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nI have a Ford Transit 17-22cwt van with a 1700cc
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engine, and I should be grateful if you could let me know whether you have completed a road test on this vehicle I am shortly to appear in court on a speeding offence and the officer accusing me states I did a speed of 70-80 mph in this van. I have never been able to achieve this speed and so can you give me any information regarding the top speed as this would be an important factor in my defence?
AThe police may well have a good case against you if the defence turns on the general performance of Ford Transit vans.
Our road test of the 17cwt petrol-engined model, published on November 26 1965, shows a maximum speed of 81 mph, taken on two-way runs fully laden.
This, of course, is not necessarily relevant to your particular vehicle, but we imagine that it would be wellnigh impossible to prove that your particular van was physically incapable of reaching the stated speed on that particular occasion. The police will presumably attest to evidence of a particular recorded speed and unless you can show that their evidence is faulty, their case seems likely to succeed.