Businessman accused of speeding - Case Dropped

Case study summary

Our client was accused of travelling at 39 mph in a 30 mph zone. He was a businessman of good character with a clean licence.

Case study

The client informed us that he was sure that he was not travelling at that speed. He did not stand to lose his licence, but was so annoyed at what he felt was a clearly incompetent prosecution that he called us.

We requested 19 items of documentary evidence from the prosecution. Some of our requests included: the qualifications of the Police Officer to use the Laser Speed device, an LTI2020, the certification and usage record of the device itself, and written evidence showing how the device was used when our client was passing the speed trap.

The initial prosecution response was that we were engaged in a fishing expedition, and therefore they did not have to disclose this information. The legal rules relating to freedom of information have never supported this attitude, and we began to put pressure on the Prosecution to provide us with what we required.

When the Police Officer dealing with the case finally received our requests, the prosecution simply dropped the charge.