Im Bad

[cheesewiz]

I am so bad

Last Wednesday I was stop by traffic police caught on speed gun doing 40mph on 30mph Coz when im driving in a village it says 40mph then after a few yards away it changed to 30mph i didn't notice it.

I was fined £60 and 3 fix penalty point and the famous police line"You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence".

I know im guilty of speeding and I know its 30 for a reason. So i need to be careful for another 3 years its not intention though just one of those day that i am on a wrong place on a wrong time, i think?

Do you think traffic offence is criminal offence that might affect my future application like brit cit just incase i decided to apply?

[irobot]

Irobot...I have been involved with the Police with reference to my Firearms and the form said.... blah blah blah have you been convicted apart from any minor traffic offences. I know this is not what you asked about but I do really think what you have there is a minor traffic offence and unless asked for specifically ... when filling out a form...do not say... but Do not go robbing any banks...Phil...

[joebloggs]

it's a traffic offence so you should be ok, but if it was more serious (drunk driving, no insurance etc) and you were taken to court, then i think you would have to declare it and it would effect an app for citizenship., then you would probably have to wait 5yrs to apply

[Piamed]

I did my Speed Awareness Course on the 26th. I got caught doing 45mph in a 40mph zone. No idea why i was speeding. Had I being doing 1 mph less i would have been ok. I had to pay 60 quid and lose a day of my time.

[Alan]

Can't get much faster than 40/50 kph here in Cebu City. Not that I want to anyway. However, at least one gets stopped legitimately in the UK. Here in the Phils. as I'm sure you know, they (The traffic police) see a foreigner and think 'Money, Money, Money!!!'

I have not fallen victim yet to the TP but a lot of my friends have - and have 'had' to pay bribes! Notice I did not put the word bribes in inverted commas because that is the norm here - you bribe the police! It is a disgraceful situation!

I have it on good authority (once again from lots of stories) that if you 'hurt' a Filipino on the road, you can kiss goodbye to a million pesos!!!!

Such a beautiful country - but such an awful one at the same time!!!

Al.

[scott&ligaya]

Hi Toks, just two weeks ago a camera got me at 37 in a 30 zone,,,, it was rural area and just approaching a village. I have been given the option of the £60 speed aawareness course so no 3 points. Ihad not seen the 40 zone change to 30, as I was musing over a meeting I had just attended and it was a bright sunny day with no traffic around Serves me right for not paying 100% attention I guess. Now I have a 4 hour lecture to attend.

[pennybarry]

I am so bad

Last Wednesday I was stop by traffic police caught on speed gun doing 40mph on 30mph Coz when im driving in a village it says 40mph then after a few yards away it changed to 30mph i didn't notice it.

I was fined £60 and 3 fix penalty point and the famous police line"You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence".

I know im guilty of speeding and I know its 30 for a reason. So i need to be careful for another 3 years its not intention though just one of those day that i am on a wrong place on a wrong time, i think?

Do you think traffic offence is criminal offence that might affect my future application like brit cit just incase i decided to apply?

Just be careful Cheez and keep an eye on the speed limit
I am sure I'll be caught of my funeral speed of 10-20 mph

My Thai friend was caught Driving without license as her International license run out of date. Since then, police always roaming around her house. She can't drive anymore and sold her car.

[joebloggs]

My Thai friend was caught Driving without license as her International license run out of date. Since then, police always roaming around her house. She can't drive anymore and sold her car.

was she taken to court ? if she was, and if she is not a british citizen already and she wanted to apply for citizenship, she might have to wait 5yrs until her conviction is spent, as it would have to be declared on her citizenship app form.. and may well fail of being of good character part

[Jamesey]

Do you think traffic offence is criminal offence that might affect my future application like brit cit just incase i decided to apply?

No, it won't affect your application at all. In fact, having a few points on your licence is all part of being British!

[Arthur Little]

To quote Alan:

"... at least one gets stopped legitimately in the UK. Here in the Philippines, the traffic police see a foreigner and think, 'money, money, money!!!"

