I supposedly got flashed by a speed camera, except it wasn't me or my car. What do I do?

[SofiaAmes]

I got a notice in the mail the other day to say that my car had been flashed by a speed camera on the A20 on a Sat night a few weeks ago. However, I have never been on the A20 and on that particular Sat night we were at home with 4 small children and my car was safely parked in front of our house. I have written to them saying that a mistake has been made and also called my local police station to say that there may be someone driving around with my license plate number (they were astoundingly unconcerned and unhelpful). Does anyone know what happens next? Will this go to court where I will have to spend time and money proving that it wasn't me? Or will they double check the photo before they do anything else and realize it was a mistake and drop the whole thing? Help I am having sleepless nights over this....I have been driving 24 years and never gotten a speeding ticket.

I am sure that you can ask for a copy of the picture, and if they cant provide a copy then they have to drop the charge. Contact them and ask for a picture. Good luck

breeze is absolutely right that you can get a copy of the picture. And the charge against you can't go any further while you are appealing against it, so don't worry. I know someone with insider knowledge about these charges, so I'll find out if there's anything else you need to know and get back to you later.

sofiaames, they will send you an NIP (Notice of Intended Prosecution) and you fill in the back saying you weren't there, it was not your car etc. I would send a covering letter too. Sounds like you've already done this. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it, the photographic evidence should show that it wasn't your car so I would have thought they'd check that first. I doubt very much that you'll have to go to court, they are overcrowded enough without trying to prosecute people who absolutely don't agree the offence. I am driving verrrry slowly now having been caught twice in 3 months (both late at night, no traffic, not dangerous, I know I was in the wrong but 65mph on the motorway at midnight aaaagggh). I do know how stressful it feels, but then like I said, it was a fair cop for me. Must be very annoying when you haven't done anything wrong!

I saw a programme about this sort of situation a few years ago.

Same car, same number plate, basically the car was an exact copy.

Sorry, can't remember what happened in the end (except that the innocent party did not have to pay the fine), but just to reassure you that your theory of someone driving a car with the same number pate is perfectly feasible.

Good luck

This happened to me, I knew that I hadn't been driving my car, not DH. It was in service and it was the mercedes mechanic on a test drive!

SOfiaAmes this has happened to my poor dh not once but five times with his car - there is someone driving around the London area in a car of his make and colour and license plate - they have speeded, got tickets and parked in bus lanes, which leads me to believe they know full well that their car is a ringer. Anyway, my advice is to fight it all the way - tell them where you were and what you were doing - my dh's letter to one borough read - " I was in bed with my wife, my car was in the drive, I did not leave for work until 6.30am, I have never been to ..." and they accepted that. He has successfully fought each case without having to go to court or to consult a solicitor. It helps to report it to the police, even though the are spectacularly uninterested, just so you can say you did and quote who you reported it to.

Dh has now got rid of that car, which is good for us but not the new owner (sold on to a dealership)

Nothing to do with SofiaAmes's situation (but how scary is that, hers and Zoe's, that people are doing this? I thought you had to have the reistration document to get number plates? ) (Oh, if you're bent in the first place I suppose it's not a problem...) SofiaAmes, from what the others say the police will be well aware of this happening so you should be OK, hope so.

Anyway I was caught recently in an area where they reduced the limit from 40 to 30 without making any effort to put warning signs up - they have now, but some people were caught several times because there were no signs to warn people turning into the main road from side roads, one woman was flashed 9 times in 11 days!!!!! We have all been complaining to our MPs, the local one asked a question in the House and in Lancashire the revenue from speed cameras has gone up over 500% in 3 years (from £160K to over £1m). The reduction in accidents has been 10%. Does this add up?

I wrote in to complain about the lack of signs but it is not a valid defence - the official line is this: "IF THERE ARE NO SIGNS THEN THE LIMIT IS 30". Did you all know that? I didn't - granted I passed my test 30 years ago and have very few brain cells left - probably should have known it but still...when in doubt, do 30 (or in my case 25 these days, like WWW I am being v-e-r-y slow!)

