159mph "I was only practising"...

[noxlumos]

Does anyone else find it nothing short of incredible that the Police officer found guilty of driving at 159mph got away with an absolute discharge?
If that were you or I, we'd have been hammered with an excruciatingly long ban and a fine roughly equalling our lifetime's wages.Some of his exceptional speeding was in a 30mph limit area where little kids play. Things like this do nothing to improve public relations for the police when the courts uphold them in being above the law and give a token conviction because they cannot do otherwise.What does everyone else think about this?

[Agent-47]

Well its an open book now for others to try to get faster than 159mph, due to the fact if he got away with it then so shall others.

[ll_billym]

I don't usually side with the police but I agree that they have to practice driving at speed, they have to do it for real sometimes. I think the fault lies with the bosses at the police force not providing areas where practicing can be done off the public highway rather than with the officer in question.

[Oneeyedvic]

Il_billym - would agree if he was on duty and with other officers. He wasn't. He was off duty and what I would term 'having fun'.

Wasn't so long ago when professional rally drivers all got fined in Wales when driving between two sites - no arguments there about 'professional drivers'.

Also, should lorry drivers (professional and well trained - most of the time) be able to speed where they feel it is appropriate? What about people who have passed advanced driver training?

I have absolutely no problem with any of the emergency services going faster than the speed limit when on duty and responding to an emergency or training under controlled conditions. This was not an example of controlled training conditions.

[buildersmate]

To any rational person it looks like a whitewash. He was found not guilty before and there was rightly a public outcry. So the case got brought back again. Now he's been found guilty but got away with a small smack on the hand. The justice system is supposed to be seen to be equal. It doesn't look that way.

[jno]

police get away with pretty much anything, don't they? He might as well have run over a few Brazilian plumbers while he was at it.

[Cetti]

Incredible - NO!

Last year two police cars overtaking on a double white line and coming down a hill missed our car by a whisker, thanks to my husband taking evasive action - not the police cars!!!

It would have been a head on collision resulting in our deaths for sure, but what did our Chief Constable say - because lives were at risk they were responding to an armed incident!! What about our lives? What's more, there was no apology!!

[Dizzieblonde]

I can understand that they need to practice high-speed driving, but the galling thing was that he wasn't on duty at the time. If he'd been in uniform, in a marked car, on duty then it wouldn't bother me so much - I'm a nurse, and I'd like to see how long I'd last going around injecting people on my days off and arguing that I'm 'practicing'!

[LazyGun]

What makes it even more galling is that despite effectively getting away with a light slap on the wrist (guilty but given an absolute discharge), he and the Police Federation have the cheek to consider going to appeal to get the guilty charge overturned!

As nox originally said, this does nothing but help to reinforce the impression that the police consider themselves above the law.

[electricblue]

The excuse about 'practising'just goes to prove that wearing a cop uniform gives them the right to do what the hell they want,they really are so up their own ar$e$,its always been one rule for them and another for everyone else,the uniform is their evidence m'lud!

[shammydodger]

He didn't get away with it. He was found guilty (and is appealing). Now, was the sentence sufficient? God knows, But just because this case might be a focus of controversy, it doesn't excuse anybody else from breaking the speed limit (special circumstances excepted). The limit is there for a very good reason. Try being on the arse-end of it and then come back to me and argue thatt speeding doesn't matter.

Are people treated equally under the law? No, of course not. Should they be? Yes, of course. It's one of those facts of life that you get used to. Doesn't make it right.

[Hippy]

The police person's money grabbing lawyer's knee jerk was to appeal against the verdict as was the Police Association's. I think the CPS should also appeal, but not against the verdict, but against the sentence. That man should be stripped of police person status and spend some quality jail time. His driving licence should be revoked for a period after that.

How many times have we heard judges and Magistrates say they are sentencing someone to whatever as a warning to others, a so called exemplary sentence. The same should apply in this case.

[gavinbecky]

Interestingly what about the ambulance driver that was caught 'speeding' for transporting a liver to a destination urgently? He got done.

