PCSO's and Speed traps.

[dpSparhawk]

Some advice from you if I may.

I was on my way to visit a friend and was quite happily driving down a 30mph road AT the speed limit behind another vehicle, some chilled out blues and the windows open on a nice night. I was a reasonable distance away because the driver in front seemed somewhat indecisive about their speed and also the actual direction they wanted to go. Seemed to be hesitating a touch at junctions and carrying on. Almost as if they were looking for a street.

Anyway, we approached a section of road that actually had NO side streets for a little distance. > Google Street View >>
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ya4em6u

Next thing the driver in front must have literally pulled right off the accelerator. I slowed, glanced at the speedo and we're doing 20mph. Anyway, checked the road ahead, signalled, pulled out and gave the 240 horses a little poke. Now, admittedly, 240 horses really does poke significantly. Unfortuantely, this little boost took me over the speed limit very briefly. I signalled, pulled back in, in front of the other car right in view of the speed trap! - DOH! I'd not seen the Yellow jackets of the police officers as they blended somewhat with the bus stop and the hedgerow.

Anyway, I pulled up and got out. The Speed trap was manned by two PCSO's with speed guns of some form and a notepad. When I spoke to them they politely said "No Emergency but you'll be receiving a letter in the post". I explained that I was overtaking the indecisive driver and apologised for breaching the speed limit briefly (yes I DO appreciate there is NO excuse). They replied with "you're lucky it's us but remember it's a 30mph road"

Am I safe to assume that I have had a lucky escape and that the letter I'll receive is just a slap on the wrist? Do PCSO's have the same authority when running a speed trap that real police do?

I do like to give the car a bit of a spurt now and then but that's normally on country lanes up in the lakes and it's certainly useful for making the odd quicker overtaking manoevre.

Cheers

[Thrush]

zzzzzz.

I was speeding, I was caught in a speed trap controlled by two PCSO's, will I get a fine/points?

You don't have to justify breaking the law to us mate.

[dpSparhawk]

LOL, I'm not trying to justify it, and certainly not here... I'm just explaining the situation... no harm in that.

So aside from that, do you have any useful advice?

[JonEp]

A PCSO does not have the power to to issue a speeding FPN.

Have a read of the last paragraph of this FOI request.

http://www.cambs.police.uk/about/foi...B0228-2009.pdf

[ekkl]

Had the same on my bike but in a 40. It was real old bill who stopped me further up and I explained what happened. Slapped wrist and away I went. They were cool about it to be honest.

[dpSparhawk]

Cheers guys. That's just it, I actually could have continued driving but I took the decision to stop and talk with them politely about it. I knew I'd been a bit naughty and showed some sincerity, to be honest, I was down to 20mph and the speed increase I feel didn't pass 40 (I know my car well) it's just that it gets from 20 to 40 so quickly but then I had pulled back in and backed off... then I saw them.

The two girls (pcsos's) were cool (and one was rather cute actually) about it.

I know it's no excuse but lets face it, the vast majority of overtaking pushes people beyond the limit. No one is going to sit at 30mph and overtake a vehicle at 20mph and cause the manoevre to take a longer distance to complete (which could cause other issues) are they (in most cases)?

[dpSparhawk]

A PCSO does not have the power to to issue a speeding FPN.

Have a read of the last paragraph of this FOI request.

http://www.cambs.police.uk/about/foi...B0228-2009.pdf

Based on this and the "you're lucky it was us" statement from the PCSO's, it does look more like I'm likely to get a wrist slapping letter.

[RSV]

The car in front probobally slowed down because they spotted a speed trap

[casio]

RSV is bang on when I spot a camera or speed trap I cant help but watch the speedo rather than look where I'm going,

From memory PCSO's can't issue tickets that incur points but they can issue on the spot fines, if one of them was a constable though rather than a PCSO then you could be looking at 3 points and £60 fine but if you're sure they were both PCSO's Id forget about it, the worst would be a small fine with no points and/or slap on the wrists as far as I know, but I could be wrong.

