I was driving to my uncles house yesterday. where I keep my project car I was about 30 secs away from his road when i was pulled over by the police. I had noticed them behind me some time ago but thought nothing of it, I get pulled alot being 19 driving a mk2 fiesta with a huge dent in the door seems to be reasonable grounds for what ever they want these days specialy if i have my mates with me.

so I step out of the car andstand by the road talking to the first pc I am very polite and aswer all his questions properly. Then the other pc decides to with out warning reach into my car and pop the bonnet, so I asked what he was doing and the pc talking to me said "he is just having a look around." So i said " should he not have told me first" and he replied "he has probably assumed i am telling you now but maybe he should of. "

so any way 10mins later I have in my hand a fixed penalty notice for £60 and 3 points and a pg9 (do not drive car on road unless to prebooked mot test) prohibition notice. aparrently my rear wheel bearings are excessivly warn and could fail at any time the bushes on my anti roll bar are also excessivley warn and with out being given any warning i have to pay £60 to have it towed 30secs away.

can they really do this it says i can have it delt with by a court they didnt give me a chance to put it right. I mean how often should i have to check these things I always keep my mot up to date. any suggestions of what might be done greatly apretiated. Its not really the money its the points that gets me if a have them ive only got 3 left because I havent had my licence for 2 years yet please help!

I would argue it. Since when did all police officers take mechanics training to identify your rear wheel bearings?

Should you not have been given a 7 day wonder or they escorted your car to an MOT testing station if htey felt it was suspicious?

I'd be well pissed and be putting in formal complaints. As for £60 to tow the vehicle, I'd have pushed it and told them where to go! They only said it wasn't drivable! If it is taxed it is entitled to be left parked is it not?

Ned.

[Edited on 9/7/04 by ned]

Sounds a bit dubious to me.

How can they check wheel bearings without jacking the car up anyway?

If you can appeal then I would consider it. Some 2nd hand (so they look old) replacement rollbar bushes first may not be a bad idea!

James

Like Ned said really. Besides, how the f**k does he know your rear wheel bearings are worn?.

You weren't pulled over on the motorway by any chance were you?

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=110767&f=10&h=0

Unless the wheels were actually wobbling he wouldn't know the bearings were shot. Try just tightening the hub nut and see if it cures it then get it looked at. Are you familiar with the MOT tester? Get him to write you a stamped letter saying the bearings are passable if you decide to go to court. Do you have a legal representation clause in your insurance? A good solicitor might get you off but will cost you a lot more than the fine. Get the door fixed so you don't stick out like a sore thumb

[Edited on 9/7/04 by Peteff]

Just a thought - did he stop you because he could see your rear wheels wobbling?

Might be worth jacking the back of the car up and waggling the wheels energetically.

David

IIRC the only MK2 Fiesta with an antiroll bar was the XR2 - wide tyres and track they must have had issues with the wheel bearings anyway.

IMHO take the medicine as falling out with the law will only make situations worse. Sad, but true! There was an article about a guy who ran off with a coppers wife and the force really laid into him... with many very minor offences (57 IIRC) in one year. It went to court and all his convictions were dropped due to the police victimisation.

This sort of thing however does nothing for Police PR... I could go on... but I won't just in case police are reading this!

Law and justice are at opposite ends of the square in this country, applies to most things, not just motoring

IMHO appeal....
I the car has a current MOT I'm almost certain you should be given a vehicle defect rectification (VDR) notice. This gives you seven days to get the problems sorted and checked at an MOT station.
Exceptions are bald tyres, which are fixed penalty. (was the tyre on the alleged worn bearing OK?)

John

all tyres are about 100 miles old max ive booked in for an mot on monday and if it passes or they dont mention the bearings or bushes there is no way im paying or having those points.

It sounds to me like you are being discriminated against because of your age and car.

If it happened to me i would definetly appeal against it, but as already mentioned maybe the Police aren't the best people to p*ss off!

As i see it there are three outcomes to this, neither of which are very good;

1) You pay the fine and accept it.
2) You appeal, win, get the fine/points dropped, p*ss off the Police and beome the source of amusement for the PCs, who have nothing better to do than constantly pull you over etc etc.
3) You appeal, lose, pay the fine, accept the points and beome the source of amusement for the PCs, who have nothing better to do than constantly pull you over etc etc.

I sympathise with you completely, it is so sh*t when it happens.

quote:

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Originally posted by albertz
2) You appeal, win, get the fine/points dropped, p*ss off the Police and beome the source of amusement for the PCs, who have nothing better to do than constantly pull you over etc etc.

