hikes, you ask what are Cops going to do? Surely, the issue is what is Drive Protect going to do? If Members don’t contact DP for help, then it’s probably 0.1% of Fines but if they do (even if it’s outside DP remit) you could publish general advice about going back to Court to have a ban lifted and Insurers to readjust premiums, could you not?
It would be good PR for DP and please, Adam, give the Cops a break this time. You don’t know the upheavals that years of political interference cause and the pogrom against experienced, long-serving officers as a cost-saving measure. They’re as much a victim of the Divide-and-Rule approach to Social Control as the Public.
The system stinks worse than rotten fish, what can a dead fish do, can’t undo being dead.
Great system, what’s the term caught caught hook line and sinker.