Cop never saw me but gave me a ticket!

**MikeL** · 5th February 2006, 13:03

This is worrying. Assuming your version of the incident is accurate, to issue a ticket on the uncorroborated complaint of another road user is an affront to the principles of justice on which our legal system is supposedly based. Yet it is not the only instance I have heard of. All I can assume is that it is a cynical ploy resting on the assumption that a certain percentage of victims will be deterred from pursuing justice through the courts.
Write in, girlie, categorically deny the offence, state the facts, say you will defend it. If they refuse to drop it, I will be as flabbergasted as you were.

**madboy** · 5th February 2006, 13:36

Girlie, welcome to the jungle.

I'm with the others, write in. Whether you choose to actually take it as far as a defended hearing is up to you - time, money all that must be considered before deciding just how far you want to go. But a letter and idle threats of taking it to a defended hearing don't cost you anything.

**Coyote** · 5th February 2006, 14:58

Surely you're having us on? From what I understand from all this I could call up my old neighbour and say she's been driving at the speed of light mowing down Mum's with their prams and she'll get a ticket. That can't be right

**Str8 Jacket** · 5th February 2006, 15:21

Welcome to the site.
If you do decide to write in to dispute the ticket, you will actually need to request a court hearing... If you don't then they will just "ignore" your letter and after 2 months the fine will be imposed into the court system where the court will start hounding you to pay the fine and will enforce it if you don't. Take a copy of the letter that you send to the police and if they dont reply and your fine is sent to the court system you will have the right to file a form 58 (they sent your fine to court without a re-hearing after you applied for one...) and you will have evidence. Good luck! Hopefully the police officer wont have a leg to stand on and your fine will be wiped, i'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

**NotaGoth** · 5th February 2006, 15:31

My sister had the same problem in her cage. I was in the car with her at the time. Guy in front was driving extremely slow and was all over the road. She up and over took. Cop drove past and pinged her for being slightly over 100kmph. Cop turned around and pulled her up. Next thing you know the guy that my sister over took turned up and starts telling the cop that my sister was driving extremely dangerously and did not have 100metres of clear road in front of her. Which is utter crap. There is maybe approximately 3 or 400metres worth. We said to the cop that he could go back and have a look for himself in the same place where she over took the guy. But no he wouldn't. Took the guys word. Slapped her with a ticket. And she didn't have a leg to stand on.

**Leong** · 5th February 2006, 16:09

This sounds so wrong.... I'm with the others, write in and contest it... unless it ends up costing you too much time/money etc

**terbang** · 5th February 2006, 16:34

We pay for a police force to police our roads and now we are getting second hand policing from the general public (unqualified) via the dob in *555. Its a sham and you should contest it and hopefully that Rozzer will be held accountable for dubious practise..
How many burglarys took place while this little game was being played out..?

**Ixion** · 5th February 2006, 16:49

Originally Posted by MikeL

This is worrying. Assuming your version of the incident is accurate, to issue a ticket on the uncorroborated complaint of another road user is an affront to the principles of justice on which our legal system is supposedly based. Yet it is not the only instance I have heard of....

No, it is not, though it is pretty dodgy. Consider: If you saw a man burgling a house, and flagged down a police car and said to them "The guy in that car driving away , there, just burgled this house. Stop him and arrest him." The cop (assuming he did indeed take off after the alleged burgler, and not call a taxi) would be relying on your uncorroborated word. Of course, he'd need you to give evidence in court, as would this case. The police must often proceed on the basis of eyewitness evidence. What is dodgy about this case is that it calls for an informed opinion on the part of the witness, and the cop ahs no idea whether the witness is qualified to give such an opinion (ie a cager can't have any idea how far ahead a bike, - or truck- can see)
. And that is why this case would fall apart in court - unless the witness turns out to be an experienced motorcylist, which is unlikley

**Girlie** · 5th February 2006, 18:34

Presumably if they caught the burglar they would have to find some evidence a) that there had been a burglary
b) fingerprints, stolen gear etc
to corroborate the eyewitness report
Also they'd have a written statement
Giving out a ticket on the say so of joe public is just not on

Thanks for all your support everyone - definitely fighting this one!

**Highlander** · 5th February 2006, 18:48

One time in the Cage we got passed by another cage on a double yellow line, us and cars coming the other way had to take evasive action to avoid a head on. Reported it to the Police about 10 minutes later.
They tracked the guy down he said "don't remember" his word against mine unless the other cars were to also complain (clearly they didn't) end of story.

Contest it if you believe you were doing nothing wrong.

**Indoo** · 5th February 2006, 19:10

Originally Posted by Girlie

Presumably if they caught the burglar they would have to find some evidence a) that there had been a burglary
b) fingerprints, stolen gear etc
to corroborate the eyewitness report
Also they'd have a written statement
Giving out a ticket on the say so of joe public is just not on

Thanks for all your support everyone - definitely fighting this one!

I would ignore Terbangs opinion, for obvious reasons.

However contest the ticket, and take photos of the exact location where you overtook. It sounds like bollocks to me, or we are not being told the entire story.

**terbang** · 5th February 2006, 19:12

Play nice there Indoo. Opinions are just that, opinions. So why the personal attacks...? Too close to the truth..?

**Indoo** · 5th February 2006, 19:28

Nah prolly cos your so far from the truth.

Btw which company do you fly for?

**cowpoos** · 5th February 2006, 19:28

welcome to the site girlie...nice to see another wairarapa biker on here...after all we a genrally well known that wairarapa bikers are the best lookin in NZ :spudbooge

anyway...thats crap...fight it and go shit on the cops lawn...and take out his letter box.... eye for a eye