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'Tacho defence' case dropped

1st September 2005
Page 14
Page 14, 1st September 2005 — 'Tacho defence' case dropped
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A speeding case has been dropped against a driver whose tacho chart proved his innocence. Guy Sheppard reports

A MAGISTRATE is calling for tachograph discs to become a legitimate defence against evidence of speeding from roadside cameras.

Jack Crossfield, who is also a Transport & General Workers Union branch secretary, has written to Transport Secretary Alistair Darling about a haulier who was accused of driving at 49mph in a 40nnph zone (CM3 March).

Simon Sayers, of Newbury, says that his tacho shows he was doing only 3842mph at the time of the alleged offence on the A420 last November.

Crossfield says the case highlights a legal contradiction because police say tacho speed evidence is not sufficiently reliable, even though he recalls several cases where it has been used to prosecute operators and drivers.

In Sayers' case, the issue was never resolved because legal action against him was withdrawn after he decided to go to court to fight a prosecution for speeding.

"I wanted to go to court to prove that their machines were not always right," he says.

"They are just a money-making machine. Police put them in just the places where they are going to catch people."

Sayers, who runs Falkland Haulage (UK), is furious at the way his case has been handled — he only heard the charge had been withdrawn while on his way to his court hearing.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police says speed cameras are more reliable" than tachos because they are recalibrated every year.

"Tachos run off speedometers and, as such, are far less accurate forjudging fine degrees of speed."

The spokesman says the decision to withdraw the speeding charge was made by magistrates, but a spokeswoman for Oxford magistrates says there is nothing on the case file to show why this was done.


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