[brooksby]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/sep/27/david-beckham-avoids-speeding-prosecution-on-technicality

“David Beckham will avoid prosecution over a speeding charge, after his lawyer Nick Freeman, who calls himself Mr Loophole, argued that it had arrived a day after the legal time limit.

The former England football captain was accused of driving a loaned Bentley at 59mph in a 40mph zone on the A40 in Paddington earlier this year.

Beckham’s lawyer argued that “it would be unsafe to allow these proceedings to go any further” due to the original speeding notice arriving a day later than the statutory 14-day window.”

So, not contesting whether or not he was speeding, just whether the Royal Mail works properly.

How long ago did Freeman actually sell his soul…?

 

Topic

[Deeferdonk]

vonhelmet wrote:

Crashboy wrote:

Surely the lawyers fees are more than the potential fine?

Shows how some people have more money than sense, and how money gets you preferential treatment. 

As I think it may have been the great Judge and legal thinker Lord Denning who said “The Law, like the Ritz, is open to all”.

He should man up and take the fine – if the evidence is clear then contesting it is simply morally wrong.  Just fuels the myth that rich and famous people are in some way “better” than normal decent hard working folk, and sadly, a lot of decent hard working folk buy into that too – and look up to these”heroes”.  What example is he setting for them?

From a cycling point of view….Sharing the surname with another allegedly dodgy character called Freeman….any relation…..LoL…?

Points would be the problem, not the monetary fine.

….only a problem if you’re a repeat offender, who has been caught multiple times. My understanding that for a first offence you can go on a speed awareness course instead. If he has managed to rack up any where near the maximum 12 points he is clearly as bright as he sounds. 

[vonhelmet]

Crashboy wrote:

Surely the lawyers fees are more than the potential fine?

Shows how some people have more money than sense, and how money gets you preferential treatment. 

As I think it may have been the great Judge and legal thinker Lord Denning who said “The Law, like the Ritz, is open to all”.

He should man up and take the fine – if the evidence is clear then contesting it is simply morally wrong.  Just fuels the myth that rich and famous people are in some way “better” than normal decent hard working folk, and sadly, a lot of decent hard working folk buy into that too – and look up to these”heroes”.  What example is he setting for them?

From a cycling point of view….Sharing the surname with another allegedly dodgy character called Freeman….any relation…..LoL…?

Points would be the problem, not the monetary fine.

[Crashboy]

Surely the lawyers fees are

Surely the lawyers fees are more than the potential fine?

Shows how some people have more money than sense, and how money gets you preferential treatment. 

As I think it may have been the great Judge and legal thinker Lord Denning who said “The Law, like the Ritz, is open to all”.

He should man up and take the fine – if the evidence is clear then contesting it is simply morally wrong.  Just fuels the myth that rich and famous people are in some way “better” than normal decent hard working folk, and sadly, a lot of decent hard working folk buy into that too – and look up to these”heroes”.  What example is he setting for them?

From a cycling point of view….Sharing the surname with another allegedly dodgy character called Freeman….any relation…..LoL…?

[richb2007]

Less publicised is that

Less publicised is that Freeman loses most of his cases where the CPS allow specialist prosecutors to handle the case. In this case I suspect they weren’t involved. The police are capable of issuing the ticket to the registered keeper within a couple of days, in which case Bentley would not credibly have been able to show it didn’t arrive for another 2 weeks. Most police forces would also have up-to-date computerised auditing systems to prove postage, so that the police administration staff would not have to be cross-examined about it. What appears to have happened here is that the police evidence was less compelling than Bentley’s. To be fair, Freeman’s (and his copycat firms’) antics have sharpened up the police and CPS to the point where it is rare for drivers to escape on technicalities; Beckham got lucky this time. Let’s hope he has a good tax lawyer as well.

[Anonymous]

hirsute wrote:

I don’t see any need for the 14 days to be changed given the level of technology.

Data is transferred daily to a central point, the dvla database is queried and a letter is sent out the next day.

You have to allow people a reasonable defence and to work out where they were on a given date and who was driving. Say a plate was cloned, if it were 28 days, less opportunity to get cctv that you were at work that day 200 miles away.

With technology CCTV is available easily for a month which is the minimum for most local authorities, it’s not just for the evidence gathering, it’s the vagaries of a private company to deliver the FPN.

If the date of the FPN is shortly after the offence then it’s too easy for people to state they didn’t recieve it and blame RM. it all sounds pony to me, but you know, legal BS/celeb.

[Hirsute]

I based it on this link

I did say ‘cloned’.

