is this really what we pay taxes for?

[beast5680]

is it just me or is this just too stupid for words? i have a friend who smokes a pipe while driving should he be arrested and fined for this ?




£10,000 to Nail Driver Who Ate Apple
 
 
Police spent more than £10,000 of public money, and used a helicopter and a spotter plane, to convict a woman of driving while eating an apple.

Officers spent months gathering evidence and building a vast case against 23-year-old Sarah McCaffery – and yesterday she was fined £60.

The nursery nurse was forced to attend court 10 times before the fine was finally handed out by magistrates at South Shields, Tyneside.

Victims of crime groups and campaigners for taxpayers were furious at what they see as a scandalous waste of public money.

Officers swung into action after McCaffery was spotted eating a golden delicious at the wheel of her Ford Ka.

 
 "This is all about trying to crush her because she is the one who stood up and said 'this is silly'"
-Geoffrey Forrester, Sarah's solicitor
 
 
She refused to accept a £30 on-the-spot fine, claiming she was in full control of the car, and said she would fight it in court.

Astonishingly, police then called in a spotter plane to film her route, then repeated the exercise with a police helicopter.

Officers then videoed the route from a squad car and used the footage as part of yesterday’s two and a half hour hearing.


 
 
The costs of the whole proceedings against McCaffery are estimated at £10,000.

She said: "It is a joke they put so much effort into this. I couldn’t believe it when they brought all this video evidence into court.

"You’d think they’d have better things to do. Aren’t there enough proper criminals for them to catch?"

Her solicitor, Geoffrey Forrester, said: “This is all about trying to crush her because she is the one who stood up and said 'this is silly'."

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: "As the defendant chose a court trial rather than accept a fixed penalty, we were obliged to gather all appropriate evidence to present our case."

Matthew Elliot of the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "The thousands of pounds spent on this case could have been spent trying to tackle real criminals, the people who burgle our houses and steal our cars

[muddysteve]

Its beyond belief isnt it.  :twisted:

Yesterday morning i drove home from asda after doing the shopping with 2 police bikes in front of me and a police bmw behind me. They followed me all the way home and then just drove off. What was all that about? I was eating a nice chocolate cookie for most of the route and didnt have my seat belt on and didnt even get a flash of the lights  :?:
I'm sure if i'd crept over the speed limit or answered the phone they'd have been all over me like a rash.
Makes you wonder why there seems to be different standards for different consabularies?

Steve

[muddyweb]

I have mixed views really....   first off... no, it is a complete waste of money and resource... and that much is disgraceful.

The other side of the coin is that you can be hammered (specifically) for using a mobile in the car now, yet still eating, drinking, smoking, reading a map, etc. etc. just carry a due care and attention charge (with supporting evidence).   That, in my book, is a double standard.   I've seen many people only vaguely in control of their vehicles whilst trying to get a ciggy lit in the same way as using a phone.

For my tax pounds, they should restrict these sort of charges to specifics where a person is demonstrably not in control of the vehicle or not paying attention and stop focusing on stupid generalisations.

[Bob696]

two points

at the wheel of her Ford Ka

Well thats worth a £60 fine right there

you see traffic cops other than on the motorway ????? Will wonders never cease :?:

[muddysteve]

They dont bother with motorways, its much easier to nick people doing 35 on the main dual carraigeway through farnborough thats a 30 limit.

Steve

[Andy.]

Read about this case in the paper today, the article also closed with the story of a man who was stopped and fined £30 for playing his music too loud whilst driving, he has refused to pay so there's another few grand of tax payers money spent  

[Fitz]

If it is illegal to take your hands off the wheel when you are driving, how do the police answer calls on their radios when driving.  Do they pull over to answer?  I think not.

[muddyweb]

I don't think that is actually illegal... and the Police have car kits for their radios   ;-)

[muky-kid.]

 Its about time the British public stood up to the goverment over stupid money wasting things like this. Its getting more like America everyday, NANNY STATE in years to come you wont beable to think for your self with out notification first from Goverment or Brussels.

Although i do agree with makeing eating and useing mobiles whilst driveing. Some of the near misses i see everyday whilst out delivering are caused by someone either on phone, fiddleing with stereo or worse argueing with kids in the back seat whilst takeing eyes of the road.

But to spend this amount of tax payers money on this is just ridiculous.

[lee celtic]

Fitz wrote

If it is illegal to take your hands off the wheel when you are driving, how do the police answer calls on their radios when driving. Do they pull over to answer? I think not.

So How does it work with a CB on a green lane  :?:

after all it is a road and you are taking a hand off the wheel to use a comunication device  :roll:

Look out for the chopper coppers their out to get-ya :twisted:

[muddyweb]

So How does it work with a CB on a green lane  :?:
after all it is a road and you are taking a hand off the wheel to use a comunication device  :roll:

As I say, I don't think the act of taking your hand off the wheel is actually illegal, plus there are exemptions for fixed 2-way radios under the law covering mobiles.  You can still get nicked for due care, etc. though

[EvilEd]

I don't think that is actually illegal... and the Police have car kits for their radios   ;-)

Hmmm, maybe they should use them then.... only the other day I saw one with the mic up to his mouth! And yesterday two coppers were injured when their car slid on ice! Oh yes, I can see then being so sympathetic if that happened to me.... They'd have probably tried to have me done for dangerous driving etc. Oh, they shut the road for 5 hours as well, both ways!!!

I used to have a lot of respect for the Police.... now they're crap! (There are a few exeptions)

[lee celtic]

We had a lad in the village get a fine for having red neon lights under his car (now lets not get into the whys or we will be here all day) you couldn't see the striplights only the glow from them and he was fined for displaying a red light on the front of the vehicle . How petty is that you can hardly see it through the glare of the head lamps .  :idea: are there any rules in the MOT for the positioning of lights on the bottom of the car :?:  :?:

[Bush Tucker Man]

We had a lad in the village get a fine for having red neon lights under his car (now lets not get into the whys or we will be here all day)

Was he simply fined for having no discernible taste :lol:

I know someone with them inside! his Ford 'Ka' (& that says it all :lol: )

[lee celtic]

BTM wrote

his Ford 'Ka'

Case closed my lord throw away the key =;

[denviks]

what i dont get is is illegal to show colour lights other than those fitted to the vehicle. as standard. now i ride a motorcycle and used to have light protecters on the head lights. they were a greyish colour and were only used in daylight hours. i was pulled over and told to remove them or face a fine. fair one, i removed them straight away.
while out and about you see all the youngsters in the hot hatches ect with blue ( illegal ) washer jet lights and under vehicle lighting in many different colours. i have seen the police not even look twice at these and drive right on by. to me this is a double standerd. why can one do it but not the other...

pushing my soap box unedr the stairs again

[Wanderer]

Tim's right.
2 way radio isn't classed in the same way as a mobile phone. The reasoning being that you don't actually have long "overs" (transmissions) but quick fire comments.
Someone has never listened to radio amateurs.

You can be done for driving without due care though.
My amateur radio gear has hands free mics but the cb is a standard mic.

A couple of mates were in intensive care for a couple of weeks following an incident where a woman had dropped he cigarette and tried to retrieve it. She was on a bend and hit them head on.

How long before GPS are banned. They have already been banned in Brazil while the vehicle is moving.

Ed