spotted on The Telegraph website motoring section...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/mai ... rjon17.xml
Camera obscurer
Last year my wife and I visited Avebury, in Wiltshire. After exiting a National Trust car park on the A361, we turned left toward the village. No speed limit signs were posted. After about a mile I saw a mobile camera van which I passed at about 40mph. As I went by I saw a 30mph sign that had been obscured by the police van. Two weeks later I received a Notice of Intended Prosecution for exceeding the limit by 9mph. I'm sure I could have put up a convincing defence in court, but didn't want to incur the cost of taking a day or more away from running my business - travelling to court and staying overnight would outweigh the cost of the fine. Also, if you plead not guilty you have to make three appearances in court (one to plead not guilty, one to agree when your trial will take place and one for the trial). The costs can be enormous. These supposed road safety units rip off the motorist in more ways than one. Fortunately, I had a clean licence until then. We spent about £750 during our three-day break but we'll take ourselves and our money elsewhere in future. I have advised our friends to do likewise.
N.D., Kirby Muxloe
and the reply....
Coombes v Director of Public Prosecutions (Court of Appeal, December 20, 2006) established that if a speed limit sign is in any way obscured you cannot be prosecuted for exceeding it, as long as you were below the previously posted limit.
i always thought that speed limit signs were in pairs, one at each side of the road?
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)