Tim Woodall wrote:
On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:28:57 +0100,
James wrote:

"Mrcheerful" wrote

You were offered an inducement to quickly admit the offence, you did not
take up that offer, it is no longer available.

Is that legal / ethical?

Of course it is. Nothing is denying you your day in court. But if you'd
been even marginally awake when you were driving you'd have gone past
whatever camera it was with a "****, I hope the speed limit is 40 here"
and then when the NIP arrived you'd have realized that you were wrong.

There is another issue here which I think transcends our dislike of
speeding. It is an issue of information and access to it. I am of the
view that it is ok for the government to collect large amounts of
information on us but there is a flipside if this information is going
to be used as a weapon against us we should be given immediate access to
it.

In this case there is no requirement for a motorist to keep a log of his
car journeys or speeds. Number plate recognition is often false. A photo
of the event could easily be provided to the accused with minimal cost,
I would be happy with a higher fine to cover this cost.

I find a complete trust in authorities is almost always misplaced and
leads to problems.