I based it on this link

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/27/number-plate-cloning-drivers-fraud

ktache wrote:

You cannot remember whether or not you were at work more than 2 weeks ago?

”Baxter was able to prove she wasn’t guilty as her office car park had CCTV.”

vonhelmet wrote:

ktache wrote:

You cannot remember whether or not you were at work more than 2 weeks ago?

 

The 200 miles away thing is over the top, but you might, say, not remember whether you drove or took the train one day two weeks ago.

” At that time I was 200 miles away in Staffordshire, fast asleep, with my car parked outside.”

 

Or a more simple example of one parent dropping off at the youth club and one picking up. Afer 28 days how are they going to remember which way round it was ?

[Simon E]

hirsute wrote:

Doing 59 in a 40 is ridiculous though.

A significant proportion of drivers still think this is perfectly fine.

IME too often they fit the stereotype of having expensive German / Swedish cars and feel that they have something to prove with it (mainly that they are insecure and exceedingly selfish).

[vonhelmet]

ktache wrote:

You cannot remember whether or not you were at work more than 2 weeks ago?

The 200 miles away thing is over the top, but you might, say, not remember whether you drove or took the train one day two weeks ago.

[ktache]

You cannot remember whether

You cannot remember whether or not you were at work more than 2 weeks ago?

[Hirsute]

I don’t see any need for the

I don’t see any need for the 14 days to be changed given the level of technology.

Data is transferred daily to a central point, the dvla database is queried and a letter is sent out the next day.

You have to allow people a reasonable defence and to work out where they were on a given date and who was driving. Say a plate was cloned, if it were 28 days, less opportunity to get cctv that you were at work that day 200 miles away.

[vonhelmet]

Awavey wrote:

Awavey wrote:

vonhelmet wrote:

It’s disappointing, sure, but you have to lay at least some of the blame with a force that is so apathetic it can’t get the notice out within two weeks.

You are assuming Mr Beckham registers his own cars that he drives, like most normal people do, and doesnt simply get loaned cars by manufacturers looking for the cache of saying look which celebrity drives our latest model and then doesnt have to bother with all that ownership cost malarkey ,and that then working out who the registered keeper is and where their postroom is to send the NIP too becomes more than just a little bit of investigation,as if you send it to the wrong corporate address Mr Loophole will get you off on another technicality…the obvious quick answer to this is campaign to extend NIP period to 28days

RTFA. The notice had to get to the keeper within 14 days. The keeper was still Bentley Motors, not Beckham, and it didn’t get to them until day 15.

[Anonymous]

Why don’t the government

Why don’t the government extend FPN timescales to 28 days, there’s no reason to have 14 days.

I wonder if the dimwit would think twice about speeding if his kids were badly hurt or worse by a speeding driver, I expect not, these entitled types don’t give a fuck.

[theflatboy]

hirsute wrote:

theflatboy wrote:

Hypothetically speaking, if you were to get flashed by a speed camera on 1 June and, knowing that the ticket if issued would have to arrive by 15 June to be valid, a ticket arrived on 16 June… what would you do. Accept the fine and points anyway, or object?

Obviously if you have never sped (can’t write speeded even though it feels more “correct”) or broken any other driving law, then this is N/A…

Basically you are stuffed as you won’t have a way to prove it was late.

Otherwise you apply the NZ trick

https://www.thehits.co.nz/random-stuff/the-new-zealand-police-have-revealed-this-genius-trick-to-avoid-getting-a-speeding-ticket/

Except clearly as per the situation in question that’s not always the case. So let’s assume for the sake of the hypothetical question that you can prove it.

[PRSboy]

Either way its not put

Either way its not put Beckham in a good light, its not clever he just looks like he’s wormed out of a prosecution by employing an expensive lawyer.

It would be a band B offence, so would have been potentially a fine of 100% of weekly income, which would presumably be quite a lot!

[Awavey]

vonhelmet wrote:

vonhelmet wrote:

It’s disappointing, sure, but you have to lay at least some of the blame with a force that is so apathetic it can’t get the notice out within two weeks.

You are assuming Mr Beckham registers his own cars that he drives, like most normal people do, and doesnt simply get loaned cars by manufacturers looking for the cache of saying look which celebrity drives our latest model and then doesnt have to bother with all that ownership cost malarkey ,and that then working out who the registered keeper is and where their postroom is to send the NIP too becomes more than just a little bit of investigation,as if you send it to the wrong corporate address Mr Loophole will get you off on another technicality…the obvious quick answer to this is campaign to extend NIP period to 28days

[Author]

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