Speeding in the UK?

Ferris

A mate of mine was caught speeding at 110mph on the way to Holyhead (common I know, and stupid on his part). He said he had to give a friends UK address to avoid being arrested there and then, its so that they have somewhere to send the summons.

He's crapping himself now wondering whats going to happen to him. I take it that he'll have to go to England to face the music.

Anyone got any advise or similar experiences to set his mind at rest?

pablosd

as long as he stays out of uk he shouldnt have a problem really, they wont bother tracking him down

garbanzo

There but for the grace of God go I.

The A55 is notorious for speed traps by the Heddlu Cymru (Welsh Police) catching Paddies rushing to make the boat. This happened a good buddy of mine and he was done, faced the music and was fined. Better to get it out of the way rather than find yourself hauled out of immigration piggy style in 20 years time in somewhere like Heathrow by the police because you failed to show up.

Ferris

garbanzo wrote: »

There but for the grace of God go I.

The A55 is notorious for speed traps by the Heddlu Cymru (Welsh Police) catching Paddies rushing to make the boat. This happened a good buddy of mine and he was done, faced the music and was fined. Better to get it out of the way rather than find yourself hauled out of immigration piggy style in 20 years time in somewhere like Heathrow by the police because you failed to show up.

Thanks for the reply.

He wants to face the music as he travel in the UK frequently. I was just wondering will they just fine him as he is a non national or will they summons him to a court in Wales.

Bearing in mind the excessive speed, is there a chance he could be jailed if summonsed, I don't think this is a possibility if he turns up in a suit and begs forgiveness but its worth asking.

flower tattoo

i got a parking ticket in the uk a few weeks ago on my irish reg car. I haven't paid it but if i take the car back will they be able to track me down???

BeardyGit

Ferris, tell your 'friend' to go over to attend court if summoned to do so. Dress properly, be polite and apologetic, and consider hiring a solicitor to refer to his having travelled from Ireland specifically to attend, regret at having made such an error of judgement blah blah blah. They'll more than likely just fine him and be done with it. I wouldn't take the chance of not showing up if I were in his shoes, as I'm over in the UK lots too, and just wouldn't want to risk giving the plod reasons to pull me over or detain me next time I'm on the way to the boat.

Flower Tattoo, pay your parking ticket. If you don't, you're arguably no different than every tosser acting the maggot over here in a UK reg'd car, as though the laws don't apply to them. Pay your fine - You earned it.

-Chris-

Gil_Dub wrote: »

Flower Tattoo, pay your parking ticket. If you don't, you're arguably no different than every tosser acting the maggot over here in a UK reg'd car, as though the laws don't apply to them. Pay your fine - You earned it.

You can be constructive without being insulting you know... :rolleyes:

getz

if its a parking ticket, and your car is reg outside the UK, forget it because that is only a civil offence, the company who issue the ticket will just rip in up and bin it.if it is a police matter, that is a little different,unless its a criminal offence,you have a few choice,s dont drive that car again in the UK, or pay the fine, thousends of continental truck drivers are being stopped by the police every week and given a ticket and dont pay, its only if that the next time they break the law in the UK and the police stop them that the police computers,will bring it up as unpaid fine

BeardyGit

-Chris- wrote: »

You can be constructive without being insulting you know... :rolleyes:

Sorry - Think you picked that up the wrong way Chris. I certainly don't mean to be insulting... I'm not referring Flower Tattoo as a 'tosser', that's meant for those driving UK and other foreign registered cars on Irish roads while flaunting the laws the rest of our road users are obliged to obey, just because they think they won't be pursued to pay their fines etc.

Regarding actually paying the fine or not, I stand by what I wrote. If she earned it, she should pay it.... In much the same way as I think any foreign national who speeds in Ireland or parks illegally should pay the fines they earn too.

Now, how long will it be before someone refers to me as part of the 'high horse brigade', that same tired old moan used by those who like to make excuses for others so they can feel a bit better about breaking the law themselves?

Incidentally, the maximum speed limit in the UK is 70MPH, and most of the roads into Holyhead are only 60MPH. If the OP's friend was done at 110MPH, it's a big enough deal to warrant actually attending court.... It's the equivalent potentially of doing 180KPH in a 100KPH zone.... That's no small matter as far as the courts would be concerned, so face up to it now instead of trying to hide from it if your pal is in the UK regularly.

flower tattoo

actually i felt the fine was unfair - the restrictions were first 30 minutes were free but i didn't realise you still had to get a ticket from the machine and although I was back to the car within 30 minutes, i still got the fine.
I didn't appeal it cos i didn't want the council to have my address to hound me for the payment.

