Postby Allgood » Tue Feb 18, 2014 2:02 am
Sadly I cannot help, but may I share about a parallel car incident I had with the police a few years ago? They nearly hit me doing about 40 mph, i.e. speeding, while not on a job, and to cut a long unpleasant story short, I ended up getting called to court on a charge of "lack of care and attention". I went along with an attitude of interest, taking it purely as having a new and different experience, knowing it was of course a forgone conclusion that I would be found guilty. And yes, witnessed a policeman purge himself in court, which was really stunning to behold at the time, and although utterly expected in hindsight, still holds me in shock to this day.
When asked by the police solicitor along the lines of 'wasn't I driving with lack of care and attention that could have caused an accident?', I couldn't help myself reply in my defence along the lines of "the very fact there wasn't an accident is proof that I wasn't driving with lack of care and attention", which of course went down brilliantly and promptly ended the session.
The whole thing was an utter farce, I walked away with 3 points on my license, a £150 fine and utter contempt and lack of respect for the police. So their action worked fabulously well to recruit me to their side.
And a final detail, one of the particularly repellent things about being in court was, that yes, phenomenally stupidly, I arrived in court without my driving license, so when told by the main judge after sentencing to take my license to the office to get my points added, I burst out laughing, because for god's sake it was bally funny, the entire thing and my realisation at how stupid I was, and he literally screamed at the top of his voice for me to stop laughing, which of course I did in an instant on witnessing the insanity, then asked me what I found so funny and then when I said I didn't have my licence, he then thought it was ok and appropriate to threaten me still screaming with "if you do not return here with your license by this afternoon I will put you in jail for 24 hours". !!!? I am absolutely not kidding. How utterly bizarre is this response from a high court judge? It was quite possibly the most surreal 30 seconds of my life, I thought I was having a v. weird dream. And it was so humbling in my appreciation for the injustices that some experience in police custody situations. And guess what? Of course I laughed all over again. But it makes me want to throw up even now as I write. Utterly chilling.
