By Samir Syed on December 10, 2007

_44282965_camera4.jpgLast week the credibility of the UK's anti-speeding jihad took a knock, when "Top Traffic Cop" Meredydd (Med) Hughes received a 42-day driving ban for excessive speed (90 in 60). After it was revealed that the camera-crazed cop had two previous speeding convictions, road safety groups criticized the sentence as overly-lenient. But that's nothing as compared to the brouhaha surrounding revelations by the BBC that twenty-six speeding cases against Med's fellow South Yorkshire officers were dropped on a "technicality." The Sun reports that the cops in question refused to admit they were behind the wheel. Oh, sorry, I mean they  couldn't be sure IF they were in the car caught speeding. "Bob Pitt, South Yorkshire branch secretary of the Police Federation, said: 'This is not necessarily a matter of our members refusing to come forward. There will be a lot who have used a police vehicle fleetingly who didn’t realise they had gone through a speed camera and genuinely are unable to say they were the driver at the time.'" Not necessarily a matter of one rule for some, one rule for others. Got it. Of course, if a civilian is caught by a speed camera, the law forces the registered keeper to name the driver at the time of the infraction, or face a fine and imprisonment.

6 Comments on “26 Speeding UK Cops Beat the Rap: “Sorry Guv, I Don’t Remember.”...”


  • Mark Brown
    Heep

    “…a lot who have used a police vehicle fleetingly who didn’t realise they had gone through a speed camera…”

    Since when is that a valid excuse? Oh, sorry officer, I didn’t realize I’d gone through a speed camera.

  • GS650G
    GS650G

    So they can use a vehicle fleetingly AND speed in it? UK subjects get the government they deserve.

  • lprocter1982
    lprocter1982

    Well, if the registered owner of a civilian car is charged, regardless of who’s driving, then the police force itself should be given the ticket, regardless of who’s driving. What the difference (aside from them being cops)?

  • QuasiMondo
    quasimondo

    The military has a saying for this type of behavior. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

  • Landcrusher
    Landcrusher

    They had a better system in Alberta. They didn’t care who was driving. There was a fine on the vehicles owner, and no points assigned.

    In Houston, they recently put up intersection cameras and the Mayor came right out and said it was a tax.

  • yankinwaoz
    yankinwaoz

    Australia is the same as UK. The registered owner of the car has to cough up a driver or take the hit for the speeding ticket themselves. The presumption is that you know who is operating your vehicle.

    Germany has the same. The brother of a German friend of mine has taken to wearing a blond wig to get out of a ticket that will, if applied against him, means loss of license. Not sure how that is going for him now.


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