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Speed Sign Swapper Jailed

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  • 04-07-2006 4:41pm
    #1
    HelterSkelter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,585 ✭✭✭


    The lengths some people will go through to get off with a speeding fine! Wonder why he admited to it though, don't see how they could prove he moved the sign...

    http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13531289,00.html

    Updated: 13:16, Tuesday July 04, 2006

    A driver who ripped up a 40mph road sign and put it in a 30mph zone to try and dodge a speeding ticket has been given an intermittent jail term.

    John Hopwood, 42, moved the sign from a road in Manchester to one in Rochdale after he was caught speeding twice in two days.

    He then took a photograph of it to "prove" he had been closer to the limit than first thought.

    However, the plan was foiled after lawyers drafted in a facial mapping expert to study marks on the signs.

    At Manchester Crown Court Hopwood, from Hazel Grove in Stockport, Greater Manchester, was given an intermittent custodial sentence of 56 days.

    This means he will report to the custody centre on Fridays and stay there until 5pm on Sundays.

    Sentencing Hopwood, who admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice at a hearing last month, Judge Anthony Ensor told him he had committed a "serious offence".

    He said: "This was a stupid act bound to fail."

    The incident happened in April last year after Hopwood, a care assistant for Manchester City Council, was clocked by two different speed cameras on consecutive days.

    He was first caught travelling at 48mph in a 40mph zone on Princess Road in Manchester and was spotted doing 41mph in a 30mph area on Albert Royd Street, Rochdale, the following day.

    In a bid to fool police, the driver removed the 40mph sign in Manchester and attached it to a lamppost in Rochdale and took a photo.

    He then sent two letters to the Central Ticketing Office, including pictures of the sign in its two locations, to try to claim he was barely over the speed limit both times.

    Suspicions arose when other motorists began querying the speed limit sign which had mysteriously appeared in Rochdale.


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    #2
    maidhc
    Registered Users Posts: 7,660 ✭✭✭maidhc


    HelterSkelter wrote:
    However, the plan was foiled after lawyers drafted in a facial mapping expert to study marks on the signs.

    ???


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    #3
    HelterSkelter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,585 ✭✭✭HelterSkelter


    maidhc wrote:
    ???
    I think they got "experts" to look at photos of the sign in two different locations and compared markings (dents, scratches, etc) to prove it was the same sign that was moved.


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    #4
    Stark
    Registered Users Posts: 20,991 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    Can you actually use the excuse that there was no sign to get away with a speeding fine? I notice there are a couple of areas by me where there are no signs entering certain speed limit zones from most roads.


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    #5
    Firewalkwithme
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,066 ✭✭✭Firewalkwithme


    Stark wrote:
    Can you actually use the excuse that there was no sign to get away with a speeding fine? I notice there are a couple of areas by me where there are no signs entering certain speed limit zones from most roads.

    I don't think so. I seem to remember something from the rules of the road along the lines of 'you should know the speed limit of the road on which you are travelling'. In other words, ignorance is no defence.


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    #6
    HelterSkelter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,585 ✭✭✭HelterSkelter


    Stark wrote:
    Can you actually use the excuse that there was no sign to get away with a speeding fine? I notice there are a couple of areas by me where there are no signs entering certain speed limit zones from most roads.
    No. That's not what this guy was up to anyway. He was caught doing 41mph in a 30mph zone. So he took a 40mph sign from another area and put it up on a pole in the 30mph area. He then took a photo of it in the hope he would get away with it. Classic!


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    #7
    TempestSabre
    Registered Users Posts: 4,142 ✭✭✭TempestSabre


    Cartoon_Head wrote:
    I don't think so. I seem to remember something from the rules of the road along the lines of 'you should know the speed limit of the road on which you are travelling'. In other words, ignorance is no defence.

    Theres lots of places where there aren't signs, so that can be unfair.


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    #8
    Savman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,323 ✭✭✭Savman


    Ah God loves a tryer...:p


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    #9
    bazz26
    Registered Users Posts: 51,243 ✭✭✭✭bazz26


    Savman wrote:
    Ah God loves a tryer...:p

    But he hates a chancer...


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    #10
    Our man in Havana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,476 ✭✭✭✭Our man in Havana


    There was a case a few years ago where a chap argued that the 30 signs were the wrong ones and did not comply with the RTA 1961 and signs regulations 1997. The reason was the LA used 30 signs from the UK which were different from the 30 signs shown in the 1997 regulations, the shape of the 3 was different. He won!

    Now theres a chancer.


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