I don't give a monkees if he was off duty, an advanced driver or simply raising money for charity. Anyone else doing that speed would have lost their licence.

I guarantee that if a civilian driver who was going for the 'best driver in the world' award had done the same thing he would have lost his licence. In this case he got off cos he was a cop and no other reason

[SteveD]

It seems like a whitewash to me. Surely police forces could make arrangements to use motor racing tracks to train their drivers?

[anotheoldgit]

I am not at all surprised with the outcome of this case. This is the state of affairs in our country. There is a law for them and a law for us, and there always has been. How many times do we see sports stars and other rich and famous get away with things that the ordinary man or women would not ? Another example of our unfair system, If an old person's house was broken into and everything they had worked hard all their lives were stolen, the most they could expect from the police would to be issued with a crime number (I doubt if the police would even attend the scene of the crime). And yet if "MY LORD" was to have one small painting from his vast collection at his stately home stolen, there would be umpteen police in attendence within minutes and the area would be covered by helicopter. The same goes when a supermarket apprehends a shoplifter.

[suffragette]

Another fine example of the forces of law and order alienating themselves from the public they are supposed to serve. Such behaviour erodes our confidence in the police and the courts and makes it just that little more likely that people will turn their back when the authorities require our help.

[Gef]

The whole thing is unbelievable. He should have been banned.

If you want the facts have a look at this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/ 4559173.stm

[Grunty]

I don't understand where the idea came from that he was off duty. If he was, he would have been charged with taking the vehicle without consent. It is right that he needs to practice, but not at the speed quoted in a 30 m.p.h. limit. Many years ago, I did the job that he is doing now, and in the same force. The instructions were that the national speed limit could be broken for training purposes, but marked speed limits had to be carefully observed. That rule seems to have been forgotten. Unfortunately, those on the other side also have access to powerful cars (but not the skill required) and the police have to be able to respond. The answer is for the police to have access to more helicopters.

[samuel23]

Lets pose this question ~ if your son / daughter / mother / father / wife / husband was in mortal danger, and the police were called to respond, would you really expect them to pootle along to the crime scene observing the speed limit, especially if it was in the middle of a 30mph zone? The short answer is NO! You'd expect them there in double quick time, and if they didn't get there in time to stop your loved one getting shot/stabbed/raped/robbed etc you'd be the first ones to grizzle about it and then you'd probably sue them for not getting there quick enough. Are you people so stupid that you can't see that 30mph or not sometime or another these drivers are going to have to learn how to cope with excessive speed in restricted areas? Get real! And as for the inane, moronic and totally fatuous comment about 'where little kids play' read the bloody story ~ it was the early hours of the morning, and if there were any little kids out playing at that time then their parents need locking up.

[SteveD]

Of course police drivers should be fully trained in the use of their vehicles - they are a tool of their trade. However, they should NOT do it on the public highway whatever time of day or however quiet the road may appear to be.

The BBC article says that he was also trained in the use of firearms. Does he "familiarise" himself with his gun in a public place because that is where he would use it if called upon to do so?

[samuel23]

No he does it on a firing range or in a practice environment such as a replica town I expect, but the point is that buildings don't move and firearms are used in extreme circumstances. The likelihood of them being needed is, thankfully, still quite rare in this country. On the other hand, emergency calls are an every day part of police life, and no amount of training will ever completely prepare a response car driver for what he is going to encounter in the real world. Do you really think that a training circuit is the answer? Get real!! After a few times round the driver would be familiar with the place thus his response times would improve. Once out in the real world again, would he be adequately prepared? No. He needs to travel at speed through the environment that he is going to be in. You wouldn't send soldiers to the desert for jungle training would you? I understand all the concerns, but my quetsion would still be ~ if it were you or your family in need would you expect the fastest response time possible? Bring on the argument about police crashes at high speed and the only logical answer is that they were not adequately prepared to cope with the roads they were driving on. So putting them on a racing track won't solve the problem, will it?