(Mind you I'm still cross - no signs on a road which you use occasionally and are used to doing 40 on, require you to remember where the signs used to be and to realise that they've gone. I think the authorities concerned - county police and local borough council - have been very very sneaky. Thousands of tickets have been issued from just that one camera - at £60 a time that's an awful lot of revenue.)

Thanks guys. I am mostly worried about being in the same situation as Zoe's dh. I am glad to hear that it was easy to contest. Even though the fine comes from the police, they couldn't tell me anything.

sorry SofiaAmes - couldn't find out any more, so no more to add, just follow instructions on making an appeal on back of ticket. Good luck.

SofiaAmes, how has it gone on with the speeding ticket?

Thanks for asking. I wrote them a letter saying it wasn't me or my car etc. and sent it off with the penalty notice. I have heard anything back yet. I will keep you posted.

Thought you'd like to know. I just got a letter in the mail saying that they had "examined" the photographic evidence and agree that it wasn't my car. They even apologized. But they didn't say whether it was a different car with my reg number, or just a total mistake. Oh well, guess I'll find out if another one comes through the mail.

Well, Sofia, isn't that interesting!

Are you going to write back and ask which it was?

Wish I'd tried that one, except it was me and my car unfortunately! Glad to hear they listened.

interesting exactly! i just got a penalty notice and was reading this thread and seriously dabbled with the thought of saying it wasnt me but didnt have the guts! but i wonder hmmm

think you should write and get more info sofiames i for one would be interested to see if they could provide you with a photo. glad it went your way

Oddly enough we are getting notices at our address for parking tickets from all over London for a car we don't own and the tickets are addressed to someone who has never lived here. Apparently the parking ticket people are being told that the registered owner sold his car to someone of that name who lives at our address. So far all councils have rescinded the tickets except Haringey so am spending a lot of time shouting at Haringey council employees. It's such a waste of my time.

How long do these tickets take to come through?I got "flashed"about 6 weeks ago,but haven't heard anything yet,I'm just hoping this was a camera with no film in.

Leander IIRC it only takes about a month to come through so you might be OK. Depends on the workload of the ticket place in your area though I assume. Maybe you were lucky and there was no film - has happened to me once too.

"Mine" only took 10 days or so.

Well! Advice please! I paid my £60 fine for the "speeding" ticket I mentioned earlier on here, and have now found out that "the Crown Prosecution Service had decided not to pursue a number of cases against drivers caught between October and the beginning of December because the signs were deemed unclear. However, it is not clear whether this applied to drivers who paid fixed penalty fines without going to court." (Mine was early November.)

The whole article is here . Now I'm wondering who I should complain to and if I'm entitled to have the points taken off my licence, and/or my £60 back, or neither. Maybe I should go to the CAB first?

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Oh, this one was me, I just thought they shouldn't have started dishing out tickets until they had put up plenty of nice big signs about the change (which they have now) and evidently the CPS think so too.

Licence to print money, anyone?

twiglett - there was a piece in, I think, the Evening Standard recently about just how easy it is to "clone" a car.

Some general stuff - many speed cameras are signed but the police are not obliged to put up signs. A road is deemed to be 30mph if it's got streetlights and doesn't say otherwise. Most forces do paint their cameras a bright colour.
Sofia - it does sound like someone else has been using your car reg. It could be possible for cameras to get the reg numbers wrong if people use odd spacing or lettering so that may be what happened.
Janh - yes they definitely should have put up signs to state new speed limits (council's duty).
Not all cameras have film in but will still flash - some forces tell you within two weeks if you have been flashed. Fixed speed cameras use photographic evidence - if you are caught by an officer with a speed gun they have to stop you and tell you what speed you were doing (unless it is one of the new hand held photographic ones).
Best advice - don't speed cos you never know where a camera may be. All forces will say time of day not a mitigating circumstance (eg early hours when not a lot of traffic around) as those are the times when people can be driving after a drink or when tired etc and so you need to be on your guard even more. Many forces have safety canmera websites which tell you where their fixed cameras are and also where officers will be the following week with hand held speed guns.
Photographic evidence is not proof of who was driving - just the car.
If you did try to say driver wasn't you when it was, it would be peverting the course of justice. Cheery thought for a Monday morning.