OK, sorry about the length of posting - this one should be of general interest but of particular interest to UK riders.
Recently, I got caught crossing over the first three feet of a double white line at its very commencement by an unmarked video equipped patrol car.
At the time, I had just had a set of brand new Metzelers fitted (only about 20 miles covered) to my TBA and was being particularly careful. On a fairly straight section of road, as I was increasing speed, an idiot cager pulled out from a side road in my direction. My immediate reaction was to brake but, following a slight ‘wobble’ I decided the best course of action , the road ahead being clear, was to gently accelerate and overtake him. As I pulled in in front of him, apparently, I crossed over a double white line. Of course, the unmarked plod car that I had overtaken earlier captured this performance on video.
The ars*hole that almost caused me to have an accident, did not attract plod’s attention and he got away scot free.
When I explained why I did what I did, plod did not listen and lectured me by pointing out that the reason I had been stopped was due to the Chief Constable’s concern for increasing accident statistics (doh!). Having refused to take my mitigating circumstances into account, plod subsequently proceeded to issue me with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for 60 quid together with a gift of 3 points to my licence.
Fortunately, I refused to comply with the officers request that I hand over my licence for endorsement, saying that I had yet to make up my mind whether to contest the ticket or not (whatever happened to innocence until proven otherwise?). This proved to be a very good thing to do as to do otherwise is tantamount to an admission of guilt!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, when the process was over, and the plods drove off into the sunset to clobber some other poor unsuspecting sod, I noticed my rear tyre was completely flat on account of a large nail having punctured it and my behaviour was vindicated!
When I got home, I decided to inspect the FPN and couldn’t believe my eyes and my luck that plod had made several simple mistakes.
Firstly, he had described me as ‘Mr’ when my photo licence clearly states my title (I am a retired dental surgeon). He also remarked that I had requested that I present my documentation to the ‘Cambourne’ police station. Well, I live in Cornwall where my nearest police station is ‘Camborne’ and not ‘Cambourne’ which is three hundred miles away in Cambridgeshire!
Thirdly, the officer stated that the offence occurred in a village two miles from where it actually did. I recall that my performance displayed on the video indicated the correct location quite clearly, being as it was right beside the place name sign at the start of the village!
Fourthly, and this was, perhaps, the poor constable’s biggest mistake and downfall. He ascribed me an ethnic identity to which I neither belong nor to which I aspire. I am fortunate in having extensive knowledge and experience in the field of ethnicity. Now, it just so happens that the Police, when issuing such FPNs are required to get defendents to self-identity for the purposes of ethnic monitoring. The police man in my case was probably doing what most others do and conveniently forgot this triffling detail.
Now, I always identify myself as ‘Cornish’ (which, using the police‘s own categories would have been ‘W9‘, or ‘White Other‘), yet this officer ticked a box without asking me and stated me as ‘W1‘., or ’White British’.
Interestingly, no UK public authority has so far been able to define what white or black ethnicity is and appear to be confusing them and their other daft codes with physical appearance and nationality. The whole system is in a complete mess really.
Anyway, the long and short of it is that if any UK riders get stopped, check firstly that the plods have not made simple errors of spelling or have got other things wrong. Secondly, if they don’t give you an opportunity to self identify your ethnic background, and state you to be something that you are not, then you have an excellent chance of getting off since the police might well be guilty of violating Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Freedom of Expression without interference from a public authority.
This ‘White British’ stuff is nonsense in ethnic terms. Always get the cops to record your ethnicity as ’English’, ’Welsh’, ’Scottish’ or ’Cornish’ whichever is the case. ‘British is NOT our ethnicity, it is our nationality or citizenship.
What did I do to avoid a ticket, you may well ask?
Well, I first wrote to the local Fixed Penalty Office explaining my mitigating circumstances (puncture and new tyres), that mistakes had been made in the officer’s compilation of the evidence and that a violation of my Human Rights had occurred in the process.
I also wrote to the Chief Constable about the ethnicity problem and explained to him the implications for him, if the situation was not rectified (i.e. I would be taking HIM to court).
Six weeks later, I received a letter from the Fixed Penalty Office stating that, although I was clearly visible on video violating a double white line (they ignored my reasons why), the constable had made some basic mistakes and the ticket had been cancelled as a consequence. One week after this, I received correspondence from a Chief Inspector who apologised for the officer’s behaviour. Apparently, this officer had since spent some considerable time learning about ‘ethnicity’ and thanked me for educating him. It was a most grovelling apology. Furthermore, the Inspector assured me that all officers in the Force had been appraised of this incident etc etc.
It is clear that the Chief Constable had no other option than to cancel the ticket. This was the only way that a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights could be avoided.
If you really deserve a ticket then swallow the medicine. If, however, you are like me, then be a stickler for detail. Even though I was on video technically committing a traffic offence, I still managed to extract an apology from the Police. I wish others in this situation the very best of luck and hope that I have given a few helpful pointers that might help them to avoid what is essentially another unfair tax.
PS don’t expect a solicitor to deal with such a case in similar fashion,.
