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Police on TV - trucker gets just a warning for mobile phone use at the wheel

(10 posts)
  • Started 10 years ago by le_soigneur
  • Latest reply from le_soigneur

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  1. le_soigneur
    Member

    Motorway Cops, BBC1 9pm tonight:
    "Keeping the roads safe is a major concern for the Motorway Cops, but sometimes the excuses they hear for poor driving allow them to use their discretion. PCs Martin Smith and Nigel Kearney have to decide whether to 'throw the book' at a trucker who they've caught using his mobile phone while at the wheel of his 44-ton lorry."

    The guy would have got 3 points and a £60 fine if he had a fairly clean licence. But because he had 9 points, they took his sob story at face value and left him off with caution! No doubt the thought of a bunch of paperwork to send him to court and let the judge decide to disqualify him or not was too much effort.

    Unbelievable. This guy could have wiped out a cyclist or ran through a car. But there it is on TV - if you get caught, say that you have 9 points and you'll get off scot free.

    200,000 safety belt fines every year, but the (far more dangerous) mobile phone one is only 150,000 per year, now we know why.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. Dave
    Member

    They shouldn't have that discretion - simple really.

    It's even more important that someone with repeated convictions gets reported. Imagine if they had apprehended a suspected paedophile but let him off because he had multiple previous convictions...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Dave, normally I rail against your extreme comparisons, but here it's justified. They basically are saying that if you have previous convictions you'll be looked at more leniently, which is the exact opposite of what should be the case!

    I've no problem with the police having discretion, but how it is exercised can be a major issue, as in this case. The thing is, they should be getting lambasted for that!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Taxi driver eating a pot of yoghurt or similar this morning with both hands as he balanced the steering wheel with his wrists, heading east along Broomhouse Drive at the Saughton House lights. Couldn't get a plate or number as was side on to him on the path. Alas also didn't have VT rolling as there's a manufacturing fault with the (new) h*lm atop which I mounted the camera.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. 14Westfield
    Member

    I'd disagree with you guys here: the lorry driver had only recently started working again after depression following family breakup, 6 of his points were his daughter taking his car during this breakup and him covering up/not helping police find out what happened.
    The cops allowed him to continue working and move on in his life by not giving him more points, a sentiment most would agree with.
    They also said the caution and reason for not using points were added to his police record so the caution would be withdrawn if he came into anymore driving trouble, although that may just be smoke.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "6 of his points were his daughter taking his car during this breakup and him covering up/not helping police find out what happened"

    So he has previous for not telling the truth to the police? The story may, or may not, be true, but I do wonder if someone who has lied to the police about motoring offences in the past, has at least one motoring conviction of his own within the last 2 years, has been caught again within those two years driving the largest, and arguably most dangerous vehicles on the road, and has admitted that he might not be in the right state of mind to be driving, should be on the road in a truck...

    Mitigation for the court to consider, where he is declaring the story under oath, I would suggest. The court can apply the three points, but declare that he gets to keep his licence (as they have the authority to do) which may carry more force if caught doing something again than a wee note on his police record that may or may not be checked by officers in the field.

    I've been done for speeding twice. In the same weekend. Just after the break up of my first marriage. Quite frankly I shouldn't have been on the road, and wouldn't have been if I'd been clocked at some of the speeds I racked up driving to Bournemouth and back (to see my sister) rather than the 10mph over in each of the cases. If I'd been done I personally don't think my state of depression could or should have been used to get me off a ban. Killing someone is killing someone if you run them over, no matter what your state of mind, and arguably the potential of doing so while not thinking straight is more likely.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. Dave
    Member

    I'd disagree with you guys here: the lorry driver had only recently started working again after depression following family breakup, 6 of his points were his daughter taking his car during this breakup and him covering up/not helping police find out what happened.
    The cops allowed him to continue working and move on in his life by not giving him more points, a sentiment most would agree with.

    WC basically covers this and I agree - it's for the judicial system to decide.

    It seems like all we've seen is someone with a conviction for perverting the course of justice telling the police, not under oath, that he shouldn't be charged despite doing one of the most dangerous things you can do on the road (not in control of your 44 tonner).

    There's a lorry driver down London way with bad eyesight who killed someone in the middle of the road in broad daylight. He was dealt with extremely sympathetically by the police and shortly after he killed again.

    Discretion running amok IMO.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. PS
    Member

    6 of his points were his daughter taking his car during this breakup and him covering up/not helping police find out what happened

    I thought perverting the course of justice was a key reason for the police/judiciary throwing the book at someone, rather than letting them off? Chris Huhne and his ex-wife must have been furious watching this.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. kaputnik
    Moderator

    "Taking someone elses points" an offence surely (see The World vs. Huhne)?

    Of course, we only have his word for it...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. le_soigneur
    Member

    Furthermore, the lorry driver admitted that he'd previously been disqualified off the road!

    @westfield This driver didn't even appreciate the danger of driving a 44 ton lorry with one hand on the wheel and both eyes on his phone. "I wasn't on the phone, swear to god, I was just looking at a picture of my daughter on it". Completely in denial of his duty of care to other road users. I bet he still doesn't get it after his caution and is now driving around while looking at his phone's photo gallery!

    Posted 10 years ago #

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