Speeding Taxi Driver avoids Jail JUST!

Image:castletaxiscanterbury.com

62-year-old Mohammed Malik claimed a mechanic was driving his Toyota Avensis when it was clocked traveling at 37mph in a 30 zone in Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, in April last year.

Officers then wrote to the mechanic, only to have the letter returned saying he no longer lived at the address given. They also visited the address and found it was a residential property that had never been a garage.

This aroused more suspicion, so police then spoke to the cabbie's firm to get a print out of his journeys on the day in question - they clearly showed Malik had actually picked up a fare at the time, with the person clearly visible on speeding camera footage sitting in the back seat. Still, Malik insisted it was his mechanic at the wheel.

With the evidence stacking against him, Malik finally admitted the speeding offence and was subsequently charged with perverting the course of justice for lying about who was behind the wheel. The driver, of Coleshill Road, Ward End, pleaded guilty to the charge and on 31 March he was handed a four month prison sentence - suspended for 18 months - plus 80 hours unpaid work and costs of £400.

He was also banned from driving for six months. PC Steve Jevons said "Malik may have avoided jail but the suspended sentence is hanging over him for the next year-and-a-half and it’s likely he will now be stripped of his taxi licence. With no livelihood, clearly this will have a huge impact on his life and he will have to ask himself if all his lies were worth the risk. We hope this case serves as a warning to others that lying to the police and the authorities is a serious offence and can ultimately land you behind bars."

Speeding ticket ended in man being Jailed for changing number plates

Kyle Nixon who changed the appearance of his number plates after he was caught speeding on the A1 has been jailed for three months

Mr Nixon was clocked by a static speed camera doing 87mph in a 70 mph limit on the A1 at Great Ponton, near Grantham, on October 2.

Lincoln Crown Court heard Nixon, from Kent, was sent a notice of intended prosecution by Lincolnshire Police as he was the registered keeper of the vehicle caught speeding, a Vauxhall Zafira.

After receiving the speeding notice Nixon telephoned the ticket office and claimed he could not be the driver as he had not been in Lincolnshire for two weeks and asked if there was any pictures of the vehicle and was told to email the ticket office images of his own car.

Mr Bishop said when the ticket office received three images of Nixon's car on October 29 it was clear the appearance of the number plates had changed but not the registration.

Nixon sent the ticket office further close up images of his number plates on November 11 but finally admitted he was the driver three days later.

Siward James-Moore, mitigating, told the court Nixon initially did not realise that his journey had taken him through Lincolnshire.

Mr James-Moore said when Nixon finally realised he was the driver he tried to "wriggle off the hook." Mr James-Moore added: "He was in a hole and kept on digging when he should have put his hands up."

Nixon pleaded guilty to a charge of perverting the course of justice between October 9 and November 14 last year and speeding on October 2.

He was jailed for three months and also received three penalty points on his driving licence.

Passing sentence Recorder Ciaran Rankin told Nixon his actions struck at the heart of the criminal justice system.

Recorder Rankin told him: "Having been caught, what followed was a series of acts of the upmost stupidity."

Man jailed for trying to avoid speeding tickets

Martin Whitworth from Wythall, Birmingham,  A man has been jailed for six months after trying to avoid paying for speeding tickets.

He was issued with a speeding ticket after driving through a safety camera at 64 mph in a temporary 50 mph speed limit on the M5 in August last year.

Upon receiving the notice in the post he told police that someone must have stolen or cloned his registration plates.

Thinking he had got away with it he tried the ruse again when he sped through a West Midlands camera in Shirley on 18 August.

However enforcement officers became suspicious after investigations revealed that the theft had never been reported and after viewing the photographic evidence they were convinced that the man in the image was the registered keeper.

In a bid to clear up the confusion the 46-year-old was asked to visit the station to speak to the enforcement officers. Knowing that the police were on to him he panicked and reported his plates as stolen to cover up his actions.When interviewed where he admitted that he was the driver and had fabricated the lies in a bid to avoid the penalty points and fines.

Whitworth was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday 2 March after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice and two counts of excess speed.

PC Jason Dooley, from the Camera Enforcement Unit, said: “This should be a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of trying to avoid speeding tickets.

“The man spun a web of lies and tried to wriggle out of paying for the fines, thinking he could evade the police.

“What he did not count on was that we would investigate the offence fully.

“If Whitworth had taken the points he would have been out of pocket for a short time but now he will have a conviction that will always be with him.”

Police Officer Jailed for Trying to Dodge Speeding Ticket - by Swapping Car Number Plates

Anthony Rees-Thompson a police officer, who tried to dodge a speeding ticket faces being sacked and losing more than £100,000 in pension rights.

The cheating police officer has been jailed for three months for swapping his car number plates in order to dodge a £60 speeding ticket. He also faces being sacked and losing more than £100,000 in pension rights.

A court heard the undercover detective fitted the new registration plates to avoid a fine and three points on his license.
Rees-Thompson then wrote to the speed camera unit saying there had been a technical error or another similar car was using the same registration number.

The father-of-four sent in photographs of his silver Vauxhall Corsa with new plates, bought for £21 online.

Speed camera officials compared the photographs and noticed the plates had the same digits but the new ones had been customised with a blue GB sign and the Welsh flag.

But the court heard Rees-Thompson forgot that his car was being filmed every day as he drove it into police headquarters in Bridgend – and his force’s own HQ CCTV was used to catch him.

Prosecutor Meirion Davies said: “He chose to cheat the legal process with a deliberate deception.
“He fitted different plates and took photographs to deliberately mislead those who were investigating the speeding offence.”

Rees-Thompson had denied perverting the course of justice claiming he changed the plates because they were damaged. If he had paid the fixed penalty notice after being caught on a speed camera doing 35mph in a 30mph zone it would have cost him just £60.

Jonathan Elystan Rees, defending, asked for him to receive a suspended prison sentence to avoid being attacked in prison.  “He has served 11 years as a police officer of an impeccable record. As a former serving police officer he can be expected to be a risk in all sorts of ways while serving in custody – threats to his mental and also his physical wellbeing.”

Jailing him for three months at Newport Crown Court, Judge David Wynn Morgan told Rees-Thompson: “This type of offence strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system. The purpose of the points system is those who drive badly get punished and it discourages bad driving. The system depends on the honest completion of the relevant forms and the dishonest completion of forms is all to easy to do.

“Yours wasn’t a panic reaction – it was a carefully considered and thought out course of action. The alteration of this vehicles appearance and correspondence that went with it was a calculated demonstration of your bare-faced dishonesty and arrogant belief that you could get away with it. Nevertheless, this is a tragedy. You have lost your employment, your reputation and because your self esteem is evidently based on your occupation and profession you obviously have suffered a huge blow.”

He will now lose his job in the covert management department of South Wales Police and his pension rights.

As he was taken down, Judge Morgan told the prison officers: “Police officers are not to escape offences of this nature.

“But I do ask that all appropriate precautions are taken for his safety in custody.”
Anthony-Rees Thompson will now face a “fast track” disciplinary hearing.

Speaking after the case, Tim Jones, Head of Professional Standards at South Wales Police, said: “We note the sentencing of Detective Constable Anthony Rees-Thompson and the decision of the court today.

“DC Rees-Thompson will now be subject to a fast track gross misconduct process chaired by the Chief Constable.

“South Wales Police Anti-Corruption unit fully investigated the fraudulent activities of DC Rees-Thompson which led to his conviction.

“We expect the highest standards of professional conduct from all members of staff, and will not tolerate individuals who undermine the committed public service of their professional colleagues.”