Three rather annoying points...

MattB · Post by **MattB** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 11:22 pm

A few people know about this but thought I'd tell everyone about it now. Basically I got caught for crossing double white lines whilst I was driving. There were some things about the incident I wasn't happy about so I wrote a letter to the chief superintendent of the police station that the coppers who got me were from. The letter follows:

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On the afternoon of Sunday 18th May 2003 at approximately 12.30 I was travelling from my home in Weetwood, Leeds to Ilkley with a passenger to get some lunch.

I was on the A660 just after the A658 junction (Poole Bank) heading towards Otley on a straight stretch of road with a single carriageway on my side and a dual carriageway on the other side. This stretch is approximately Â½ mile long. As I was about halfway down the section, I realised that a car in front of me was going quite slowly (I estimated about 45mph). As I approached it I checked behind me using my mirrors and also ahead of me and noted that there were no other cars to be seen. I also knew that a corner was approaching, but in my judgement I could perform an overtake without breaking the speed limit and by the time the white lines went from dashed to solid before the corner.

I checked my mirrors again and saw nothing behind me so indicated and started the overtaking manoeuvre. As the car I was overtaking was travelling quite slowly the manoeuvre didnâ€™t take long. When I was roughly level with the car I checked my mirrors again and saw a police car in the far distance behind me with its blue lights and headlights flashing. At the time I assumed that the police car was heading to something further up the road.

I continued to overtake and as I was pulling ahead of the car, I realised that I was going to clip the double white lines. As I could see that the road ahead of me was clear I decided it was safer to continue overtaking than to brake heavily and pull back in behind the car I was overtaking. So I completed the manoeuvre, clipping the double white lines by a few metres as I pulled back in.

As I was now on a section of the road at which overtaking would be hazardous, I pulled into a lay-by on the corner before the roundabout at Otley Bypass to let the police car safely go past me. I was very surprised when the police car pulled up behind me and the passenger came to my window and asked me to turn my engine off and step out of my car.

As I got into the police car I was cautioned and was understandably shocked and confused, as I had no idea I had done anything serious enough to warrant such treatment. I was then told that I had committed an endorsable offence of failure to comply with double white road markings and was given a Â£60 fine and 3 points on my license (notice serial number â€œE 0209833 4 13â€

Mr_AWOL · Post by **Mr_AWOL** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 12:21 am

Luckily matt i dont think most insurance companies give a

about 3 points (mine for 'failure to obey a traffic signal' cost me Â£30 the first time i declared them)

I too was caught in ridiculous circumstances. I freely admit that i was well overdue 3 points (as anyone who was at karting will tell you - Dover to thescos meeting place in about 1 hour 5 minutes

) But was annoyed that the time i got caught i was pretty innocent. The old bill offered to cancel my prosecution for TS10 (fine Â£60, Points 3) and replace it with driving without due care & attention (fine Â£100, points 6) so i too had to bite the bullet & take 'em!

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 12:34 am

unlucky matt. the police saw you as an easy target as from experience they take panic attacks at the thought of going after a real criminal.

Mr_AWOL · Post by **Mr_AWOL** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 12:41 am

Would have been tempted to ask for a sworn statement or copy of policemans notebook re the cancelled call though - threatened em with court/press & saw what happened! Then again, that might make you an un official target!

MattB · Post by **MattB** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 9:39 am

The points are gonna cost me an extra 250 quid or so on top of my current insurance. I'll let you know when I get a proper quote through )(strangely enough you don't need to say you have them until you have your license back with the points on - when tey're pending they don't charge you extra!)

Also the poloice station is 2 mins away from me and I drive round there every day for work. I don't think I can afford to be an official target!

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 11:41 am

I think your right to move on. Its a hard call, but the end of the day you re-crossed the lines before completing the takeover manoever.

I think you may have had a chance in court if the police were that far away they couldn't have seen if you crossed the double white lines. But as you say, there were 2 plice officers in the car behind, if they gave a different account of seeing the offence it would be an uphill task persuading a magistrate.

Emma206 · Post by **Emma206** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 1:39 pm

Bad luck doesn't come into it. The police are law onto themselves.
Good for you sticking up for yourself.

Erm · Post by **Erm** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 3:53 pm

or learn to overtake properly

see that pedal on the right hand side....press it down hard

rob · Post by **rob** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 5:35 pm

Erm is actually correct

You would have been better off getting done for speeding than for any other type of motoring offence.

A single offence for speeding with a code of SP30 is usually ignored by insurance companies.

What offence code did they quote you ?

Shame you didnt tell the super intendant taht you were panicked by the fast approaching police car and made a misjudgement. Throw some blame at them.

MattB · Post by **MattB** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 6:24 pm

Offence code is TS20. The whole ting happened so quickly I wouldn't have had chance to accelerate anyway.

CB · Post by CB » Wed Jun 04, 2003 7:35 pm

or learn to overtake properly

see that pedal on the right hand side....press it down hard

Driving tips from Erm? Better listen up guys!

How many times have you smacked your CC up now Erm?

Erm · Post by **Erm** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 8:38 pm

yeh ok so i aint that good moving off from still but once i get goin i am a great driver

Mr_AWOL · Post by **Mr_AWOL** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 11:12 pm

As long as you dont have to avoid any pot holes eh Erm?

Erm · Post by **Erm** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 11:37 pm

i'll have u know if it werent for my taking control of the car when the alloys went it cuda been very nasty

Mr_AWOL · Post by **Mr_AWOL** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 11:38 pm

It can be dodgy actually - i have had a tyre go and also in my old 205 the boot opened at 90mph on the A1 going to scotland