A senior lawyer has revealed the best way to get out of paying a speeding fine.
Dominic Smith, a director at the UK’s largest specialist motoring solicitors Patterson Law, says that speeding is one of the most difficult driving offences to defend – with clients less likely to have charges dropped from speeding than they do from drink driving.
Drivers found guilty of the offence can land themselves with a minimum penalty of a £100 fine and repeat offenders could find themselves disqualified from driving altogether.
READ MORE:Simple vehicle fault that could ruin your summer holiday
The lawyer dismissed any “surefire” way of beating a fine as a “myth” – as there is “no easy way to beat a speeding ticket.”
A common defence route people can go for is to challenge the calibration of the equipment used by the police, but Mr Smith says this route is tricky and not one that he would advise.
He said: “The difficulty with speeding is as soon as they record you with a speed gun there is law that says that will be accurate unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.”
The legal expert instead says that the most effective way to avoid being penalised from a driving offence is to plead guilty and invoke the “special reason” defence.
The Liverpool Echo sends newsletters on a wide range of topics – including our daily news bulletin, now going out three times a day.
There are others on what’s on, politics, court news, Knowsley, Wirral, and arts & culture, as well as both Liverpool FC and Everton FC.
Signing up is free and it only takes a minute for you to get the biggest stories, sent straight to your inbox.
How to sign up for an Echo Email Update
1) Go to our dedicated newsletter page at this link.
2) Put your email in the box where indicated
3) Tick as many boxes as you like, for each newsletter you want.
4) Press Save changes and that’s it!
He said: “A special reason is when someone is guilty but they had no choice but to commit the offence.
“If you’ve got a good reason as to why you were speeding then you deserve your day in court.”
The special reason defence falls under Section 44 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act – and can be argued if drivers committed the offence in order to preserve their own personal safety.
This can include situations such as a medical situation, trying to avoid an emergency vehicle or speeding up because another car is closely tailgating behind your vehicle.
The Highway Code says motorists must give at least a two second gap between vehicles and anyone encroaching this could be guilty of tailgating. However, the defendant must be able to prove that this situation left them with no other choice but to break the speed limit.
If the driver can convince the court they had no alternative but to put their foot down on the pedal, then the court may drop the charges.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what’s on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/WXZ5VWGRUJIGDA6MAJXFXO2AJY.jpg)
