Grandmother fined over simpsons on dashboard

[Epiphany]

A grandmother pulled over and fined £30 for having flashing Simpsons cartoon figures on her car dashboard is to be reimbursed, police have revealed.
Susan Gates' Toyota 4x4 was spotted by Hampshire police travelling on the M27 at Hedge End, near Southampton.
Mrs Gates' husband Rod, put Homer, Bart and Marge with three blue LED lights in her car to amuse their grandson, six.
Police said the lights could be a distraction to other motorists but reimbursed her after a review. <!-- E SF -->
<!-- S IBOX --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD class=sibtbg> Their time could be better spent catching criminals


Mrs Gates' husband, Rod

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IBOX -->
But Mr Gates, 61, of Church Road, Locks Heath, who paid the fine on Tuesday, said: "It is ridiculous, I was so furious when it happened.
"They stopped her in the pouring rain on her way home from work.
"The officers checked around the car while she stood in the rain.
"Their time could be better spent catching criminals."
The 57-year-old administration officer was issued with a fixed penalty notice on the 2 November "because of unauthorised use of an emergency beacon".
Such lights were "banned" under regulation 13 of the 1989 Roads Vehicle Lighting Regulations, a Hampshire Constabulary spokeswoman said. She added: "This light was on the dashboard facing outwards so when the windscreen wipers were going it resembled a flashing blue light."


What a joke....

[shadowdancer]

when that was on radio 1 news yesterday, they said she was fined as other motorists might mistake her for a police car!

also here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...01/ixhome.html

Doh! Blue light fine for Simpsons driver
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 01/12/2005)

A motorist has been fined £30 after being told that the softly glowing blue hair of a Marge Simpson figure mounted on her dashboard could be confused with an emergency vehicle's flashing lights.

Susan Gates, 57, was pulled over by a police patrol car after an officer noticed that the figures of Marge, Homer and Bart were illuminated by tiny blue lights.

Mrs Gates, an administrator, was stopped in her Toyota 4x4 as she drove along the M27 near Southampton. She was given a £30 fixed penalty notice.

The three illuminated figures had been installed by her husband, Rod, who had added two more lights by the washer jets on the bonnet. The officers made Mrs Gates stand in the rain while they examined her car.

Mr Gates, 61, said: "My wife was very upset when she finally got in and I was angry with what happened. We paid the fine because we didn't want the hassle of appealing.

"I know it is always said, but there are burglars and muggers out there the police should be concentrating on catching. And if they want to catch drivers, then they should concentrate on the large numbers of drivers without licences and insurance and driving unroadworthy vehicles."

Nigel Humphries, a spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, compared the police officer's action to Homer Simpson's humourless boss, Montgomery Burns.

He said: "It's barking mad. The police actions make Montgomery Burns look like Father Christmas. I can't believe anyone would mistake a lit-up model of Homer Simpson for an emergency vehicle light."

A Hampshire Police spokesman said that Mrs Gates was issued a fixed penalty notice because the lighting could have been mistaken for a police car's emergency lights.

She said such lights were banned under regulation 13 of the 1989 Roads Vehicle Lighting Regulations.

you'd have to be pretty thick to think that some old bird in a toyota 4x4 with blue leds on some simpsons toys would be an emergency vehicle.
you'd easily notice a emergency vehicle behind you I think.

knobs with nothing better to do.