He then goes on to say that although he has never fallen victim to the TP, a lot of his friends HAVE, and have ended up having to bribe the officers concerned ... a situation he [rightly] considers disgraceful.

Indeed it IS! Leaving a provincial city late one Saturday night, the young Filipino driving the car in which Myrna and I were passengers was 'flagged down' by two traffic patrol cops for ALLEGEDLY failing to stop at a red light. He was duly instructed to produce his licence and informed his vehicle would be impounded. Pointing to ME in the back seat, he explained his car was needed to transport a British citizen plus luggage to the airport the following Wednesday, whereupon he was 'cautioned' and allowed to proceed on payment of 600 pesos.

So the practice obviously does [or DID] go on as recently as last September.

[russ01539]

A word of advise toanyone who is stopped for speeding.Always for the 'Speed Camera Calibration Certificate'. The Police HAVE to re-calibrate the speed camera at least once evry 24 hours. This is very often NOT done. If the Police can not give you a copy of the calibration certificate on request you will not be charged for speeding. IF he has one and you can prove your speedo on your car is out of calibration by at least 10% they also can't get you. The person who was 1mph too fast could have won their case. The judge would not consider 1mph to be significant to warrant 3 points and a fine. Although it is cheaper to pay the fine if you can't get legal aid to help pay for a solicitor. The traffic offence you have been caught for will not affect your visa application.

I was also the 'victim' of TP's in Manilla last time I was there. Apparently our van was 'over loaded'. We had 11 people (1 was a young chid) in a van designed to seat 12 people ! I did scratch my head andpoint out a trike that passed us with 7 people hanging on for dear life, but the TP were not concerned for them. It cost 3000 peso to realise that the van was not over loaded. That was on the Southbound highway from Angeles to Manilla near NAIA. They must stop a lot of foreigners on the way to the airport.

[joebloggs]

Pointing to ME in the back seat, he explained his car was needed to transport a British citizen plus luggage to the airport the following Wednesday, whereupon he was 'cautioned' and allowed to proceed on payment of 600 pesos.

i wonder what would have happened, if you said he didn't go thru a red light, and that you would be contacting the PNP to make a complaint


while going to the phils, on the plane i got chatting to a white guy, he told me he was going to a wedding of his Filipino friend, he would be chaperoned by his pinoy friend all the time, as another white friend got lost in NAIA, and ended up somewhere he shouldn't have been, he got taken by 2 guards to a room, they searched him, took his all money and dumped him back in the airport

[pennybarry]

was she taken to court ? if she was, and if she is not a british citizen already and she wanted to apply for citizenship, she might have to wait 5yrs until her conviction is spent, as it would have to be declared on her citizenship app form.. and may well fail of being of good character part

She's holding ILR and doesn't want to apply British Passport. Been here for 9 years. She has penalty but not sure how much

[adam&chryss]

Many years ago in my reckless youth I was taken to court for no tax or mot and it wasnt a criminal offence, it was classed as motoring.
Also in my motorcycling days I received a 21 day ban for speeding ( average of 107mph for 3 miles on the A14 ) and it was classed as motoring.
So unless they`ve changed the laws, which they may have, I wouldn`t worry too much.
If everybody that was caught speeding was given a criminal record i`m sure most of the UK would be criminals!

[darren-b]

I was also the 'victim' of TP's in Manilla last time I was there. Apparently our van was 'over loaded'. We had 11 people (1 was a young chid) in a van designed to seat 12 people ! I did scratch my head andpoint out a trike that passed us with 7 people hanging on for dear life, but the TP were not concerned for them. It cost 3000 peso to realise that the van was not over loaded. That was on the Southbound highway from Angeles to Manilla near NAIA. They must stop a lot of foreigners on the way to the airport.

I've never worked out the overloading rules either, maybe it's only overloaded if there is is a foreigner onboard. Lucky we didn't get stopped yesterday as we were overloaded - 19 in a 12 seater minivan, and the driver would have taken more if the roads hadn't been quite so rough for part of the journey..

