According to today's Daily Mail (I only read it under extreme prejudice etc.) a young woman was driving on the M6 and got lost. After seeing a patrol car on the hard shoulder, she pulled up and asked for directions.(!)
Officer told her where she needed to turn, then handed her a £30 fixed penalty for stopping on the hard shoulder. Writer of letter furious, but am I the only person who thinks that it was completely reasonable for him to do this?
Surely if you get lost on the motorway you pull off at the next junction or services to consult a map, not look for a police car on the hard shoulder!!
|
|
I think maybe its a little harsh, he could have had a stern chat with her and explained the dangers etc instead of just belting out the fine....
|
|
|
...... but am I the only person who thinks that it was completely reasonable for him to do this?
Huh?
--
L\'escargot.
|
|
|
What was the copper doing on the hard shoulder then?
In this day and age the police need to do everything they can to keep Joe Public on their side. This isn't the best way of going about it.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
|
If they are saying £1500 to repair,you can probably DIY the job for about £200.The car will be recorded as ins write off so will be worth less/difficult to sell on and you will probably only get third party ins for it.
Can be worth doing if the car was ok and doing its job,can be a lot safer than going to buy another car for £2000ish.
|
It should have been screamingly obvious to the policeman that the woman had no idea that he was doing anything wrong. In those circumstances, he had a choice between booking her, and giving her a warning.
I do not see what is to be gained by booking her (save for £30 into the state's coffers). I know that ignorance of the law is no defence, but all this has done is to lower the estimation of the police in that woman's eyes, and possibly in the eyes of many others as well.
However, I do not think the woman herself has any basis to try and whip up a storm about it. She did something illegal and suffered the consequences.
If she had been a "traveller" I bet the Mail wouldn't have reported it.
|
""If she had been a "traveller" I bet the Mail wouldn't have reported it.""
If she had been a traveller, the copper could have almost certainly done her for having a vehicle in a unroadworthy condition as well!!
|
|
|
|
I haven't seen the letter (Daily Mail isn't my usual cup of tea either!), but I suspect that this one may have come down to an attitude test. It'd be interesting to hear the police officer's account of how she approached him, and how she responded when he told her that she should not have stopped there.
I've done stupid things in my time, and I have always found traffic officers to be very resaonable if I am suitably apologetic, acknowledging that I have made a mistake and thanking them for setting me right.
|
|
|
