Can Spot Fines Be Paid Directly To A Policeman?

[richo1970]

My mrs was stopped by a policeman after running across a train level crossing as the barriers were going down. Policeman put in the police car and told her off and said there will be either a caution or a £50 fine. My wife does not want a criminal record so she opted for the fine which he is picking up tomorrow morning. Is it normal to pay the money to the policeman directly?
Thanks for any help.

[Gavmacp]

Yes in a plain brown envelope!!

[ladyalex]

I think either way she will have a record....either way she has admitted an offence.
Policeman coming round to collect the fine sounds very fishy to me.
I'd call the nearest police station and check.

[jake-the-peg]

Seriously?

Payments directly to the police are normally only issued as deposits where the person doesn't have a satisfactory UK address

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/road_traffic_offences_guidance_on_fixed_penalty_notices/#uk

If she received paperwork about this contact them regarding the matter

If she did not receive any paperwork I suggest you go to your local police station and tell them all about this - I suspect they will be very interested indeed and will want to be there tomorrow morning.

You can say that she didn't think she had run the barriers but the 'policeman' claimed she had if you're worried

[joko]

do you mean in a car?

i don't see how that is an 'offence' - if she could get her car through unhindered then the barriers where not down.
the warning lights are just a warning to say they are about to come down.
if she had jumped over them and ran across then i could see a problem, but the barriers were not down.

sounds a bit dodgy to me.

i would get his name etc and then ask at the station - if hes up to no good then he will get into trouble, if not then no harm done.

for all you know he may not even be a policeman - was he in uniform and in a proper patrol car? there have been cases of people driving round in plain cars with blue lights and stopping people.

[New Judge]

Most barrier controlled crossings exhibit flashing red lights prior to the barriers descending When these lights show you MUST stop. "Running" the crossing before the barriers begin to descend or as they descend whilst the lights are flashing is against the law. If the crossing is equipped with amber warning lights you must stop unless you have already crossed the stop line. The Highway Code makes this quite clear.

[FredPuli43]

Very dodgy. Since when have ordinary patrol officers been collecting cash? Do you have his number or any paperwork ? If a policeman makes a stop he is bound to record it and report it to his station. I'd ring up your local station and say you were stopped for allegedly ignoring a crossing light and ask what to do and explain about this 'policeman'.

[FredPuli43]

I mean 'your Mrs' was stopped.

[EvianBaby]

Joko - you really think it's ok to go over a crossing as the barriers are coming down, just because you can fit your car under them still?

[Canary42]

Scam alert - make a formal report to the police at a police station - and take a witness along.

[joko]

no i dont evian - because that is not what i said
... i meant before they even started to come down.
you would not be able to make across once they started to move.... they move pretty fast.

unless of course he means she performed a zigzag around them, in which case she is an idiot

i assumed the OP meant that she continued just as the lights came on.

she cannot have been very far away, and must have been almost at the barrier for her to have made it across

[New Judge]

It is very difficult for a driver to do as you suggest might have happened without committing an offence, joko.

The normal sequence of events at a controlled level crossing is this:

Firstly the amber lights of the road traffic signals illuminate and the bells/klaxons begin to sound.

After approximately three seconds, the amber lights go out and the red road traffic light signals begin to flash

Five seconds after the red lights have commenced to flash, the barriers begin to descend.

So, a motorist has three seconds of amber lights when he must stop unless he has crossed the stop line. He then has five more seconds of red lights before the barriers descend when he must stop.

Your initial post said this:

“i don't see how that is an 'offence' - if she could get her car through unhindered then the barriers where not down.”

You can see from my description of the operating sequence that there are eight seconds when a driver could “…get her car through unhindered then the barriers where not down.” But during all of this period she should stop unless, during the amber period, she had already crossed the stop line. Failure to do so is an offence.

You also said:

“the warning lights are just a warning to say they are about to come down.”

They certainly are not. Both amber and red lights mean a driver MUST stop.

I know all of this is somewhat adrift from richo’s question. But I believe you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the law regarding level crossings.

[joko]

i do understand NJ.
i am well aware that warning lights and klaxons mean stop, or as you say if you are already on the crossing, to get off it quickly - a warning that they are about to come down...
i think you may have misunderstood the point i was making, though I probably wasn't that clear.

i have however, just reread the op and now noticed he says 'as they are going down' though, so my point is irrelevant anyway - i had not noticed that and thought he meant when the light had literally only just started and the barriers had not yet started.
if you attempt to cross once the barriers are moving then yes she deserves the fine and is an idiot.

if you are correct about the 8 seconds thing though, i admit that i did not realise that, and the following explanatory comments are made in the belief that the whole thing happens quicker than 8 seconds - to me it has always seemed quicker - which is why i wouldn't dare try to go through and why i couldn't imagine anyone else being able to make it through without getting trapped.
i thought they made it very fast so that people would not even dare risk trying to get through, because they would not think there was time.


so my original point was that she must have already practically on the crossing if she could make it across safely at all, basically that she was past the stop line, and in that circumstance the lights are a warning - she was too far to slam on suddenly, or stop and reverse etc.

i thought it was pretty hard, almost impossible, to go through the crossing when the red lights have been on for a few seconds because the barriers would surely come down too soon and trap you if you are any distance away - i did not think it possible to make it across unless you were already on them, and the fact that she did it meant she must have been pretty close, and therefore hadnt committed an offence.

[SlackAlice]

I've read the OP question several times and think we may be on the wrong track here.
The OP stated after running across rather than driving across. I'm wondering if we are looking at a pedestrian causing the offence?

[New Judge]

Yes I think you're right, slack. Unfortunately richo has not returned to the question to clarify.

[joko]

i wondered that at first too slack alice ... a pedestrian could weave through the barriers while they were actually moving.

[richo1970]

First off, sorry for not updating after everybody tried answering. My mrs ran on foot across the crossing as the barriers came down, she was across before they were fully down. Yes she is stupid, i've bollocked her myself.
The police were waiting to stop kids that were not crossing correctly but got my sh*t for brains mrs instead. She got what the policeman said wrapped round her neck. I stayed off work to make sure she didn't pay him any money. He told her off again and gave her a fine payment slip, so everything was above board. Thanks for your answers though.

[Mamyalynne]

An experience she has learnt from hopefully, when you think of how easily it could have all gone wrong.