Speeding

[Joe 90]

spoke to my mum last night and it would seem she's got into a spot of bother.

You see theres this road round here, its been a 40 road for as long as I can remember. Anyway my mum was going down it yesterday and she got flagged down by an officer of the law.
He asked if she knew the speed limit, 40 she replied. To which he informed her that the speed limit had recently been changed, and showed her a reading that she'd been doing 39. Obviously a speeding ticket etc followed.

Now, you see, the same happened at the top of this road recently but that came with huge new bright green 30 signs. This road in question though simply has a red sign saying 'police: speed limit recently changed' or something...

I'm of the understanding that if the limit has recently changed, and its not got any 30 signs on the road, then you can surely not be charged?

Furthermore, we're currently waiting on a mortgage to move into our new house and 95% of our stuff is in a storage locker. My mums driving license is somewhere in that lot. So whats the deal with document declaration, we recently hired a car without a driving license... they just looked it up on the DVLA - will the police do the same with a decent explanation to said situation?

[Admiral Huddy]

Happened to a guy here.. the same problem.. He was asked to produce.. He had to take a day off work and find the documents through heaps of storage whilst he was in between moves.

[Glaucus]

No idea on the first.

But she will need her documents if she doesn't produce them, then she will be charged for driving without a license/insurance. they will not check online.
either you need to find them, or you can phone up the dvla say you have lost both parts. And tehy will send you anew license out within 3 days for £19.
Get insurance to fax/send you a new copy.

[Joe 90]

cheers guys.

just had an update, she's managed to get 28 days to produce, will (almost certainly) be long enough for us to have moved house!

and when questioning the fact that theres no 30 signs on what was a 40 road, they said that legally they don't need signs because we should all know the speed limit by the spacing between the street lights.
thats got to be an attempt to get my mum not to question it further as i am 100% sure that they've not changed the distance between the lights since lowering the speed limit, therefore you'd not be sure, going on said guide, whether it were 30 or 40. :/

[Mark]

Sounds like they're fishing for an excuse to me. Time to start keeping records of all correspondance (inc. verbal).

[Belmit]

Personally I would contest this. If there are no speed limit signs then as far as 'police: speed limit recently changed' is concerned, they could have made it a 50 or 60 limit. Saying you should know the speed limit based on street lights has been proved to be inaccurate as it wasn't a 30 limit before.

[Desmo]

Aye, they're pushing their luck there. Whether you can claim against the legality of it or not, I wouldn't like to say as usually a lack of speed signs means a 30.

[Joe 90]

yeah, normally no signs means 30, but this road has had those tiny 40 signs on a couple of street lights for years, and then to lower the speed i'd expect it to be made obvious.

and i saw the sign warning of a new speed limit for myself today. its not a notice from the police, simply a red sign stating that the limit has changed.

all sounds to me like its been done in a way they know that they'll catch people and make a bit more cash tbh!

[Desmo]

I agree totally with what you're saying. It all sounds a bit underhand to me, but from a legal standpoint, I'm not sure there's anything you can do. Still, fight it and see what happens...it can't do any harm can it?

[Admiral Huddy]

I remember my motorbike instructor telling me that if there are no signs on side roads which are residential, then you are in a 30. Becuase if you were in a 40, then turning into a road that is, must have a 30 sign..