can a fixed penalty ticket be issued if only one police officer is present without video evidence back up?

[Pavam]

[Pavam]

SPOT ON JNO thank you for that bit of advice.. any more in relation to my day in court are most welcome.. I am thinking aobut getting a barrister without a solictor as they are task paid not time paid?! would this be wise?

[Pavam]

AHm

I know you are right but I can not afford 1500 quid which is what ive been quoted 3 separate solicitors.. it would have been far cheaper paying the fixed pt.. and 3 points...

But you are right.. 100% it is just beyond me at 3-400 quid an hour.. if there was a no win no fee solicitor or a paralegal (at much lower rates) familiar with processes and skilled in arguing then yes please..

I have read the law relating to this and I know verbatum what it says.. it clearly says hand held communication devices. I was on my hands free.. I have no way of proving this any more than the officer has of proving it was a hand held device. It comes to me versus him and his CPS team (sad thing is that his solicitor will probably be paid 200 quid for it).

I am stuck on this brief thing already so you are correct 100 percent about me getting in knots..

what is a brief?

[jno]

do you actually have a handheld phone? Could you produce its records showing it wasn't in use at the time? Could you produce a photo of the one you have got - or even better produce the device itself - in court? All these things are evidence.

[sara3]

you may be entitled to see a Duty Solicitor when you get to court. I assume you've already looked into Legal Aid? could you have paid the penalty and avoided going to court? do you know you can get up to 30% off any sentencing with an early guilty plea?
you don't want to pay £1500 for a barrister yet you come here expecting to find an expert on laws surrounding hand-held devices. I don't know if this is an either way offence but I'd love to see you elect, then argue this in court but watch your attitude, you're evidently not a legal expert and it's going to do you no favours.

[fredpuli47]

Are you a member of the RAC or AA ? Years ago they used to offer legal representation in court, and may do still. Many a young barrister started his career with some of those cases.

[fredpuli47]

By the way, you will only have a barrister if you have a solicitor first. The solicitor 'instructs' the barrister. Organisations like trade unions and the AA have in-house or retained solicitors who process cases and instruct barristers. The reason why young barristers get employed by them in such cases is that the young barristers don't charge much, and it's cost-effective !.The case doesn't require a barrister.'Mr Loophole' the famous defender to the stars in motoring cases is a solicitor and often appears in court to plead their cases.

[eltelioni]

I am no expert but I don't think it is appropriate to brief a barrister for a Magistrate's Court hearing. The case is simple and does not require some expert to challenge the evidence or to interpret the law. The policeman is asserting that you were using a hand-held communication device, you say you weren't. Just go along and say exactly what happened. You haven't really told us all the facts. If you were pushing the button on a bluetooth earpiece - then you should be fine, but I don't understand why the policeman stopped you. If you were pushing buttons on a mobile phone - even if you were only enabling the bluetooth - then you will probably be found guilty. Whatever you do, do not criticise the court system or accuse the policeman of bias or of falsifying evidence in order to meet a quota, or of bad driving because he looked through the side window. That is not going to help - it is not relevant to the accusation and it sounds desperate.