[DJ OD]

Does beg the question, if they can't issue a speeding ticket, what the fuck are they doing with the gear in the first place? Do they have fuck all else to do than play with police equipment?

Surely if they were "training" there would be a police officer there who would be able to issue a ticket.

Fuck em. Police are cunts. Police with speed guns are cunts with small dicks.

In situations like this it's just a case of take it on the chin, if they want to do you they will somehow. Just get on with your day. If you are lucky nothing will happen, if your now you'll have to pay up or deal with the points.

Posting something like this will get all the haters out and it will only end up goading you. If you had just asked a simple "Can PCSO's issue speeding tickets?" you may get a slightly more sensible response. Going on one about the in's and out's of what you did will backfire on you!

Those getting high and mighty about speeding/breaking the law, just bare in mind that probably everyone on this forum has broken the law in some way, and quite probably has speeded in the past.

/rant


DJ OD

[casio]

I think theyre out there to make it look like the police are actually doing something, in reality Ive not seen any real police in months. Im sure anyone out there with speed guns will be effective at reducing average speeds regardless if they can issue fixed penalty notices or not

[blaggard]

More likely to cause accidents pointing the feckin things all over the place!

[greens117]

in reality Ive not seen any real police in months.

The police are out dealing with broken britans ferel youths and red tape ..

[tombott]

What purpose does it serve over taking in a 30?
I've looked at the link you posted, nice built up area.
Houses close to the road, kids on school holiday, SLOW painted on the road, sign for School.....

[Swiss Tony]

240hp., is that it ? Poor misguided youth of today, if yor gonna get caught have at least 300bhp so it's worth bragging aboot

[cosmicma]

they might of been collecting data to warrant a reduction in speed ( 20mph limit ) on that road or speed bumps even a gatso
iv'e heard of it before where a speed trap has been set up in a built up area usually near a school and motorists have been stopped and lectured about their speed but no tickets have been issued and it would be PCSO's or ordinary members of the public doing the trapping
it's some kind of speed awareness thing they do every now and again

[dpSparhawk]

LOL @ Swiss Tony..

Tombott, the most valid reason for overtaking was the erratic behaviour of the driver in front. Slowing down to below the limit, occasionally breaching it themselves for about half a mile and on a couple of occasions back behind the point in the link, making it look as if they were almost going to turn off (minus signal).

I overtook to get past what was becoming more of a distraction. I wasn't in any rush. Had I been, there's a dual carriageway almost parallel which is a 40mph for one part and then 70mph for a larger part. I would have taken that route.

RSV - Yup, I think on that occasions of slowing down it certainly was for the speed trap but It baffles me as to why they needed to drop down to 20mph. This indicates that they were unaware of their speed in the first place (which isn't a good thing).

Thanks for all the other replies too. I did post this also on an NNTP usenet group and apart from one of those holier than thou do gooders, everyone else posted useful responses too.

From what they say as Casio says, PCSO's can't give points. They were definitely PCSO's as I clocked their uniform badges.

Anyway, again cheers guys. Appreciated. I think a wrist slapping is what I'll get.

[MsDG]

240hp., is that it ? Poor misguided youth of today, if yor gonna get caught have at least 300bhp so it's worth bragging aboot

Poor misguided males of today, its not the size of your cock its what you do with it! There are 240bhp cars (and less) that do sub 4s 0-60

[greens117]

What about the vans on bridges do they issuse tickets ?
as i was doing about 74 on a dual carrigeway

[greaseweasel]

they might of been collecting data to warrant a reduction in speed ( 20mph limit ) on that road or speed bumps even a gatso
iv'e heard of it before where a speed trap has been set up in a built up area usually near a school and motorists have been stopped and lectured about their speed but no tickets have been issued and it would be PCSO's or ordinary members of the public doing the trapping it's some kind of speed awareness thing they do every now and again

I've heard of this too. I dont think PCSO's are specially trained in anything such as using the speed guns, so they site them to simply 'collect data' and put the wind up whoever they pull over. The letter through the post line is merely to say you have been witnessed speeding and a slap on the wrist.