Police Scotland - Revenue Generation vs. Prevention

Boxerboy55

Boxerboy55

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
3,289
Reaction score
797
Location
Central Scotland - no more far away
All my own fault. I'm really kicking myself for losing the battle on Saturday and getting my very first speeding ticket. Plus 3 points of course. And it's gone up to £100 :mad:
Been driving and riding for 4 decades and on Friday my number came up. I guess it was only a matter of time.

It seems that the local constabulary are out to score points and pull in some revenue rather than have a high visibility presence on our highways and byways to dissuade folk from breaking the law. Any law. A bit more visibility would have allowed me to see PC plod from half a mile away on a clear road, but oh no, in the interests of generating revenue he decided to hide behind a tree and get me with his gun before I saw him. The car was fully hidden up a lane.

All my own fault of course, but it leaves a bitter taste. Both plod were very pleasant and so was I on a sunny day. I even said thank you as I pocketed the pink slip.

Luckily the bike and all relevant data showed up clean, even though I was carrying a tax disc with a number different from the reg on the bike. Plus some confusion from his office based colleague as both my son and I own bikes and are insured on each other's bike.

Fuck 'em. Don't look to me for positive feedback or future support in any shape or form.

BTW - it was on the A83 a few miles south of Lochgilphead. Officially recorded as Ardcastle, Lochgair. A nice long straight. With my son and a friend ahead of me on the road to Oban moving at warp speed, but lucky enough to have received a flash and slowed to 62mph by the time they reached the gunners. While I was a minute or two behind at my normal cruise speed. Which was slightly in excess of 60mph.

Lesson learned. Got to be smarter than the average bear.
 
You appear to have neglected to mention the speed they wrote down on the ticket.... :augie Seriously, I'm curious to know what you got nicked for and how that relates to previous ACPOS guidelines.
 
Sorry for that careless omission. My cruising speed as captured on the gun was 77mph. The constable conceded that it was probably a comfortable cruising speed. I think he suggested that a somewhat lesser figure would have been "OK" though we didn't get down to what that meant exactly.

Funnily enough he asked me if I was with the 2 preceding bikes and I said yes. But I refrained from asking if he'd had a similar conversation with them as I knew how they'd been travelling. Then I pointed to a 4th rider who was with us and cruised by as I accepted my paperwork. No chance of him travelling at warp speed as he's getting used to an XC800.

Then the bobbies pulled in to the Lochgilphead filling station for their sandwiches as we were pulling on helmets to carry on our merry way.
So I had to say hello / cheerio all over again.
 
Old ACPOS guidelines would have been 10% + 1 would have got you away without a ticket. So, 10 mph less than the speed at which you were travelling.

However, I'm very reliably informed that in the old days, pre Stephen House, Strathclyde were operating a tolerance of 10% + 10 which would still have put you 1 mph over the threshold. I'm also reliably informed that if traffic officers in what was the Strathclyde Police area now don't come in from a shift having issued 10 tickets, their Sergeant will need to ask them what they've been doing. I don't think it's so much about revenue generation as it is about KPI's.

Twenty four years since the auld witch was in power and we still have bloody KPI's as a result of her infatuation with Milton Friedman and the doctrine of "if you can't count it, it doesn't exist." :mad:
 
I think there comes a point where we have to move on from blaming poor old Maggie for everything we don't like?

However, when I was doing hand held radar in another life, our policy, indeed the instruction, was that we were as much a deterrent as enforcement, and we had to wear hi-viz, and NOT hide....we were to be SEEN..found this a bit frustrating then, but we still got speeders, and to be honest, in those circumstances they probably deserved to be done. Changed days now I think.
 
Boxerboy55 said:
All my own fault of course, but it leaves a bitter taste. Both plod were very pleasant...

Fuck 'em. Don't look to me for positive feedback or future support in any shape or form.
Click to expand...

So you are pissed off because you decided to exceed the posted speed limit by 17 mph (more than 28% over the limit) and got caught...the men doing their job were "very pleasant"...but your attitude to them and their colleagues in future will be "Fuck 'em"?

