No this isn't a homage to Are you being served, but I was in court earlier today.
As you may remember, humberside police force have been trying to charge me with exceeding the temporary speed limit of 70mph on a dual carriageway near Grimsby.
They had failed to follow the law in using recorded or registered post when sending their notice of intended prosecution to me, which never arrived.
I challenged their findings and requested proof of postage on two occasions, both requests were ignored.
The case was passed to court and I was given a copy of the police statement signed on the 9th of February, claiming that their previous correspondance had gone un-answered by myself, even though I had proof they had recieved my reply on the 4th February.
Today was a pretrial review, to discuss the matter infront of a clerk of the court to hear a plea (which would have been not guilty) and discuss what witnesses if any would be required to attend the actual trial.
The reprisentative of the Crown stated that they had requested from the police details about my letter which they recieved on the 4th Feb, and an explanation as to why this was not mentioned in the statement.
Apparently the police's reply to the Crown was not relivent to the questions raised.
The police had also not bothered to re-submit the file for the court proceedings, so the Crown moved to have the charge withdrawn, which the clerk of the court agreed with, and both appologised for me having to drive all the way up from Portsmouth.
So it pays to do some research yourself and find out what the law actually says, because if any other forces are like humberside, they are acting illegally in not using recorded or registered post for their NIPs and also in witholding evidence (ie proof of postage, or rather lack of proof of postage).
Many thanks to all of you who've given me support, especially debs who came with me to hold my hand
(she's got lovely warm hands!)
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Baby, I was born this way.
- about a mile further up the river, our office overlooks the estuary, but there is a huge cold store in the way of seeing any of Cleethorpes.