[UK-CONTEST] OT: Driving & Use of Radio

[James Hill]

Robert Offer wrote:
> Hi James
> 
> A word to the wise - it seems that the act of 2003 has nothing to verify
> that it is still current legislation - most of the heavy stuff for mobiles
> was around 2007.
> 

Hi all,

As far as the 2007 update is concerned, it appears the original 2003 C&U 
  regs stand, but the penalty has been increased from a non endorsable 
FPN to an Endorsable FPN, by way of an amendment to Schedule 2 of the 
Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. Everything else remains the same.

He has been given an Endorsable FPN (The long one!), which carries 3 
points & a £60 fine, specifically for using a mobile phone whilst 
driving, so it's going to be fought.

If it was just a NE-FPN, then it would be easier to put up and shut up, 
and next time remember to carry a copy of the law.

He's coming round tomorrow to pick up a copy that I have generated. 
According to him, when he rang the officer's Inspector, he really did 
not have much of a clue as to whether he should have been "knocked off" 
or not, and said he would check it out, and call him back within the 
next hour. Such a call was never forthcoming!

It's a common myth, that once a FPN is written, the only way that the 
ticket can be nullified, is to have your day in court.... not strictly 
true. Back in my day (1993-1999), a FPN could be cancelled by the 
Inspector in charge, if it "was in the public interest to do so". 
Whether or not this rule still applies today is another question, and 
also I do not know if was a nationwide rule, or if it was force specific 
(I was in Cambridgeshire, this is Norfolk, where the police have a 
reputation for being "nasty" to motorists in our particular part of the 
county!).

Will wait and see what Brian says tomorrow when he gets here. If he's 
willing, I'll have a word with the Inspector concerned on the phone, as 
I know the relevant terminology, and will basically be able to give as 
much "adult male bovine quadraped excrement" as I get, and wont be 
pushed around or fobbed off (yes, the Police do it too!) hi hi.

If anybody else just happens to be pulled over for the same thing, It's 
advisable to ask the officer stopping you as to why you have been 
stopped as soon as practicable. Always ask "Do you intend to prosecute 
me for driving without due care and attention?". The response will 
invariably be no, I intend to deal with the matter by way of an 
endorsable Fixed Penalty. Again, ask the officer for what offence you 
are being issued the FPN. If they still persist with the mobile phone 
direction, then pull out the copy of the regs, and ask them, politely to 
read them. If they still persist, show them the radio, and the 
frequencies that it is capable of operating on (which will no doubt 
totally confuse them) and to compare them with what is written in S.6 
(d)(ii). If all else fails, politely ask them to use their new fangled 
"Chewing Gum Communicator", and contact their local Traffic Supervisor, 
for clarification.

This method was used by a local G1 a few weeks after it was introduced, 
and it led to some poor hapless officer summoning the local traffic 
crew, who then proceeded to tear him off a strip in public for wasting 
theirs, and the poor motorist's time!

Generally, it will be a "divisional" officer that will give the 
problems. They are only human (I use the term loosely!) and cannot be 
expected to remember every law of the land verbatim. Traffic Officers 
however, are more specialised, and will generally leave you alone, 
unless of course they are bored, and can use the radio as an excuse to 
pull you over for a poke around and a tyre kick. Usually they will be 
quite interested in what the kit is for. And no, it isnt CB as I told 
one poor traffic womble one Sunday afternoon!

An idea of how radio ignorant some officers can be: We arrested a 
shoplifter one afternoon, and had his car taken back to the station. In 
it, was a CB. The usual CB27/81 equipment, nothing naughty. My fellow 
officer however, persisted in starting at CH1 and keying the PTT on his 
UHF handheld for the entire 40 channels, "just to be sure" that it wasnt 
capable of receiving Police transmissions. After the first 5, I went 
across the yard and banged my head against a brick wall!

I used to have a Pye PFX handheld on 70cm, and used to love wandering 
around town with it swinging off my belt, in the hope that some poor 
officer would come up to me and say "That's a Police Radio, That's 
stolen, youre nicked....." but it never happened unfortunately!

Anyway, that's my 2 pennorth.... back to contesting!

James G0FHM