It really isn’t worth the effort some people will go to, trying to avoid paying fines. One recent example follows.
A van driver had been speeding in a 60mph zone (doing between 72-74mph). A rather grainy image of the white transit van was sent to him, as he was the registered owner. This was accompanied by a request for details of the driver at the time, along with a notice of intended prosecution.
Honesty is the best policy
The easiest (and most honest) option of course would have been to own up and pay the fine, along with three points on his licence. Sadly, this van driver decided he would try quite hard to avoid paying anything at all, even though he knew he was behind the wheel at the time.
He decided to go to some extreme measures to avoid prosecution – he bought black and red stripes to stick on the vehicle, a GB number plate, and a 60mph limit sticker to go with it.
300 hours of investigations!
After some 300 hours of following and investigating, comparing previous photographs of the van to those after the fine was issued, officers concluded that it was definitely the registered owner who had been speeding. Of course, this was a costly exercise for the local constabulary.
Things were not about to get any better
The 62 year old had to finally appear in court and was told that he was in a much worse position than had he just owned up and paid the fine. The extent he went to in order to avoid the fine had used up a considerable amount of taxpayer’s money and time spent investigating.
Ouch!
Although the driver had six previous convictions and points on his licence, the judge still sentenced him to four months in prison (suspended for 12 months) and banned him from driving for six months. Finally, he was ordered to pay a fine of £500 towards costs.
Hopefully, a lesson in honesty has been learned!
Delivery driver woes
A female delivery driver in Coventry was surprised by a couple of teenage boys who opened the van door and threatened her with a machete.
The pair, who were 14 and 15 at the time, demanded the keys to the van. Thankfully, the delivery driver didn’t hand them over but instead, quite bravely, managed to get the machete away from them. Not before they had stolen her mobile phone though. The pair ran off once she had the machete (which is hardly surprising) but they were later caught by police with sniffer dogs.
They were arrested on suspicion of robbery and possession of a large knife and continued to be questioned whilst in custody.
The police have issued a warning to delivery drivers to be aware of potential robberies, especially with the run-up to Christmas and the usual increase in parcels in their vans.
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