Don’t make racketeers of our police

by Greg McDonald

Jack Straw’s proposal to tack an arbitrary £15 victims’ surcharge onto already extortionate on-the-spot fines for motorists is daylight robbery.

Britain’s rash of fixed-penalty fines may have proved a tremendous cash cow, with more than three million drivers fined for speeding last year, but, as lucrative as fixed penalties are, much of the huge revenue currently generated by fining motorists is frankly criminal.

While drivers who place others in danger deserve to be punished, an on-the-spot fine of £60 – about an average day’s pay – for a victimless crime like driving without a seat belt forces police officers who joined the force to fight crime to act as common racketeers.

And if motorists think the safest thing to do is pull over, think again. These days it’s easier to drop a batch of guns into Baghdad than to stop the car in a London borough, where wardens pounce like wildcats on hapless delivery drivers who can do nothing but rage impotently that the alternative to parking on the curb for two harmless minutes was to lug 200 boxes of Monster Munch on foot.

Not even Jeremy Clarkson would argue against proper compensation for victims of crime. But in an arena in which arbitrary fines already breed contempt for the law, far from ensuring those responsible for crimes pay the appropriate price, Straw’s proposals present the obscene prospect of rape victims' compensation packages being met by conscientious citizens who simply failed to put their seat belts on.

Comments

[Peter Green]

To read that a senior executive of EDF has shared a cleaning service with Gordon Brown our Prime Minister is ludicrous. Any sane business man would recognise the implications and not get involved. To think the payment to Andrew Brown ( the prime ministers brother ) was settled by tax payers money adds insult to injury. The complete contempt that our MP's have for those of us who have elected them to such a high position is beyond understanding. It makes me wonder what qualifications Mr Andrew Brown had to obtain such a well paid job. Would it be that his brother is Prime Minister. Makes you think, Don't it.

So EDF, I have today changed my supplier of gas and power from EDF to another. I hope many follow this example as we have no other weapons available to us to express our discust towards all MP's and their crass behaviour.

[Real Bogus Anon]

No some consider catholics to be non-christians.

It's like using someone elses name when making statements instead of using your own identity.

[The Bogus Anon]

Anon... Isn't Catholicism a Christian religion?
How is Bliar denying his own god by converting to Catholicism?
Being a mug maybe but not turning his back on the god of the English since it's all the same myth.

[Anon]

Anon is playing games again
with names

Giving Russell
tussle
Is one of Anon's aims.

As for Bliar's religion just shows the contempt with which he held the English. Some people will do anything to get on in Europe ... even deny their own God.

[Russell]

Oops Anon, your passport determines your nationality which of course in the case of Blair is British.......it is then down to what culture the person has decided to adopt and what is considered home.....which in Blair's case is undeniably English.......he didn't seem to like the religion he was born into either and changed that also.
Darling definately Scottish prat.

[anon]

Oops Russell, Blair was Scottish and so is Alistair Darling!!

[Russell]

Gerry, we hear the same old tune about Brown being a prat and Scottish (no arguement there) but we've had an even bigger English prat (Blair) for a lot longer........since when did Smith, McNulty, Balls, Cooper and all the others with no morals become Scottish.......oh, that's right they're English.

[... ... ...]

This Government will rob the people of this country in any way they see fit and nobody seems to be able to make them accountable for what they do.

I would view it better if they hadn't squandered what they inherited from the Tories.

You know how to vote at the next election.

[john]

I am shocked that they only want to screw us for an extra £15.00. It would not keep pace with the MPs expenses fiddles and tax free buying of all kinds of luxuries (that we pay for), and also their gold plated pensions unless it was increased by at least £50. We the general public should say a big thanks for keeping this charge so much lower than their expenditure.
I JUST CANT WAIT TO SEE WHICH PIG HAS SPENT WHAT when the full details of their purcheses are published. I am sure that some of them could and should be arrested for inciting violence, because when we are robbed, and the extent of the robberies are published, I can see an extremely strong reaction. All I can add is that there are surely many more money grubbing to come from these so called servants of the people. The term MP now should stand for Member of the Pigsty

[FCUK ED AGAIN]

People seem supprised that the government want to charge you extra - its what Labour and the conservatives are best at - screw every penny they can out of you by any means.
Bet you dont see a police car getting ticketed or fined for parking on double yellows or a disabled spot when they stop to get a sandwich in the next hundred years !!!!
(BTW - they need to pay the bankers bonuses as well)

[Dustavius]

Why not go to the number10 website and sign the petition to ask the prime minister to resign. Follow the link
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/

[Liza]

'Brown' was never voted in as PM... I am surprised there is not an uprising in this country. What with all these rules & regulations, fines & mad taxation. They have no need to worry about obesity, smoking etc., killing us off, they'll have us all stressed to death. Also,I hope this business of tracking everyones journeys never comes in. I don't want someone knowing every time I leave my property. It lays us open to all sorts. Who watches the watchers?

[James]

Don't blame the police for these fines and laws. Blame this greedy government, who's representatives are fleecing us with their expenses claims. Now we're taxing crime - what will they think of next, maybe windows!!

[Gerry]

This is a government run by a Scottish legal mafia with no morals, shame or basic decency and certainly no business acumen. ANYTHING goes, as long as they think they might wangle a few votes out of it. I used to think the Daily Mail was paranoid about Labour but everything they warned has come true.

[Philius Fog]

Why don't the labour government pack their bags and get out before there is anarachy in this country

[TJW]

How much more that they dump on us. England, the most spied on,taxes to the hilt and much wants more. A russian aquaintance said to me only a few weeks ago. The KGB, Now the "FSB", are little boys compared to Englands Government !!!!!.
I'v Had enough.

