Recently I had reason to travel slightly further afield than is my usual need. Having a very comfortable vehicle with all mod cons a few hundred motorway miles was by far preferred to the uncertainties and cost of travel by train. On my return home it dawned on me how similar this country`s road traffic has grown out of all proportion to the underlying infrastructure in a manner similar to the courts being overwhelmed by structural failings, staffing shortages, political interfering and increasing regulation which cannot be policed or enforced. In 1966 when I obtained a driving license there were fewer than 10 million cars on UK roads. Statistics on other vehicles are unreliable. Today with an unpredicted and increased population there are 41 million. I remember clearly driving on the M1 which opened in 1959 at 90MPH prior to the 70MPH limit being imposed. There was generally little individual danger owing to the low ratio of vehicles to motorway mile. My single fine for speeding was for driving at 80MPH on that same M1 in 1984 stopped by a patrol car two miles from the second last exit before the M1 ends.
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Tuesday, 19 November 2024
MOTORWAYS, JUSTICE AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARADOX
Recently I had reason to travel slightly further afield than is my usual need. Having a very comfortable vehicle with all mod cons a few hundred motorway miles was by far preferred to the uncertainties and cost of travel by train. On my return home it dawned on me how similar this country`s road traffic has grown out of all proportion to the underlying infrastructure in a manner similar to the courts being overwhelmed by structural failings, staffing shortages, political interfering and increasing regulation which cannot be policed or enforced. In 1966 when I obtained a driving license there were fewer than 10 million cars on UK roads. Statistics on other vehicles are unreliable. Today with an unpredicted and increased population there are 41 million. I remember clearly driving on the M1 which opened in 1959 at 90MPH prior to the 70MPH limit being imposed. There was generally little individual danger owing to the low ratio of vehicles to motorway mile. My single fine for speeding was for driving at 80MPH on that same M1 in 1984 stopped by a patrol car two miles from the second last exit before the M1 ends.
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
LEGAL SOUPS FROM BROTH TO CONSOMME
For the vast majority of car owners for whom the legal system is no more impacting on their lives than when they have gone through a red light or been stranded on the yellow criss cross pattern when a major road meets another at a right angle the Appeal Court decision on Close Brothers Motor Finance probably was of little concern. If it isn`t now it soon will be. Indeed for me it brought back memories of when I bought my current car a few years ago. It was a new model and I had waited about six months for delivery so I was pleased to attend the dealership to complete the transaction. I had negotiated what I thought and still consider a good deal. When I told the salesman I intended to pay the balance due in cash I thought in my naivety he would be pleased but no, his face dropped. He then spent at least fifteen minutes explaining why by taking their finance deal I would be doing myself a favour. In fact he could drop that negotiated price by a further £1,000. When I insisted on making that immediate bank transfer from my phone he made his final pitch; you can, he assured me, cancel the deal after one month, pay the balance due which would be based on a loan over only a single month and be quids in. I was unconvinced and replied that I would buy elsewhere if he persisted. Only now reading of the high commissions Close Brothers and others paid car retailers to push loans their way do I understand that salesman`s persistence.
Tuesday, 5 November 2024
SHOPLIFTING AND BROKEN WINDOWS
I remember this case. Around that time like all other magistrates courts we were experiencing a noticeable rise in shoplifting cases. Subsequent to the "banana" case and others similar shoplifting became a summary only matter. Orders came via the Deputy Justices Clerk that a "new" word was to enter our lexicon when consideration of sentences for those convicted was being discussed; propensity. Irrespective of the small value of the theft from a shop the "p" word was to figure insofar as protection of the public [shopkeepers] was concerned. That allowed when appropriate six months immediate custody for e.g. stealing an apple from Tesco. And then a decade ago the coalition government classified stolen items valued at less than £200 as "low value shoplifting". From that decision a steady increase in the crime of shop theft has taken place.
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IS A FALSE TOTEM
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
GORGE ORWELL HAS ADOPTED ALICE IN THE WONDERLAND THAT IS NOW THE UNITED KINGDOM
Tuesday, 15 October 2024
THE END OF THE ROAD FOR MAGISTRATES?
