A taxi driver ‘clocked’ travelling 50mph in a 30mph speed limit by a misfiring speed camera has proved he was travelling – less than 18MPH.
Andrew Constantine, 47, was stunned when he received a fixed penalty notice (FPN) in Drayton, Norfolk, on February 9 last year.
The father-of-two, who covers more than 70,000 miles a year in his job for Enterprise Taxis, was convinced that he had not been speeding.
He took his case to a specialist motoring offences lawyer and £1,600 and 11 months later the case against him was finally withdrawn at Norwich Magistrates’ Court.
Two pictures taken by the camera, half a second apart, showed Andrew’s car had travelled four metres over the white speed-trap road markings meaning he was travelling at 17.8mph.
Andrew, who was carrying a passenger in her 80s at the time, said: “I’m very pleased and very relieved.
“Being called to court induces a sense of trepidation, even if someone is completely innocent. It was nice to walk into court innocent, leave court innocent and to be completely vindicated. I have an instinct to check my speed.
“Some other people may have just taken the medicine and accepted it, but I was innocent.”
Solicitor Matthew Miller, managing director of Motoring Offence Lawyers who represented Andrew, said: “The lines on the road are there to make sure that the radar box is working.
“If someone had checked the photos to see how many lines the vehicle had travelled, it would have been clear that Mr Constantine was not speeding.”
Because the case was withdrawn on Monday, Andrew could see around 75 per cent of his legal fees refunded – but is still likely to be left out of pocket.
A spokeswoman for Norfolk Constabulary said: “In this case, an FPN was issued in error; however we were not notified that this ticket was being challenged until [Monday] morning.
“The file was reviewed and we have supported the withdrawal of this prosecution.
“If we had been alerted to the precise nature of the challenge at an earlier opportunity, this case would not have reached court.”
She added every camera is tested prior to installation, then calibrated annually, and said it was activated 141 times in 2011.