[baz]

anybody know witchcraft that would bring guy forks back to life

[jim]

will the last person to leave the uk please switch the lights off...

[Chuck]

These statues (not laws) are only applicable to commercial law, not to common law. Every government organisation is really a corporation whose only true purpose is make money for it's shareholders.

Look up your local policestation, hospital or even the UK PLC on Dun & Brad Street website.

There are two parts to your being, the human and the person (legal fiction) (the government created this fiction when your birth was registered by your parents).

They can only apply these statutes to you if you agree to them by representing the legal fiction (called joinder)

[david]

all you do in this country is get robbed.remeber this is a labour goverment, not that it matters because they all come out millionaires.legal gangsters.

[Chuck]

These statues (not laws) are only applicable to commercial law, not to common law. Every government organisation is really a corporation whose only true purpose is make money for it's shareholders.

Look up your local policestation, hospital or even the UK PLC on Dun & Brad Street website.

There are two parts to your being, the human and the person (legal fiction) (the government created this fiction when your birth was registered by your parents).

They can only apply these statutes to you if you agree to them by representing the legal fiction (called joinder)

[keith in stoke]

Why do these so called politicians just say what ever they are thinking about,have they not yet learned to keep such stupid none sensical thoughts to themselves ? obviously not ,there again why do you and I keep putting up with it ,we have only got ourselves to blame

[Stan]

On the spot fines are against British law. The Magna Carta (which is still in force) says that no person shall be fined or have a charge made against them unless they are heared in a properly constucted court of law. The Government and local councils ignore this and will not accept it in appeals tribunals. They just put up two fingers and say hard luck, pay up! If you think that this is a bad situation then prepare for it to get worse. The EU laws together with it's armed police force are on their way. They will be able to arrest you without giving a reason and hold you for as long as they like and in whatever EU region they like. They will be above the law and answerable to no one but themseves. Fight on, get rid of this government and any party who support Britain being absorbed by the EU. UKIP are our best hope for us to rule ourselves.

[Faraz]

BLOCK VOTE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

[paul]

easy money,and we cannot do anything about it, or can we
my friend was fined £60 in a local carpark because her ticket had blown to the other side of the windscreen and admitedly was face down, but taking it to the offices where the offence had been logged did not make any difference

[Biz-R]

ohno

Am I a criminal if I choose not to wear a seat belt?
Or eat a sandwich whilst driving, or fail to notice a partially obscured parking sign?
Low hanging fruit is what we are.
How out of touch can a government get when the poo hits the fan over their snouts-in-the-trough expenses, and they try to 'improve' the situation by introducing an attendance allowance. Words fail me.

[Sandy]

It's not a surcharge it's an increased fine. I think Labour have had enough and wish to make themselves as unpopular as possible so that they get voted out as soon as possible.
Also don't blame the police for this nonsense this is another half baked idea from the "Labour don't think straight" think tank!

[Garry]

what the hell is going on with this goverment thay have no idea!!!!!

[steve]

whats up, just another way of funding their lifestyle. more back door tax. this goverment said thay where trying to clean up the sleeze, but thay are just as bad as the rest. just another way of taking most people's hard earned money.

[Alec]

I am glad I retired from the force, prior to motorists being robbed blind whilst true criminals appear to receive more consideration than their victims.Common sense policing policy has gone.Political non confrontational dictates and lack of direction rules the day.Under Labour this will get worse, hope the next government shows some morals and reconsiders many things.

[ohyes]

ohno, remember those words.

[ohno]

Don't break the law in the first place?

[justmetisher]

Isn't there a type of double jeopardy clause in the UK? Where it says you can not be convicted twice for the same crime. (this would in this case be per ticket)As the surcharge is like being fined twice.

[ANDY]

yet again the motoring middle man bears the brunt of labours stupid laws,they know we will pay up because we need our cars to work thats if you are lucky enough to have a job,what about on the spot fines for vandals,litter louts,drunks and muggers,I dont think so as they dont have a car to inpound who let these idiots rule the country ?

[stewiewie]

THE POLICE HAVE TO BE SO CAREFUL WITH PUBLIC OPINION.....AFTER MY INCIDENT A FEW YEARS AGO.......I DO NOT TRUST THE POLICE AT ALL.....AT ALL.....AT ALL
THE POLICE SHOULD BE ON OUR SIDE !!! HELPING US..99.999% OF US ARE HONEST......AND REASONABLE FOLK.....i DO NOT LIKE THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING AT ALL........

[JFA]

Andy, don,t put them in the recycling bin, recycled Labour is too much for anyone to stomach.

[les lee]

the police do not need any encouragement to become criminals !
one only has to pick up a paper to see how there is one law for the police and another for the ordinary citizen!!
the traffic police , for example, realised years ago how easy it was , and still is to plunder goods from road traffic accidents without fear of retribution especially when a lorry sheds its load ..
and further to that ... it is mostly the traffic police that have brought the police into disrepute , however if you are a cop then join either the drugs squad or the vice squad to be elligible for the opportunity to make a lot of money !!

[Jason]

Another nail in Labour's coffin.
The prats just can't see the difference between natural justice, which is what the British legal system was based on, and the oppressive use of punitive laws that they learned from Marxist textbooks. Boot them out.

[Andy]

Corrupt and unscrupulous officials beget corrupt and unfair laws. If you want to change the laws you must first change the government. Vote them out and put them in the dustbin where they belong.