due to ebay cock up i have driven from Manchester to Finsbury park and back today.....took my time going but coming back well..... fuel economy good 1/4 tank left motorway driving no bad back with the old seats good cruising at the national limit with the turbo off boost ....but driving over the tops in the Peak district the car came into its own ... i know the car has done 77,000 miles on the 13 yr old struts but it still felt good .... now i remember why i bought my second coupé as James May says ..... i felt a fizzing ... cant wait to fit a full suspension upgrade (Eibach springs and bars poly bush all round and Koni on all 4 corners) and see the difference
the only downfall i found was it was not like my old delta HF turbo .... not as nimble even with over 100bhp more.... but i do love my coupé

You sound surprised. They are a great day to day car. I do around 900 miles a week in mine.
The seats are very good, the fuel consumption is ok even by modern standards.
I have driven a coupe almost every days for 13 years and still struggle to see anything that will replace it.


Roy

The jolly old Coupe is a GT, not a rally car so ideally suited for your trip. Sounds like you had a good trip; I've done 375 miles a day on various occasions (return trip to Leicestershire from Kent), and I wouldn't have wanted to be in any other car that I have seen alongside me in the M25 queues. At my age, I have no problem after a 3hr drive apart from creaking to get out of bed the next morning.

i usually drive my coupé about 20-30 miles a week and most of it round town so i have had a good days drive today .... cant wait for the upgrade so i can drive round the peak district and see what it can realy do

My poor old coupe sits for weeks and weeks doing nowt,then i just jump in and blast off to the UK. Usually at least 2,000 mile round trip. I see no problems with her. She just purr's as usual.

well it gets better .... was caught by the Gestapo tax collectors 78 in a 50 driving on the A623 on the way home from my 400 mile trip ...... going to get a ban..... i am unemployed so i know i wont get a big fine ....oh well what can i say

Ooops!

Can you tell them you were looking for work??

got the pics ... 3 of them 2 show me sat behind a Volvo estate and the last shows me in front with the speed ....... scubags the only place to safely overtake for miles and they are sat there watching......this is just blatently tax collecting so i am going to contest it

Best of luck, I have this theory that they don't like Coupes. I was caught on an empty M6 making progress yet they let nobheads with Audis fly by at 130+ usually on the 'phone and tailgating some innocent motorist too.

I went to Court pleaded my case and got points and a fine. The police were not amused.

what happened is not right i performed a safe overtaking and they try to stitch me up ...... i am going to fight this .... nothing to lose and being dole scum they cant fine me stupid money

You feel it's worth a try, and good luck

But however harsh it seems, you have transgressed in the eyes of the law, so keep polite and well-reasoned so at least you may have a chance of a mitigated punishment...

Well, they don't do they. If you drive like a tit, irrespective of vehicle type, you're going to get noticed.

Volumex, I'm not sure how you'd fight it. You were doing nearly 60% more than the speed limit.

acts and laws and the dreaded human rights ..... and the freedom of information act to prove they are tax collecting

You might want to mention S.163 of the Highway code.

Remember you are guilty of speeding though, but it reads:

"move quickly past the vehicle you are overtaking, once you have started to overtake. Allow plenty of room. Move back to the left as soon as you can but do not cut in".

The highway code is not the law, but it does provide guidance and there is much debate about the wording. A few people have used this in mitigation as it's not really a defence.
Try googling it and good luck

Do they show the speed of teh volvo before overtake? If it was doing 50 then you had no reason to pass other than to speed. If it was driving slower than would be expected given the road conditions the Chralie may have provided a slight mitigation to explain your, err, over excitement when proceeding to pass.

Either way you'll get hit hard.

no speed shown of me and the volvo

Shame, but perhaps you could use this to your advanage when building your defence, you could claim the volvo was driving without due concideration to your progress.

Can I suggest you v quickly find and buy a copy of "Fighting a Motoring Ticket". Costs about £10. Its written by Geoffrey Miller Solicitors and gives you step by step advice on your options.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fight-a-Motoring-Ticket-Kit/dp/1905261519

Did you recieve your Notice of Intended Prosecution within 14 days of the offence? If not its invalid anyhow.

If your going to face a ban anyway-then you have very little to loose.

Or ring Geoffrey Miller (V expenseive but v good) http://www.motoroffence.co.uk/services/speeding

Sadly- the Police need money and they will prosecute anyone they can for speeding offences and they will not stop. It has nothing to do with preventing accidents- most Local Authority Road Safety Action Groups are business and need to make profits to survive as they fund local authorities/Police etc.