Attitude adjustment required? :blast
 
I thought they had to wear Hi Viz and not hide behind things and that's as it stands today. Sleekit bastards on the A83 eh :hide
They are a regular occurrence on the A85 Oban road through Dalmally, Loch Awe, Taynuilt and Connel even at 5 in the morning as I head to Oban delivering stuff to shops etc but they all have been with Hi Viz jackets on. I don't shit in my own nest so I stick to the 30s through these villages. They usually give you a wave if your within the limit but they probably know me well now.
 
If I got done for 77 my speedo would be reading well over 80. You read threads like this and it just leaves you wondering how the fuck some people think.
 
david a hall said:
If I got done for 77 my speedo would be reading well over 80. You read threads like this and it just leaves you wondering how the fuck some people think.
Click to expand...
Maybe the reflection from his high viz renders the instruments unreadable? Oh wait, that's a different thread!
 
off topic slightly.i have no problem with police presence on the roads but the majority of it is hiding in lay-by’s or at some hidden junction catching joe average doing 78 plus in vehicles that are more than capable,safer & and have increased stopping ability than previous years,yeh you get knobs that kick the arse out of it.i wish they would invest in alot more ANPR vehicles and catch the fucks that have no tax,mot or insurance.they are the real scum that don’t give a fuck but i suppose making cash for little work from joe public is far easier.(minor rant over)
 
I think you were well out of their discretions zone where they could overlook the speed. As has been said before it was 67 in a 60 zone but usually if you were below 70 you had to talk yourself into getting a ticket. I have heard from former colleagues however that since the inception of the single force there is much more measurement of results than before and also targeting of groups such as motorcyclists that muck up the fatal accident figures by dying so often when they have a bump. I drove a coach yesterday on the A9 from Perth to Aviemore and back and it was really noticeable how the coaches and the HGVs were sticking rigidly to their speed limits where before they would have nudged an extra 6 or 7 mph on the single carriageway sections. Enforcement works but it does nothing to ease the queues or discourage the risky, but within the speed limit, overtakes that are likely to result in a head on collision. Still if both cars are sticking to the speed limit the impact speed will only be 120 mph so it should be OK.

By the way I am pleased you managed to keep it civilised with the individual cops. They probably resent the imposition of targets as much as you resent getting the ticket.
 
Schtum said:
Old ACPOS guidelines would have been 10% + 1 would have got you away without a ticket. So, 10 mph less than the speed at which you were travelling.

However, I'm very reliably informed that in the old days, pre Stephen House, Strathclyde were operating a tolerance of 10% + 10 which would still have put you 1 mph over the threshold. I'm also reliably informed that if traffic officers in what was the Strathclyde Police area now don't come in from a shift having issued 10 tickets, their Sergeant will need to ask them what they've been doing. I don't think it's so much about revenue generation as it is about KPI's.

Twenty four years since the auld witch was in power and we still have bloody KPI's as a result of her infatuation with Milton Friedman and the doctrine of "if you can't count it, it doesn't exist." :mad:
Click to expand...


Whats a KPI ?
 
Speeding

If you having been driving /riding donkeys years
Don't you get offered the speed awareness course
Still get the fine but no points
Also you need to tell your insurance company
It's a shitter
 
iftikartaxis said:
If you having been driving /riding donkeys years
Don't you get offered the speed awareness course
Still get the fine but no points
Also you need to tell your insurance company
It's a shitter
Click to expand...

No and do you ?
 
JKW said:
So you are pissed off because you decided to exceed the posted speed limit by 17 mph (more than 28% over the limit) and got caught...the men doing their job were "very pleasant"...but your attitude to them and their colleagues in future will be "Fuck 'em"?

Attitude adjustment required? :blast
Click to expand...

Spot on. A little bit of manning up and taking it on the chin without moaning on here required methinks.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Police Scotland Amnesty
Replies
17
Views
3,740
neenaw


Back
Top Bottom