[scott&ligaya]

One up for the whiteys....... Last month as we were returning to Pasay prior to me coming home I used the u turn facility on the EDSA opposite the Heritage Hotel and then managed to get a gap in the four lanes to head back up 100 yards before taking a right to get to the back lane for teh hotel car park. Unfortunately the last or inside lane had been "temporarily" reserved for buses as the TP who stopped me tried to tell me. I said that there were no markings and no warning as he tried to show me the offence in his book of offfences listing the 1500 peso fine

. I also told him that i HAD TO USE THIS LANE to turn right into the road which was less than 100 yards back up the EDSA. I had just spend over an hour and a half getting from the NLEX to Pasay beng cut up, avoiding collisions and being honked at by half of Manila's traffic and was alresdy somewhat worked up. I asked for his details and where his station was so as I needed to go to the ATM to get the cash!!!

He decided to let me off with a stern warning

yippeee one up for the foreigner

ps Ligaya was mortified and scolded me for some time after as she said we never argue with the Police as it can be dangerous.

[joebloggs]

Many years ago in my reckless youth I was taken to court for no tax or mot and it wasnt a criminal offence, it was classed as motoring.
Also in my motorcycling days I received a 21 day ban for speeding ( average of 107mph for 3 miles on the A14 ) and it was classed as motoring.
So unless they`ve changed the laws, which they may have, I wouldn`t worry too much.
If everybody that was caught speeding was given a criminal record i`m sure most of the UK would be criminals!

from citizenship application form AN

Criminal Convictions: Civil Judgments
3.6 Do you have any criminal convictions in the UK or any other country (including traffic offences) or any civil
judgements made against you?
Yes No
If you have answered Yes to question 1 above please give details below for each sentence starting with the most
recent one. If you have received more than two sentences you should continue on page 14. Convictions spent under
the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 need not be disclosed (see guide page 18). If you have answered No
please go to question 3.7.
Information may be checked with other agencies


and


You must give details of all criminal convictions both within or outside the United
Kingdom. These include road traffic offences, but not fixed penalty notices which have not
been given in a court. Fixed penalty notices include parking and speeding offences. Drink
driving offences must be declared.
You do not have to give details of any offences which are “spent” under the Rehabilitation
of Offenders Act 1974. Under that Act certain convictions may be regarded as “spent” in the
United Kingdom after certain periods of time from the date of conviction if you have not
been convicted of other offences during that time. “Spent” means that it will be ignored. A
leaflet about this called “Wiping the Slate Clean” is available from the Home Office, Direct
Communications Unit, 2 Marsham Street, LONDON SW1P 4DF.
Criminal record checks will be carried out in all cases. If you have a conviction which is
not yet “spent” under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, an application for
citizenship made now is unlikely to be successful. We would therefore advise you to wait
until the end of the rehabilitation period before making an application.
We will normally disregard a single conviction for a minor offence resulting in a bind over,
conditional discharge or relatively small fine or compensation order, if a person is suitable
for citizenship in all other respects. By “minor offences” we mean speeding or other
"regulatory" offences. Offences involving dishonesty (e.g. theft), violence or sexual offences
are not classed as minor offences. Drink-driving offences, driving while uninsured or
disqualified are not minor offences either.

so if you were taken to court, you may well have to wait 5 years b4 your conviction is spent b4 you can apply for citizenship...

[Alan]

If everybody that was caught speeding was given a criminal record i`m sure most of the UK would be criminals!

Or, if everyone who had exceeded 30mph in a 30 mph zone - then I would deign that 99% of us are criminals.

Al.

[MarBell379]

SP30's given as a fixed penalty are typically not required to be disclosed. (I think I would anyway just to make sure - if they're no problem they should be discounted anyway)

I agree with Joebloggs - if it goes to court it could be a problem, if not - should be ok.