Tuesday, 8 October 2024
THE DAUGHTERS OF THE ME TOO MOVEMENT
Tuesday, 1 October 2024
KNIFE CRIME WILL NEVER BE "UNDER CONTROL"
Posts involving offences of the use of a bladed article or knife have been amongst the most frequent to have occupied these pages in the last 11 years. Indeed my first post on the subject was published in 2014. The French language best sums up the repeated attempts by His Majesty`s Governments to contain this scourge; PLUS ÇA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MÊME CHOSE.
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A woman was found hiding in bushes near a pre-school in Bridport with a large knife, a court has heard.
Rebecca Wilson, aged 41, pleaded guilty in Weymouth Magistrates Court to possessing a knife blade/sharp pointed article in a public place in Bridport.
This related to an incident which happened in St Andrews Road on June 21, 2024.
Christina Norgan, prosecuting, told the court that at 9.10pm, police received a 999 call from a member of the public that a woman was seen in possession of a large knife in the bushes next to St Andrew’s pre-school in Bridport.
When she was detained, Wilson told police officers “I’ve got a knife.”
A kitchen knife was subsequently retrieved from her waistband and she was taken into custody.
Wilson was previously convicted in 2012 for wounding.
Simon Lacey, mitigating, presented a mental health form on Wilson’s behalf to the magistrates’ bench and asked for it to be taken into consideration before sentencing.
Stephen Takel, chair of the magistrates' bench told the defendant: “The reason these sorts of offences are treated in this way is because of the risk of knife crime.
“We noticed in the interview report you were confused why it was taken so seriously. The reason is that knife crime is very serious and people die. The authorities don’t know what a person’s intention is.
“If you are in possession of a knife in public, you are considered a risk to others.
“My recommendation would be to not go out of your house with a bladed article full stop to avoid future offending in this way.”
The defendant was given a 12-month community order.
Wilson, of Dorchester Road, Weymouth, must also attend 12 sessions of mental health treatment with a clinical psychologist to understand her triggers and trauma.
She must also complete 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirement days.
She was fined £120 and must pay courts cost of £85 and £114 surcharge.
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A 43-year-old east Suffolk man has been handed a suspended sentence after being caught in the street with a knife.
Tuesday, 24 September 2024
WHICH IS MORE BELIEVEABLE? FACT OR FICTION
One of the pleasures that I find most agreeable on a leisure based late summer holiday is abandoning the daily newspaper and most TV news programmes and taking unrushed minutes and/or hours to read books which have been lying on the table or desk just waiting for months and years to be opened. Two such publications were hurriedly packed a couple of weeks ago; "Munich" by Robert Harris and the first offering from the "Secret Barrister" published in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Two such different forms of writing and topic that at first glance one would thought that there was nothing within their pages that could be compared.
Tuesday, 10 September 2024
PLAINTIFF`S FINANCIAL BACKERS TAINT CLAIM
We`re all travelers. We might not be Dr Who or interstellar voyagers but we often go on business or pleasure from point A to point B and increasingly we use paid for public transport and not our owned, leased or hired cars, vans or bicycles. As travelers we have become inured to strikes and delays when traveling on roads, trains and aeroplanes. For some of us delays cause no more than inconvenience but for others the minutes, hours and occasionally days lost to causes outwith our control can have more serious consequences. And this is when we look to the companies involved to provide compensation for the consequences of their inability to provide the service(s) for which we, the customer, have paid. Consumer pressure on governments has led to the labyrinthine requirements of claiming recompense from rail and airline companies to be brought under some control and authority. Indeed some few years ago my first class ticket on an Edinburgh train to London on January 2nd was unusable owing to the service`s cancellation. The next train was so over occupied I sat on my case for much of the journey. However on the bright side I was pleasantly surprised to find a few days later that my fare had been refunded by Virgin Trains which leads me to an interesting case decided last week at the High Court. In summary a case brought against British Airways for compensation was thrown out owing to the motives of those who had financially backed the claimant. To quote the judge, "I would not allow the claim to go forward as a representative action because the dominant motive for it lies in the financial interests of its backers".