BeardyGit

flower tattoo wrote: »

actually i felt the fine was unfair - the restrictions were first 30 minutes were free but i didn't realise you still had to get a ticket from the machine and although I was back to the car within 30 minutes, i still got the fine.
I didn't appeal it cos i didn't want the council to have my address to hound me for the payment.

Aw come on now. Did you think they somehow just know what time you parked your car at? How else would they apply that 30 minutes grace period if it's not time bound by you getting a ticket for parking in the first place? Honestly now, just thinking about it yourself now, that doesn't even make sense to you does it?

Davidth88

Gil_Dub wrote: »

Incidentally, the maximum speed limit in the UK is 70MPH, and most of the roads into Holyhead are only 60MPH. .

Actually most of the A55 is ' National Speed Limit ' which in the UK is 70mph. ( or was when I learnt to drive there , maybe it's changed ?? )

It has got some signposted 50 and 60 mph zones.

When I lived in the Uk we used to call anything over 100mph as ' banning speed ' in those days you typically got a 30 day ban for speeds like that.

110mph is seriously fast OP ! No idea if the British ANPR systems can pick up Irl numbers , but I wouldn't take the risk your friend should take gil_dub's advice I think

Ferris

Gil_Dub wrote: »

Incidentally, the maximum speed limit in the UK is 70MPH, and most of the roads into Holyhead are only 60MPH. If the OP's friend was done at 110MPH, it's a big enough deal to warrant actually attending court.... It's the equivalent potentially of doing 180KPH in a 100KPH zone.... That's no small matter as far as the courts would be concerned, so face up to it now instead of trying to hide from it if your pal is in the UK regularly.

Incidently it was a friend, I was in work in Dublin yesterday .

For whats its worth I think you're right and they're not going to lock a guy who turns up in a suit, is apologetic and has travelled from Ireland to face the music.

And yes he did speed excessively as I mentioned in my original post, still though it was an error in judgement and now he's crapping himself. it's not a situation i'd like to be in.

flower tattoo

well, there's parking bays here that state 30 minutes only or 1 hour only and you don't buy a ticket - you just make sure you're back within the time limit.

Pete4779

Ferris wrote: »

Anyone got any advise or similar experiences to set his mind at rest?

I don't have a similar experience but on the chance he will at some stage be back in the UK or driving through, I would say go to court (although probably will be a fine and that's that). He won't get points, and they can't ban his license, so keep the history clean. Don't just skip the fine, because there will be some crazy and overblown repercussions at some stage, judging by UK and ANPR. He could find himself arrested if seen again on a motorway camera.


http://www.ukspeeding.co.uk/SpeedFines.htm
Speed Limit Fixed Penalty Summons
20 mph 25 - 35mph 35+ mph
30 mph 35 - 49mph 50+ mph
40 mph 46 - 65mph 66+ mph
50 mph 57 - 75mph 76+ mph
60 mph 68 - 85mph 86+ mph
70 mph 79 - 95mph 96+ mph

Looks like it's an automatic summons. The fine is £60 for first offence and the three points won't apply. It also says that if you are a non-UK resident, you dont have a Fixed Penalty option so it;s automatically a court summons anyway.

Pete4779

Gil_Dub wrote: »

Incidentally, the maximum speed limit in the UK is 70MPH, and most of the roads into Holyhead are only 60MPH.

Standard dual carriageway limit in the UK is actually 70mph. I think / thought (!) a lot of the A55 is 70mph therefore, but it's been a while since I drove it unless it's changed.

EDIT: Apologies, I didn't read that someone already posted this.

Ferris

Pete4779 wrote: »

Looks like it's an automatic summons. The fine is £60 for first offence and the three points won't apply. It also says that if you are a non-UK resident, you dont have a Fixed Penalty option so it;s automatically a court summons anyway.

Thanks for the reply.

Only £60 for 110mph, I'm sure he'd take that. I think that the fine will be much higher though due to the excessive speed.

HungryJoey

Funnily enough I was watching one of those cops programes today on ITV and the police pulled over a non national EU caught over 100mph, he was summoned to court that day and was fine £1000 and banned from driving in the uk for 35 days.

I'd be very suprised if your mate got away with a 60 pounds fine. I'm only after getting back today from the UK myself luckily I switched into ECO mode around north wales and was under 70 most of the way, good thing too I was flying before I hit wales!