Good luck!

MM

You don't have a hope in hell - even if you proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were sitting there just because it was a good revenue generation spot and had no history of accidents then they'd still have a picture of you breaking the limit by a good margin and the court is going to slap you round a bit for wasting their time.

Turn up in court, say you're very, very sorry, that this experience has made you change your reckless driving ways and tell them that you are looking for work all over the country and, without a car, you'll seriously reduce your chance of becoming a productive member of society.

You might not like it, but it's going to lead to the least amount of pain.

No, the NIP must be posted to the registered keeper of the vehicle within 14 days of the offence. If you're not the registered keeper, or you've moved but haven't updated the V5, or it just plain old gets lost in the post then that's too bad for you.

as i have no money i have nothing to lose so i am going to make them prove that i was driving ...... its up to them to prove that not for me to prove that i was not driving ..... innocent until proven guilty not guilty until proven innocent.... and i am going to use the acts and laws ..... i know it will pi** them off but i cant be locked up for the so called offence and they must take into account my income ..... i hardly use my coupe (9000 miles in 3 years)and i was going to garage it and get a lot smaller car ..... a ban is not going to hurt me as i can walk to tesco's and back in 20mins

Thought that we're not discussing nor condoning speeding on public roads on this forum?

you wont get away with asking them to prove who was driving. If you're the registered keeper they will hit you even harder than just speeding. You will get 6 points and a hefty fine for failiure to disclose who the driver was.

I would follow Andrews advice and that you go to the court, nod your head, be appologetic not for just this offence but your previous offences. Try and have a reason for them to give you a short ban. Are you relied upon by any aging relatives? do you do the shopping for them? would banning you have any adverse effects on other people? The court wont care about you, you did the crime.

Getting a small ban will be better for you, you will get your license back clean

It will hurt, but if you get aggressive with the authorities they will ENSURE that you have to walk to Tesco for a very long time.... The best policy is "Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir" and be VERY polite. If you contest this you will be in various orifices.

Sorry mate, but banged to rights. I did 64 in a 50 limit in my van and after offering my body parts to the authorities they let me off with a warning AND NO POINTS. Back in the day (the mid-90s) the feds weren't so desperate to raise capital....

Good luck,
Tim

Volumex, it's entirely up to you, the fine is going to be £80-£140 whatever you do, it's really a question of whether you get the bottom end of that range plus 6 points or the upper end and a 6-8 week ban.

You should bear in mind that even in a smaller car a ban is going to hike up your insurance premiums for the next 5 years.

As for proving it was you driving - you have presumably already been asked to identify the driver at the time of the offence. If you've done so then there's nothing for them to prove.

If you haven't named the driver then they might drop the speeding charge and just go after you for failure to complete the NIP. If you've said that you don't know who was driving then there's a chance they might drop it, if there are multiple people who could have been driving your car and the photo isn't that good.

Of course, if you're going down that route (after admitting being the driver on a public forum) then you're potentially letting yourself in for a world of pain, possibly all the way up to a charge for attempting to pervert the course of justice (maximum sentence unlimited fine, plus up to life imprisonment).

You really do need to think very carefully about just how much you're prepared to go through in order to prove a point.

nothing to loose been in manufacturing most of my life and i am now 47 with no prospect of getting a job and believe me i am trying ...... a roof over my head and 3 meals a day is always going to be better than 3 meals a week and cold all winter .... the only reason i still have my coupe is my brother has paid my insurance for the year

i will let you all know how i get on

Yes...meant if Notice 15 days- rather then post getting it lost of v5 not being correct. If they send it after 14 days - say on day 15-then its the police's bad luck-or the firm chasing you for the money. As it is treated as invalid.

Volumex,

AndrewR, Tim42 and others above are all right- if you do let it get you angry, or you try and fudge a way out- it will be loads worst. But do seek some legal advice- the police have to follow more rules in making accusations then you do in responding to the claims- was the equipment set up right, did they follow procedure, was the equipment calibrated, did they fill in paperwork correctly. So they are all options open to everyone if they feel that the charge is incorrect, speed not accurate, or it wasn't them driving etc.

However...if you know that the claim is right- then as people above have already said its not going to help if you try and avoid that. Or get really anngry about things.

I'm sure your not the only one to get a speeding ticket- but try not to feel like a lone ranger on this.

Good Luck

MM