None of the above

Police chief faces speeding case

A senior police officer in charge of road policy for Britain's chief constables is facing prosecution for exceeding a 60mph speed limit.

Meredydd Hughes, chief constable of the South Yorkshire force, was allegedly clocked by cameras driving along the A5 near Chirk in north Wales.
He has been summoned to appear before Wrexham magistrates on 21 November.
A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police confirmed that Mr Hughes had been sent a notice of intended prosecution.
A force statement read: "Chief Constable Med Hughes has received a notice of intended prosecution in respect of an alleged driving offence in north Wales in the early morning of a Bank Holiday Monday in May while he was on holiday."

Driving ban

The statement added that no summons for the offence has been received yet.
If convicted, the court has the power to fine Mr Hughes, who is originally from Cardiff, up to £1,000 and even issue a possible driving ban.
Mr Hughes courted controversy after taking charge of road policing at ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers).
In June he argued that "less conspicuous" speed cameras should be considered by police as a way of slowing down drivers.
He was appointed South Yorkshire's chief constable three years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7069289.stm

This report alleges that he was driving at 90mph:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ing/article.do

And on Brunstrom's patch as well.............. oh, dear.

Top traffic cop faces in N Wales speeding prosecution

Oct 30 2007 by Carl Butler, icnorthwest

BRITAIN’S most senior traffic cop has been booked for allegedly speeding - in North Wales.
The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, Meredydd Hughes, was allegedly caught doing 90mph in a 60mph zone on the A5 at Halton near Chirk.
Guidelines to magistrates call for a ban to be considered on anyone exceeding the limit by 30mph or more.
As the Association of Chief Police Officers’ (ACPO) spokesman on roads policing, Mr Hughes set up a special team to prosecute drivers trying to challenge their speeding fine on technicalities.
With two speeding convictions already, Mr Hughes will be expected to attend his hearing at Wrexham Magistrates Court on November 21.
Yesterday South Yorkshire Police said: “We can confirm that the Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes has received a notice of an intending prosecution in respect of an alleged driving offence in North Wales in the early morning on a Bank holiday Monday in May, whilst on holiday. No summons has yet been received.”

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/brea...5578-20033948/

ScottyDawg

As Jeremy Clarkson would say:

"He should be thoroughly larched"..!!

But some toffee-nosed brief (a grand a day of the taxpayers dosh).. will make some eloquent speech to the beaks and he will get off with a spanking..!

Unwell_Raptor

Nice gibe Scotty, but nobody gets legal aid for a speeding case, especially not when they earn a six figure salary.

snow goose

UR:
A six figure salary from the Government (and paid while attending court) gets all the "legal (government) aid" one wants, but perchance does not get....hopefully.

Those two top cops are "a bit rich"!
Their pontification has long been a blot on police force attitudes.
A bit overpaid for providing a good laugh aren't they?

Here's to hoping Hughes ends up in your court, UR. No sympathy per usual and government "guidelines" held immutable!

SG

Standard Noise

S'pose it's a bit much for us hard pressed, over worked taxpayers to expect the upholders of the law in this land to be above reproach.
Yep, silly me, course it is.
It's all too depressingly familiar these days with those in positions of power and responsibility, 'do as we tell you and not as we like to do ourselves.'

Still, we should have joy in our hearts knowing that his mate Brunstrom in North Wales will now consider him worse than a drug dealer.

None of the above

Yes, and this most recent unfortunate occurence (assuming guilt is proved) will no doubt be ascribed to the fact that the police are drawn from a cross section of society and reflect its every weakness. On that basis, I suppose that it is reasonable to assume that one in three plods has a criminal record. Come to think of it, has anybody asked?

And from today's Times:

Top traffic policeman faces driving ban over 90mph speeding charge

Extract:

In an interview with The Times in May, Mr Hughes said that he would have resigned from the Acpo role if he had reached nine penalty points, leaving him one offence away from an automatic six-month ban.
“I try my hardest to stick within the limit,” was his cautious answer when asked if he still sometimes broke the limit in his Audi A8.

Four out of ten - must try harder.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2774494.ece

N o t a

PS Anybody heard from bjcc on this one?

frostbite

Perhaps he's joined the River Police.

Loose rivets

Thinks. No?????????? Don't get it.


Signed An Older Viewer.

frostbite

Think Goon Show.

Alloa Akbar

I hope the court extends the same amount of sympathy to him as they have done to me twice... **** all!

A2QFI

He has resigned from his post as Adviser or chair of the Chief Constables' Road Safety Committee but this is totally unconnected with the pending court case - allegedly! If the heat gets worse he will probably retire early on the grounds of ill health with a full index linked pension and then walk into a high 5 figure salaried job as a security adviser or coordinating an outreach group.

VnV2178B

A bit of drift for Loose Rivets:-

http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_s...12_dishonoured

sorry,


VnV

A2QFI

It isn't what a Ppruner would have got for being 50% over the speed limit on a third offence, that's for sure!

ShyTorque

I had to laugh at this advert on A2QFIs post!

A2QFI

ShyTorque. What a coincidence! He will soon find another job. The man who resigned over the loss of the 25 million addresses (Head of HMRC) was out of work for 13 days. Now working for £200K p/a for Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary(?) in some outreach, co-ordination, strategic planning, blue sky thinking nonsense!

G-CPTN

Said law officer has only resigned his position on one of the 'committees' (QANGO?), not his salaried position as Chief Con of South Yorks.

Metro man

Can't argue with a speed camera or flash the badge. I wonder if this would have happened had he been stopped by a patrol car

goudie

Most likely. Nothing a copper loves more than nicking another copper when he's top brass and from another Force.


Mind you this lot seem to be above the Law
Just got this off of BBC news website

Officers were caught speeding while on duty

Roadside camera photographs of South Yorkshire Police officers caught speeding, but who later had their cases dropped, have been obtained by the BBC.

Standard Noise

We should be thankful he got a 42 day ban and a fine at all.

None of the above

No action over 90mph police chief.

"The chief constable of South Yorkshire has escaped formal action from his police authority despite being convicted of speeding".

Full story here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/s...re/7144290.stm

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised.