Got 3 points on my license - advice needed

[Violet Star]

Hi Geeks,

Im so angry today i got 3 points on my license and £60 fine (only been passed just over a week ago) got pulled up by the police for apparently going through a red light which i know 100% i didnt it was an amber light. I couldnt have stopped and slammed my brakes as i would have caused a crash. Even when i got to the middle of the road they were still amber.

The police man wasnt even in my que of traffic he was on the opposite side of the road. I even managed to drive for about 20 seconds after he had even pulled away from his lights.
I didnt have a clue why he pulled me up he said id gone through red light i said no it was amber, he said he counted the 4 second gap between them changing so he didnt actually see me go past a red light - he just counted the seconds.

Anyhow he said he should have given me 6 points 3 points for going through a red light and 3 points for careless driving?? i wasnt careless driving at all i was going 25mph and didnt cause any problems on the road.

Do you think i should appeal? If i do appeal can they add anymore points on i.e he thinks he should have given me 6 could they add the extra 3 on if i go court and lose?

thanks for anyones help in advanced.

 

[eden_beauty]

OMG!!! That takes the biscuit! I defo think you should appeal it as that's completely out of order ( they're probably on some kind of bonus scheme for hoe many points they can give out) You've got nothing to lose by appealing it and they can't add extra points on for you doing that..........i feel so bad for you its bang out of order. If he was on the opposite side of the road how could he possibly have seen you?? definitely appeal and let me know how you got on. Lisa

 

[Violet Star]

Hi Lisa,

Thank you very much for your help and support. Im so angry i came home crying my eyes out. He was a right idiot he said to me i been doing this 21 years blah blah blah i said it was orange light he said yeah ive heard it all before!
I really want to appeal just as long as they cant add on anymore points
x

 

[eden_beauty]

no no no - you go for it girl - you've got nothing to lose - most people dont appeal becasue they ARE guilty but for you to appeal will show that you are really shocked and willing to sort it so that you dont get the points.....he sounds like a right ass : )

 

[Violet Star]

Thats great thanks hunni, will deffo do that. He was a right ass and whats even worse when i pulled away the girl who was parked up next to me he pulled her up to check her tyres.
xx

 

[Trinity]

English law is 'innocent until PROVEN guilty' - the onus is on him to prove you jumped red lights. If he was on the opposite side of the road he cannot categorically prove you performed an illegal manouver. I would appeal too

 

[gillian w]

I was a fraffic cop for 22 years and I believe you have a good chance of beating this. First of all when you contest a fixed penalty notice it will mean appearing at court so a magistrate can hear the evidence.
If you honestly believe you did not go through the red light then you should contest it but be aware the highway code states you should also stop on amber unless it would be dangerous to do so but i think you covered that point in your question.
If the police officer was alone your chances are better as he will have no cooberating evidence and it will be your word against his and the magistrates do not automatically trust his account.
He has to prove the offence and to do this he will have to show that he actually saw you not only go through the light but more importantly that he saw you cross the stop line. Just counting four seconds is just going to make him look very foolish in court. He will also have to prove that the lights were in good working order.
When writing out tickets some of these points are not always covered especially if you are a complacant old traffic cop!
As for adding points for careless driving, that is rubbish at this point, If he was going down that road he would have done it at the time and you would get a notice of intended prosecution through the post and that will not be happening trust me.
On that note you might also want to complain about his manner and threats as quite frankly he doesn't sound very proffessional.

This is my husbands answer.

 

[Violet Star]

Gillian, could you thank your husband for me. Thats really useful information and has gave me the confidence to go ahead with appealing knowing he cant just add on those extra points that he threatended. I will also complain about this. I think he was so intimidating saw a young girl on her own and thought to hell with it lets just give her points and a fine. He couldnt of possibly seen my lights from where he was and going by counting the seconds its ridiculous. Because he never did mention that he saw me go through a red light he said he counted. I 100% know it was amber and no way i could have stopped without the car behind me crashing into me.

Thanks for all the help its been so useful xx

 

[bombini]

I would appeal for sure otherwise you will find your insurance is megabucks when you come to renew.

My boyfriend got 3 points for speeding and when he came to renew his insurance all the qoutes came back over £100 more and hes been driving over 10 years.

 

[number1kitty]

No Don't Go There!!

