Bah, I got a summons for speeding back in Feb (why do they always wait *right* until the 6months is nearly up, eh? Cruel!), so I'm after a decent solicitor for advice/mitigation letter - the offence was down in Nottingham, and I live in Warrington now, so it seems better to let them sort this out in my absence than waste fuel and time going down there to mess it up in person. Also, I'm wary about driving down there now, since Derby traffic cops seem to have a habit of aggressive tailgating at night - several times I've had something glued to my backside, lights blinding me, seemingly trying to encourage me to speed the hell up, only to find it was a police car pushing me along until I got to the next 40 limit :(

 

Anyway, does anyone know any decent (but not too pricey :P) solicitors dealing with this kind of thing? Most helpful/promising place I've seen so far is http://www.motorlawyers.co.uk/ , who will do a letter for £95. God knows what they put in these letters, but it's supposed to be worth the money, and it's better than fumbling my own way through it.

Anyone have any experience of these guys, or have anyone better in mind? I can't find any local solicitors that deal with traffic offences, and chances are they'd say they know nothing about how it works down in Nottingham anyway :/

 

Thanks for any help :)

Bah, I got a summons for speeding back in Feb (why do they always wait *right* until the 6months is nearly up, eh? Cruel!), so I'm after a decent solicitor for advice/mitigation letter - the offence was down in Nottingham, and I live in Warrington now, so it seems better to let them sort this out in my absence than waste fuel and time going down there to mess it up in person. Also, I'm wary about driving down there now, since Derby traffic cops seem to have a habit of aggressive tailgating at night - several times I've had something glued to my backside, lights blinding me, seemingly trying to encourage me to speed the hell up, only to find it was a police car pushing me along until I got to the next 40 limit :(

 

Anyway, does anyone know any decent (but not too pricey :P) solicitors dealing with this kind of thing? Most helpful/promising place I've seen so far is http://www.motorlawyers.co.uk/ , who will do a letter for £95. God knows what they put in these letters, but it's supposed to be worth the money, and it's better than fumbling my own way through it.

Anyone have any experience of these guys, or have anyone better in mind? I can't find any local solicitors that deal with traffic offences, and chances are they'd say they know nothing about how it works down in Nottingham anyway :/

 

Thanks for any help :)

 

If I had a cooper Tailgating me I would Video them on my phone. I would also after that make them eat my dust. As for the speeding fine mate. I wouldnt bother with a brief unless you didnt do it. You will be wasting your money? Keep searching the net, use Google somewhere there will be a printable no charge version?

Heh, the tailgating business is a separate issue - I've managed to get off that before via the "attitude test", but it's something that really gripes me, especially when I see one trying it on again. I can't tell it's a copper til they've pulled me or got bored and turned off - the lights are too blinding. The one that stopped me said he was deliberately holding back and then charging up behind me "hoping you'd check your mirrors and see we were police" - erm, I could bally well SEE you ffs! How am I supposed to tell you're police when you're driving like that? Anyway...

 

Nah, the incident in question was a fair cop - I thought the road was a 40 (it's wide enough, jeez), the piggy van was facing me with no obvious markings, I was trying to get away from some lights quickly to avoid being squished by an artic. I kept my foot on the happy pedal too long, I guess... when I saw the van, I slowed down, went to check my speed, and DOH - I'd had my O2 sensors replaced a few days before (hence the happy pedal reacting more favourably than I'd expected), and didn't realise the digital speedo needed setting up again after the battery had been disconnected. So all I had was the kph stock gauge. I kinda panicked and didn't slow down enough. As I said, I thought it was a 40 zone, turned out to be a 30. And it turned out what I thought was just under 50mph was 57 by their equipment.

 

So yeah, I messed up, fair cop. I've got a clean license til now, I'm not a dangerous driver, and the road really doesn't feel like a 30 - it has residences on the roads *off* it, but not on that actual road. And it's pretty much two lanes wide each side (Abbey Bridge, for anyone who knows Nottingham).

So what I'm after is avoiding a disqualification and minimising points.

 

I know 57 in a 30 sounds terrible - it's not big, and it's not clever, and I'm not the kind who goes charging round estates endangering lovely kiddies' lives. I'd been stuck in traffic til then and judged the speed completely wrong.

Heh, the photo evidence made me smirk - twin 3.5" SS Apexi backboxes sticking out like sore thumbs... no way are they gonna look at that and think I'm a responsible member of the community :(

Oops, misread your reply in my panic... you reckon no need for professional mitigation? Hmm, I'll google for a freebie one then, see what they look like. Anyone else got any experience of this?

AA and RAC have a legal advice departments. AA's charges £1 per minute IIRC but RAC's is a local call rate.

 

They will supply a brief FOC if you are a member (or at least they used to?).

 

Richard :cool:

Clive Burton

Solicitor

Burton and Burton

44 Friar Lane

NOTTINGHAM

NG1 6DQ

 

 

Office: (0115) 952 5000

Fax: (0115) 952 5100

Home: (0115) 914 0777

Mobile: 07-970-657-046 (24/7 availability)

 

burtons@pobox.co.uk

 

 

You could give this guy a call, no idea what he charges though .

Did you get pulled at the time or get a NIP in the post?

If NIP have you seen the photos?

 

Anyway it's worth calling him, say a friend from the ABD gave you his number.

There may be some technicalities he can work with, good luck!

Hmm, not a member of the RAC any more as their recovery just wasn't as good as the one I got with insurance :/

 

Trevz, cheers :) I saw that guy's name on ABD, could be worth a call.

 

I got the NIP in the post, well within time, and the photos came with the summons - three pics from the rear, clear as day, very close up. It's odd cos there's a large van coming in the other direction that seems to have moved further than my car between the pictures.. but the readout says "-57mph" - negative, so it was measuring a receeding speed. The device was one of these LTI20.20 things - apparently pretty dodgy and prone to erroneous readings, but I don't think I have a hope in hell of appealing down that route, or they wouldn't be using them in the first place eh?

 

The only "technicality" I can see is that the summons has the regn number wrong by one digit... but it's correct everywhere else, and I've had CPS change details larger than that just before going to court, with apparently no problem :S

 

I think I just have to take it on the chin and go for damage limitation... I'll give this chap a call and see what he says re: mitigation.

 

Thanks! :)