North Wales Police have to give back £18,000 after speed ticket blunder

POLICE must reimburse 300 motorists £18,000 after penalising them for driving over 30mph through a village...when the speed limit was 40mph.

North Wales Police Superintendent Simon Shaw revealed the force had been wrongly targeting people travelling on the B4391 at Bala, since March 1.

Arrive Alive had caught hundreds of drivers on the short stretch - from the junction of the A494 to some 830 metres south - after it was labelled a Community Concern Site and part of the Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership.

Politicians last night criticised police for failing to notice the mistake sooner and warned "legal bungling" could lead to speeding problems.

Supt Shaw said: "At that time (March) it was believed the speed limit in force was 30mph following a revision by Gwynedd County Council in 1993, which had previously designated that stretch of the B4391 as a 40mph limit.

"Following an enquiry by a member of the public, Gwynedd carried out a review of the relevant road traffic order and discovered the original road traffic order had not been revoked. Consequently, despite a system of street lighting properly reflecting a 30mph speed limit the section of the road was still in fact the subject of a 40mph speed restriction."


oldsoak

It's allright, they'll just print some extra £50 notes off.

I do hope so.

This all comes down to someone not doing the paperwork...At the end of the day the drivers SHOULD have believed they were in a 30 and so should have been doing 30. Regardless of if a peice of paper held in the council chambers has a 4 instead of a 3.

its mad to see just that stretch of road racked in 18k though! I have to wonder how much a few of the roads in Stoke pocket.

So if a driver belived they were in a 40 when they were in a 30 would they be not guilty of an offence? Historically ignorance of the law hasn't been sufficient to escape guilt but maybe you are on to something.

They didn't stick to the law - they should all be fined £60 and have their licenses endorsed with three points - on each account!

I should have added a smiley. Indeed which is why the thinking it was 30 and doing 35 isn't different to thinking it was 40 and doing 35

And there was me thinking that ignorance of the law is no excuse ..............


BB

^^^^^

Funny thing is, I did and do check that other people have done their job properly.

Imagine if a pilot assumed the fitter had closed all the inspection panels and didn't bother checking themself.

When I was handed a weapon by an armourer or instructor I never assumed they'd cleared it first. I always checked. I still do. Years ago, I nearly lost the top of my head when the guy next to me on the range "dry-cocked" and fired an SLR with the magazine still in it. Trouble was, there was a leftover round in the mag!

If something has changed, I do ask whether the "old" process/paperwork/etc. has been rescinded. And if the answer is "I think so" or "I'm sure Fred did it", my response is "Bl00dy well go and check!"

Streaky

You do love the provocative comment don't you? Where legal matters are involved there well should be someone checking! As a Council Tax payer I expect the Local Authority to have proper systems in place. Especially where the consequences of error mean the citizen is incorrectly penalised and financially disadvantaged.

Councils all over the land routinely make procedural errors like this, particularly with regards to parking. Unfortunately most people either don't realise it or are too reluctant to spend the time necessary to take them to task. What is worse is they are frequently too obtuse or obdurate to admit it when they are found out.

I like streaky's pilot analogy. Here's another. Would you be happy to use a parachute where a second person hadn't checked that it had been properly packed?