I got 3 points for stopping at a red light but 1 foot over the line. Appealled and instead of the 3 points got 4 points and £200 fine rather than £60.

Got Pulled for speeding doing 20MPH and they said I was doing 40MPH (impossible as I had 6 cars in front of me slowing down towards a roundabout and the laser hit the car behind me (a 4X4) and pulled me as my car was a sports car.

Appealled and again instead of the 3 points I got 4 points and £175 fine

Had to pay all the court costs for both too.

You can't beat a police man in court unless you get him later with a big stick!

Luckily my dad paid the judge £5K to get the last one over turned.

Oh and the cop who pulled me who was an arrogant eejit threw himself off a cliff lol!!! Shame!!!

He was so unhappy in his own life he was pulling over anyone for no reason and had his fingers in many womens pies!

At the end of the day its your word against the cops and there word is golden! If you want a higher fine and more points appeal, if not take it on the chin and be more careful whos behind you. These cops are too scared to catch real criminals so there taking it out on drivers at the minute.

Your insurance shouldnt go up that much - they understand just how many of us have points on there licence - I have 7 and I still get insured and it costs me the same as always. (unfortunetly cameras don't take cash bribes!!) xx

 

[number1kitty]

Oh and remember 3 points is the minimum recomendation. They can give up to 6 points.

And you would thing appealing they wouldnt add on more points but they do! Dosnt matter how much evidence you provide or what lawyer you have - if you lose you get screwed even further.

Do you still have 'L' plates on? If you do - get rid as your easy bait.

Kate

 

[izzidoll]

Luckily my dad paid the judge £5K to get the last one over turned.

These cops are too scared to catch real criminals so there taking it out on drivers at the minute.

Your insurance shouldnt go up that much - they understand just how many of us have points on there licence - I have 7 and I still get insured and it costs me the same as always. (unfortunetly cameras don't take cash bribes!!) xx

Seriously you are putting it on the world wide web that a member of your family bribed a judge????
Traffiic Police officers job is to deal with traffic offenders, and road safety, as well as catch criminals, so as much as it pains us when we get a speeding ticket or whatever, we have to think of the big picture, in that anything that makes us a bit more aware of our speed and keeps us within the limits, keeps us and other roaduseers safe!!!!

As for you Violet Star..........if you didnt like the way the officer dealt with this you are perfectly entitled to go and complain about his attitude.

As far as appealing the ticket....think about it!

If you go to Court then it is the word of an inexperienced driver 1 week after she passed her test against an experienced Police Office who specialises in Traffic Offences. Who do you think will win?

Also they can't just add points to your licence, as this happened so soon after you passed your test they can make you resit it!!

So you could find yourself drivingto Court to fight this......and getting the bus back home!!!

To be honest I think you should count yourself lucky, what if the driver on the other side of the lights went through on amber too.....and you had your first accident,or were injured??

I bet now you will always be wary and adjust your speed coming up to trafic lights and never be an amber gambler again!!!

 

[Violet Star]

Also they can't just add points to your licence, as this happened so soon after you passed your test they can make you resit it!!

They cant make me resit as i havent lost my license you only lose your license once you have 6 points then you have to resit the test.

 

[glitz and glam]

hun thats awful! hope you get it sorted out. maybe you could seek legal advise and most places give a free phone consultation to see what there experiances are and if its worth you fighting it!
Dont let it bring you down keep your chin up, you still have your liscence.
good luck hun :hug:

 

[izzidoll]

They cant make me resit as i havent lost my license you only lose your license once you have 6 points then you have to resit the test.

Exactly....if you lose in Court the Judge could add on more points taking you to 6 and then make you resit!

Even if they don't add on more points it will be a heftier fine, as if you have been unable to prove your innocence they see it as a waste of court time and will fine you more.
Ultimately the decision is yours if you want to fight this or not.