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I can see the problem with the MOT test pass being that the court then have to believe you that nothing was changed between "the pull" and the test. If it does pass OK it would be worth paying the tester to certify that the parts he inspected had not recently been replaced.

Good luck as it does sound like the punishment is too harsh to me.

you have all been very helpful I love this forum but some have said get the door fixed or buy a new car the point is I shouldn't have to I should not be discrimated against because I cant aford a new car. I have kept my car legal from the day i bought it and I have a full licence passed first time never been pulled for anything other than being young and driving with my mates. what more can I do. the law and what is just really are not the same thing but we will see when i go to court which I will.

And by the way have seen the vehicle inspecter that pulled me with 2 other officers in 2 other completely different places 1 day after the other is this a new breed of super scrutineer police. God help us all.

unfortanatley its easier to give you a tug than to catch real criminals,its just to keep the numbers up

quote:

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Originally posted by theconrodkid
unfortanatley its easier to give you a tug than to catch real criminals,its just to keep the numbers up

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your not allowed to say that you know

All white then. Not being racially biased I find this hard to understand Joel. Please explain.

Hi,
I was wrongly convicted of running a Red traffic light about 10 years ago when hand-on-heart it was merely on Amber and it changed just before I went through. I never saw even a glimpse of red and I was travelling at a safe and legal speed as I drove through it. The light were temporary for some road works just outside a 30MPH limit of a town.

Anyway, the cops were in an unmarked Cossie sitting facing the opposite way and just because their light changed to green before I had cleared the contraflow they assumed that I had jumped the lights and gave chase. I assumed that they were after me for speeding but at about 34MPH indicated I thought this was harsh. When they said it was for jumping a red light I was somewhat confused but as this was my first encounter with the mobile plods I was a bit dumbstruck and in what seemed like a flash I had a fixed penalty notice in my hand...

I got to work and all my (expert) mates told me what I "should have done" so on the way home I took one of them to the roadworks to witness what must have been incorrect timing only to find that the lights had been removed and the roadworks were complete!!

Anyway, my point is that you will probably regret not pursuing this for years to come if you don't stand up for what is right. However it is a gamble and you may not win. If I were you I would certainly seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity and get an idea of what sort of odds the gamble involves.

Good luck!
Craig.

agree with craig,dont roll over and admit defeat,fight it.
the courts would be so full of speeding/parking ticket cases from people that KNOW they are being scammed the powers that be will probly relent.
i have had loads of parking tickets,i fought every one and have never paid one and have never made court tho it was close on 1 ocation

I have fought 2 speeding fixed penalty notices with the help of www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk and won.I even had an apology of North Wales police for harassment for one of them.
I know this is different but the courts do take a dim view of demanding money with menaces i.e pay up now or face a bigger fine when you go to court. As long as you are well presented polite and state your case the worst that will probably happen is they will uphold the fine.If you do go to court the officer that gave you the tickets will have to turn up as well which will wee him off.I am a strong believer in human rights and this is a blatant disregard for them.
When i had my day in court i explained that the car in the picture must of been a cloned vehicle because my car was at home that day, the camera operator stated that anyone could say that and i had to prove it wasnt my car. I then pointed out that according to british law i was innocent until proven guilty so it was up to them to prove it was my car not the other way round.He then said he couldnt possibly identify it was my car from a picture.Case closed
The next ticket i got never even got to court before it was dropped. The way i see it if everyone took there given right to got to court the system would collapse,i would be against this because i do believe in the law and think in some cases drivers should be banned etc but i dont agree with money making tax cameras.
Rant over.

Have you tried the Citizens Advice they may be able to advise you on the leagal proceedings etc. And it shouldn't cost.

How bad actually are the bearings. If you read the testers manual then the rear bearings can be pretty bad without failing an mot!! Worn bushes have to be pretty bad to fail too. Usually an advisory. Id fight it mate. Especially if u recklon youl get pulled regularly..

quote:

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Originally posted by Peteff
All white then. Not being racially biased I find this hard to understand Joel. Please explain.

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Two wrongs don't make a right. Shame on them.

true indeed pete, if i were a cop i'd check every car on the computer, check for discrepancies between V5 and insurance, and pull people for that, plus the obvious ones for bad driving. i cant understand where the racial bias comes from, there is no shortage of scallies of any origin so it should be pretty random. for instance in Leeds there are areas where there would be different proportions of ethnic backgrounds, but the main bad area include mainly white areas (gipton/halton/middleton etc), mainly asian areas (harehills etc) and mainly black (chapeltown etc), to end up with a racial bias in your pull figures you would have to aviod one of these areas, when all blatently NEED a strong police presence due to the delinquant minority.