As an expert defending speeding offences, our managing director and solicitor, Matthew Miller is well used to identifying the kind of technical points that can result in a motoring charge being dismissed. So what happened when he was charged with speeding at 36mph in a 30mph limit?
“I remember the incident well. It was a wide open road, not a residential area that you would normally expect to be a 30mph limit. I remember the flash behind the vehicle clearly. I received a letter in the post just before the expiry of the 14 day time limit,” Matthew recalled. So what did he do when he received the notice of intended prosecution? “I replied within a few weeks confirming that I was the driver. There was no point in me trying to be clever at that stage and asking for calibration certificates for the camera or anything like that – it very rarely achieves anything.”
Matthew decided to simply wait to be charged with speeding rather than become embroiled in correspondence with the police. “I’d already attended a speed awareness course and decided early on to fight this one. In these sorts of situations, it’s much better to keep your powder dry for Court proceedings,” the expert motoring lawyer continued.
A postal requisition was received in March 2014 over 6 months after the alleged offence. “The requisition for speeding was dated a few days before the end of the time limit, but was not actually posted until outside the time limit. The rules in relation to a postal requisition state that it must be issued within 6 months.”
Matthew wrote a letter to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), identifying this point and several others. “I was looking forward to representing myself at the trial, I was going to make it a bit of a busman’s holiday! Then a few days before it was due to take place I received a letter from CPS stating that it was discontinuing the charge. To cap it all off I also applied for and was granted an order for my costs in preparing the case. So I must be one of the first people in history to actually make money from receiving a speeding ticket!”
We specialise in defending all types of motoring charges and often it only takes a few moments looking at the paperwork to spot flaws in a speeding charge. If you have been charged with speeding or any other motoring offence, call us now to find out how we can defend your case.
Speeding charges dropped
