Our Case

As police officers are put under increasing pressure to generate revenue, what happened in our case will become more common. It's inconceivable that the officer concerned hasn't behaved in the same way in his dealings with other citizens - they just haven't noticed or been aware of the fact.

Here we describe in some detail what happened in our case, illustrated using evidence from the police traffic video and the correspondence we've had with the police, CPS, PCA, solicitors, the court and others. If they wrote to us, you can read it here!

The incident took place around midday on Sunday 9th April 2000 on the M4 motorway near Newport, South Wales. The police officer was driving a dark green unmarked Volvo T5 patrol car registration number S448 SDW.

We've published documents related to the case, but what actually happened was recorded on a very accurate traffic video, of which you can have a personal copy. By reading the officer's statement you can compare his account of what happened with what actually happened as recorded on the traffic video. The "Police Driving" page has more details of what actually happened.

The key documents that you should also read are our skeleton argument and the CPS's response. We've included other documents that you may find of interest in "Our correspondence file".

So why did the driver contest the charge?

The driver's been driving for 23 years, had a clean license and had never been stopped before. All he knew at the time was that something was seriously wrong. It was the officer's reaction when he said:

"I could see that you were in a hurry and I was trying to get out of your way."

The officer was very distressed by that, but apparently decided to assume that the driver was bluffing. As our driver didn't know his rights he decided to shut up and act stupid. However, he thought he'd sorted it all out the next day after he'd discussed what happened with an expert:

He was wrong about the first two but not the third, and we aren't sure that viewing the evidence is a legal right - take a look at what the ACPO guidelines have to say on this subject. This is our point at PePiPoo; there are many "experts" who don't know the facts, so what chance do the rest of us have? Police officers assume that their own Constabulary's procedures are based on the law, and they are not. Most of the relevant law was written a long time ago, and almost anything goes when it comes to a speeding offence.

They make your learn the Highway Code, but over 90% of the public are totally ignorant of their rights and of how speed detection equipment works - we all assume that those fancy patrol cars are full of idiot proof kit! So learn your rights and how the law works before it's too late!

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