The police are free to do what the hell they like. That's the only possible conclusion from today's court decision to let PC Mark Milton walk free for driving at a staggering 159mph on a public road.
Milton claimed he was familiarising himself with the car. Does anyone think a civilian would have got away with that argument?
Amazingly, Milton is planning to appeal against his guilty verdict. The maximum speed limit in Britain is 70mph. Anyone who thinks he should not be found guilty for doing 90mph over the speed limit has no place in the police service.
A close family member (okay my dad) was banned for a week a couple of years back for doing 100mph on the same motorway.
His defence was that if he was banned for longer that his business and the people working in it could be affected badly.
What struck me most about the Pc's case wasn't the speed on the M54 but the fact that he was going at 114mph on the A5 and at more than 70 (I think) on a Telford housing estate.
I can barely get up to 40 on some stretches of the A5 and my own personal view was that such excessive speeds on the roads other than the motorway were far more chilling.
Watching the case on the TV news, I was keen to know what time of day he was on the roads - it must have been in the early hours, surely? I'm sure the Shropshire Star will tell me.
But how much difference does the time of day make, do you think?
Posted by: Linda | August 30, 2006 at 08:55 AM
Linda - I agree. I was amazed a few years ago when someone was caught doing over 100mph on Cyncoed Road in Cardiff. (It's a twisting, suburban road.)
Posted by: Rob Skinner | September 01, 2006 at 02:31 PM