100,000 speed fines in doubt
A MOTORIST has had a speeding fine overturned in a court victory that calls into doubt the 100,000 fines dished out by speed cameras in South Yorkshire every year.
Clive Hague risked thousands on a legal battle which proved an enforcement officer breached strict rules designed to ensure speedguns are accurate.
Furious Mr Hague, aged 51, contested the fine after being zapped allegedly doing 38mph in a 30 zone on Langsett Road South, Oughtibridge, on May 15 2007.
But, following a trial at Sheffield Magistrates Court, district judge Sheila Driver said the self-employed gas fitter had no case to answer.
The verdict casts doubt on the 27 other fines issued on the road that day - and the 100,000 fines dished out by South Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership every year, says Mr Hague of Shay House Lane, Stocksbridge.
After the case he told The Star: "There was no way I was going to be stitched up. I knew I was doing 30 because the "Talivan" is there every day and I always ease up on that bend.
"I couldn't believe it when I got a summons a few days later. I got a bee in my bonnet - I was adamant I was going to fight it.
"I feel relieved it's over, but angry because we trust them and most people pay up without question. Now what are we to think?"
Mr Hague's legal team proved newly qualified enforcement officer Shaun Greenwood failed to test distance readings on his laser gun before and after his two-hour stint in Oughtibridge when he snared 27 "speeders".
And the Crown Prosecution Service was unable to prove distance markers at the Attercliffe depot, which Mr Greenwood used to calibrate his device earlier that day, were officially 10m apart.
In court Mr Greenwood, who had only been with SYSCP for three months, insisted he was following his training.
Defending barrister Tom Peterson - hired by Mr Hague at a cost of 1,000-a-day - said: "We don't know if the machine was working properly, therefore every individual that day is potentially in the same situation."
Prosecutor Oliver Check-Dover said: "There is no evidence the readings are inaccurate simply because there has been a breach, seemingly, of the guidelines."
But the district judge said: "It's vital that at the start and finish of a tour the device is checked. In the absence of a distance check I can never be satisfied the readings were accurate."
She ordered costs, estimated at 5,000, to be paid out of public funds. Solicitor Matthew Miller, of motoringlawyers.com who represented Mr Hague, said the verdict sent a message to motorists to challenge fines if they believed they weren't speeding.
Got a view? Were you caught on that day? Add your comment below.
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