Trading
speed points  | | Trading
points - what would you do to hold onto your licence? |
If you
get caught speeding, it's a minimum 拢60 fine and three points.
Get
up to 12 points and you're facing a ban. For many of us it's crucial to
avoid a ban - not being able to drive could mean losing our jobs. Inside
Out has been investigating the lengths some people will go to, to hold on to their
licence. Tragic accident On the morning of December 6, 2003
Mark Chadbourne was driving a 38 tonne lorry down the A303 towards Taunton.
Coming
the other way, Anthony Best was driving an even heavier lorry up to London.
Just
outside West Knoyle, Mark Chadbourne crossed the road into the path of the oncoming
Anthony Best, killing both of them instantly. A few weeks earlier, Mark
Chadbourne had been caught speeding.
He was already on nine points so
to save his licence and his job, he got someone else to take his points. The
tragic irony is that if he'd been banned, he wouldn't have been on the road that
day. PC Mark Morrison, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officer, was one
of the first at the crash site: "It was just like a bomb site, it really
was. We had to be so careful walking through it so that we weren't stepping on
things and the damage was so great we had to take some considerable time to get
the two drivers out of their vehicles." Human price One
of the drivers, Anthony Best, was close to retirement after 42 years as a lorry
driver. He left behind a wife and two daughters. "There wasn't
anything he didn't know about driving," says Jane Peters. "He
knew all the breaks he had to take. He knew his tachographs inside out and he
just stuck by the rules. "He was described as 'the old man of the
road'. He just loved his job and he wouldn't do it unless he could do it properly."
As
well as their loss, they have to deal with the knowledge of what Mark Chadbourne
did. Jane says, "He shouldn't have been on the road. He should've
taken his points and not been on the road. "But, both families have
lost someone and we've lost a lovely dad and a granddad - and so have their family
as well. "It's too high a price to pay. Too high." Points
selling scam
While investigating the crash PC Mark Morrison discovered
an extensive points selling scam. For 拢50 a time, Tavistock man Clifford
Mennell was taking points from motorists who were on the verge of losing their
licence and passing them on to innocent drivers, allowing the guilty ones to flout
the law Mark Morrisson says, "They continued to drive, they continued
to break the speed limit and obviously that has far reaching road safety implications,
knowing that they would never get caught." Clifford Mennell admitted
offloading more than 100 speeding tickets and was sentenced to 33 months in prison
for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.  | | Many
don't realise the seriousness of the offence |
One of Mennell's
customers also went to prison. Farmer Andrew Freeston recalls what happened:
"I
was milking the cows one morning on a Monday and at 7.00 o'clock two plain clothes
policemen came into the milking parlour and arrested me and charged me with a
conspiracy to pervert the course of justice." Andrew Freeston had
been on six points and decided another three put him too close to losing his licence. "I
sold my points to a man called Clifford Mennell whom I heard about in a pub,"
he says. "And I sent him 拢50 and that was the end of it 'til
a year and a half later when the police came into the milking parlour on a Monday
morning. "The judge said he had no alternative but to send me prison
for three months. It was a bit of a shock, I couldn't quite believe it was happening
at the time. "I don't agree with what happened to me. I think I should've
had a big fine or lost my licence for a couple of months. "But I do
drive a lot more carefully now and stick to the speed limit. So perhaps it has
had some effect." Serious offence Now whether you pay
someone to take your points or get your wife or husband to do it for free, offloading
is a serious criminal offence. In a recent survey by Churchill Insurance,
2% of 2,000 drivers questioned admitted taking points for their partner. And
a third said they would consider asking their partner to do it, if it saved their
licence.  | | Video
evidence but how easy is it to dupe the speed police? |
So what
are the chances of getting caught? PC Duncan Russell says that speeding
pictures can sometimes be difficult to interpret. It's not always clear
from the video footage who was driving the car. Another common way of trading
points is to say that the car was being driven by a friend from abroad. "I
think there is a misheld belief that we won't pursue enquiries with the person
that they've nominated," says PC Russell. And there are other ways
of avoiding detection: "People in the past have sent in
death certificates. "One case in particular... a husband sent in his
wife's death certificate saying that she was driving the car at the time the offence
was committed, whereas at that time she was in a local hospice in the final stages
of a terminal illness." PC Russell.
Every case is viewed
on its own merits, but in cases where there is evidence for an offence of perverting
the course of justice, then the Police says that it does prosecute. Drivers
who trade points are risking their licences and their liberty. and the family
of Anthony Best know how devastating the consequences can be for others: "He
was a lovely man and we've lost so much. I've lost my best friend, and that's
worst of all." Janet Best.
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to this story:The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content
of external websites | 
听听Inside
Out - South West: Monday February 27, 2006