[cheesewiz]

its class as a traffic offence i was told by TP but if i don;t pay the fine i will go to court. What I don't understand is why speedlimit change just only a few yards away? If you don't live on the area which I don't you won't notice it like me. Well, charge it to experience I'd rather drive here than back home unfortunately. Our TP are the worst in the world sad to say, most of the time they invented offences just to get money out of you specially if they think you look stupid or scared.

Feel sorry for those Brits here who got a bad experience with our TP in the Phils....corruption are spreading from the top rank to the lowest rank of the gov't I think our TP motto is "If my Boss can do it, why can't I?" I am hoping that next election in the Phils (2010) filipino people will vote the decent one if there is Majority of Filipino people are getting poorer and poorer and our bloody politician are getting richer and richer.

[Jay&Zobel]

I have had a couple of incidents with the Law, in question to situations to driving:

Firstly, I had an accident i was driving down a country road it was quite damp. I drove over a dip in the road after that the car started to spin, it slid into the verge and into some tree it rolled off the trees and flipped.
The car ended up on the opposite side of the road facing the opposite directon. All was destroyed apart from my drivers area.

I believe the incident wasnt my fault but the police claimed the conditions were fair and that the only one to blame was myself. Luckily, I was on the boarder of the county and I was in Oxfordshire heading into Wiltshire. If I had crashed less than half a mile away I would have had to have gone to court to fight my case.

But the luckily I was in oxfordshire and given the opportunity to just take a 2 day course at the cost of £120 and no points or fines would be given as it was my first offence. Not that i class it as an offence. But hey, I survived that one.



Next a few months pass, I finaly get a new car etc...

All is good, then I get a letter from a court saying there will be a hearing for a driving offence that i had commited and because i hadnt replied they would be starting the hearing without me.

And I need to hand in my driving licence in, as I am no longer legal to drive. So, I contacted the court and they said I was being convicted of driving a rover 200 without tax, insurance, MOT, 3 bald tires, and lastly without a driving licence!!!!! What no driving licence (why do they want me to return my Licence if i don't have one???

Basically, i said this must all be a mistake:
I have a licence,
I have my own car (nearly new, fully insured etc... why would i do these things?)
but they said they would look into it and i would not be able to drive until it had been proven and i would still have to go to court to swear it wasn't me etc.... Great

So i had to stop driving, as at this time i wasnt legal to drive as my licence was revoked. Very lucky i wasnt stopped by the police before hand. i had to wait a month for the court date and claim my innocence.

It went smoothly and they accepted my report etc... but once they approved me. I didnt even get an apology from the courts and still had to wait for my licence to be reissued it was such a pain but i was so happy once it was all turned around. But the thing is it was nothing to do with me.



Ahh some of us have to have fun with these things.


Luckily my licence is still clean. No offences but im sure they will get me.

One day just the other month, i was driving back from London and a Grey car started tailing me on the M4. I was a bit unsure what they were doing and they kept pushing me.

I was very tempted to burn them. But i decided to not push it. I know when you drive certain cars you get some attention to race. I overtook a lorry and held a reasonable speed limit and the car decided to cruise past.
Just so happend as I glimpsed to my right i saw a police officer looking at me. It annoyed me that they were trying to push me so hard but im glad i didnt give in. I think whatever country your in the Traffic Police are never doing there proper job :P


Jay here by the way...

[MarBell379]

Hmm
I now have the problem from the other side.
My fiancee got stopped on her motorbike in Philippines rising with no helmet.
paid the fine, but do we put it on the Visa application form now?

[Florge]

oh my... just 30 to about 45? yaips!

my bf have told me to start learning how to drive slow.... as driving in UK is way to different... not to mention it's right hand drive...

I love speed!!!

[kimmi]

Hmm
I now have the problem from the other side.
My fiancee got stopped on her motorbike in Philippines rising with no helmet.
paid the fine, but do we put it on the Visa application form now?

for me,I dont see the need why u have to put it on her applications since its been sorted already and its not a henious crime.

Goodluck with her application.