 

[Zo Zo]

I have been caught speeding three times (over a number of years - I have been driving for 21 years) and I have twice attended a driver awareness program which was offered 'instead of points'. The program is incredibly interesting and it really does make you so much more aware of the way you drive and how it impacts on others. Most accidents occur because of a string of coincidences. You running an amber light could have been just one piece of a jigsaw, had an accident happened. Now you say you couldn't have stopped without the car behind ploughing into you, but that is precisely why you should slow down when you are approaching lights (and all junctions / bends and so forth) because you should be able to stop. And if you had slowed down, the car behind you would have also slowed down. Don't forget, you have been driving one week. You cannot possibly know everything about it. The cops attitude may have been bad, but if you hadn't run an amber light, you wouldn't be in this situation now. I personally wouldn't appeal, like Kate said, you may end up worse off. Take it on the chin :hug:

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

Seriously you are putting it on the world wide web that a member of your family bribed a judge????
Traffiic Police officers job is to deal with traffic offenders, and road safety, as well as catch criminals, so as much as it pains us when we get a speeding ticket or whatever, we have to think of the big picture, in that anything that makes us a bit more aware of our speed and keeps us within the limits, keeps us and other roaduseers safe!!!!

As for you Violet Star..........if you didnt like the way the officer dealt with this you are perfectly entitled to go and complain about his attitude.

As far as appealing the ticket....think about it!

If you go to Court then it is the word of an inexperienced driver 1 week after she passed her test against an experienced Police Office who specialises in Traffic Offences. Who do you think will win?

Also they can't just add points to your licence, as this happened so soon after you passed your test they can make you resit it!!

So you could find yourself drivingto Court to fight this......and getting the bus back home!!!

To be honest I think you should count yourself lucky, what if the driver on the other side of the lights went through on amber too.....and you had your first accident,or were injured??

I bet now you will always be wary and adjust your speed coming up to trafic lights and never be an amber gambler again!!!

Well said Izzy and very true! A little rhyme which one hopes will never be about one of us;

' Did you hear the story of Edward Grey,
Who died defending his right of way?
He was dead, dead, dead as he sped along,
He was dead, dead, dead as if he had been wrong'.

In traffic, no matter who is wrong, who is right, whether it is our actions or somebody elses, the consequences can be devastating.

Whether a cop has a chip on his shoulder or not, or whether one thinks he is wrong and you are right, perhaps put this down to experience and learn from it.

And why anyone would admit to what sounds like a bribe of a judge on a public forum is beyond me. Irresponsible!

 

[min11]

Luckily my dad paid the judge £5K to get the last one over turned.

I'm amazed you would say that for everyone to see, that's morally and legally wrong and in a world that often proves to be very small it takes one wrong person to see that and look further to cause a lot of issues for your Dad, the judge, and you.


Violet star, I think it might be difficult to argue :hug:

I'm a little curious that you knew roughly how long you'd driven past him, he was going in the opposite direction so on the right side of his car to see you and he must have turned around to come to you, have I understood that correctly? He was feeling pretty certain he saw what he did to do that. I'm guessing he saw the lights go to amber and was counting from then on to see if you crossed the line. Your only allowed to cross an amber light if your front wheels are already across the stop line when they change to amber or if stopping might cause an accident. If you were slowing down for the lights, even if green, in case they change then you should be able to stop before they change and if the driver behind you hits you thats because they were driving with out proper care as they should also be slowing down and they would be the one to cop it law wise, not you.

If it were me I'd suck it up and not risk more points by the risk of it going against you and drive like a Saint to avoid any more. :hug::hug:

 

[glitz and glam]

i am about to take my test and i too have been taught by my instructor that if you have a car behind you and the light turns to amber then considering how near you are to the white line it may not be safe to stop and then in that case you are permitted to cross the line obviously taking caution using your mirrors and looking out for other traffic, i think itws all about driving safely and maybe driving is taught differently these days so no violet star did not have to stop at the white line and as long as she continued in a cautious way selecting a lower gear and appropriate speed and using observations she should have continued.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

i am about to take my test and i too have been taught by my instructor that if you have a car behind you and the light turns to amber then considering how near you are to the white line it may not be safe to stop and then in that case you are permitted to cross the line obviously taking caution using your mirrors and looking out for other traffic, i think itws all about driving safely and maybe driving is taught differently these days so no violet star did not have to stop at the white line and as long as she continued in a cautious way selecting a lower gear and appropriate speed and using observations she should have continued.

Unfortunately in general, the traffic behind us does not maintain a safe enough distance behind ones vehicle, which sadly puts one in a position of having to run a amber light so that the vehicle behind does not smack into the back of ones car.

Always maintain a safe enough distance behind a car to allow yourself enough distance and time to stop if the car in front suddenly stops. Does this happen in reality? No, because nowadays sadly everyone is in a damn hurry to get from A to B.