Drivers' false address costs millions

This is today's splash story in the Metro - and I must say that I think it's fantastic.
If you don't want to be monitored this is a straight-forward way of dealing with speeding and congestion charge tickets. As I have said in previous posts it is fairly straight forward to register your vehicle in France.
And perfectly legal.
In the story I confess to being registered at an address in Scotland. Though I live in London.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Drivers_false_address_con_costs_millions&in_article_id=471842&in_page_id=34

Thousands of motorists are dodging fines by registering their cars at shadow addresses, costing the country millions of pounds in lost revenue.
The drivers flout the law with impunity by telling the licensing authorities their vehicle is at another location and then ignoring all requests and court orders to pay fines.
With no onus on the true resident at the 'care of' address to say where the registered owner lives, police and local authorities can rarely be bothered to chase them.
Metropolitan Police Authority member Jenny Jones said the deception was costing millions of pounds in lost revenue for London alone.
She added: 'They are getting away with murder. They can cause crashes and cause real problems and we cannot catch them.'
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency allows motorists to register their vehicles with 'care of' addres­ses, which might include a 'friend, doctor, hotel or hostel'.
The scheme was introduced to help people such as travellers who might not be able to provide a permanent address.
But some have cottoned on to the loophole as a way to avoid parking fines, congestion fees and even fines for speeding and other motoring offences.
Some Britons also use the ruse of registering their cars at their second home abroad. Up to 700,000 penalties issued every year to foreign- registered vehicles go uncollected.
Notorious anti-speed camera campaigner Captain Gatso claimed he offered an address in Chelmsford where 'hundreds of motorists have registered their cars'.
He said: 'I have been doing this for many years as have thousands of motorists in the UK. I have three vehicles registered with a friend in Scotland and I live in London.
'I never pay the congestion charge or fines. Everything goes in the bin except the tax disc. Police can't be bothered to track down people who don't register at their home.'
The DVLA said it had to accept details it was given at face value.
But it added: 'It is an offence to knowingly give false or misleading dec­larations and information.'
Ms Jones added: 'It is down to police to follow this through. Far too many forces seem to give up.'

Celebs won't learn

It's all happening today - boxer Frank Bruno gets banned for driving at twice the limit (that's 53mph in a 30mph zone).
And the lovely Jordan gets off a speeding charge on a technicality (she didn't tell police who was driving. Good girl).
Also, England and Gloucester rugby player Mike Tindall has been banned from driving for three years.
If people in the public eye can't concentrate on the rules of the road, then what hope for the rest of us?
And then today I hear that London Mayor Boris Johnson got a £60 congestion charge fine before Christmas - and he paid it! What a clown.
But the biggest clown is still Gordon Brown. The Daily Telegraph reveals today that this colossal idiot lost £4.7billion when he sold our gold at rock bottom prices. He is no more an economic genious than I am. And I would prefer having Jordan running the country's finances than Brown or Darling.
That's nearly £5billion - how many 'schools 'n' hospitals' is that for hard working families, then Gordon?
Pip, pip!

captaingatso.net

Blunkett's Bobbies 'solve less than one crime every four years'

I must admit that I laughed out loud when I read this.

Police Community Support Officers solve less than one crime every four years, according to official figures.

A poll of police forces also showed that PCSOs handed out just one fine every eight months.

Dubbed 'Hobby Bobbies' or 'Blunkett's Bobbies' after the Home Secretary who introduced them, PCSOs were intended to be a reassuring presence on the streets, and are able to issue fixed penalty notices for low-level crimes including public disorder and anti-social behaviour.

Several of the forces who provided figures to a Freedom of Information request - in Gwent, Bedfordshire and Leicestershire - admitted that their PCSOs failed to detect a single crime in the year.

I have been saying since they were introduced thatt hese plastic coppers would not be a patch on the real cops patrolling our streets. Despite Zanu Labour's best intentions they just haven't succeeded. But will we see the end of them??

* To everyone who has been in touch about forign drivers escaping punishment for not paying speeding fines etc. Fair play I say. I recommend that everyone registers their vehicle in France - it's not beyond the realms of possibility. And, believe me (!!), it's a lot easier to do than you think.
So I'm pleased to hear that a fair proportion of those ducking speed fines aren't actually 'foreigners'. But they are in fact fed-up, decent people playing the game to evade losing their livelihoods or face paying what is an extra unfair tax for Wee Gordon.
This is what 11 years of Zanu Labour rule has led to. Be honest, how many are considering this or would do it if it was very easy? Before this bunch of clowns came in no-one would have considered breaking or dodging any laws. But then again we had respect for the police and judges back then too.

AA (!) proposal to take cars off drunks

Here at MAD we are all for making the roads safer (despite what many of our critics would claim) so we salute the proposal from the Automobile Association.

They want to see the cars taken from persistent drink drivers.

We think that's a very good idea. Sadly, speed cameras can't spot drunks - only police in vehicles can do that.

So let's bring in this proposal for the sake of road safety (are you listening speed camera partnerships?) and at the same time enforce it properly with more officers patrolling our roads to ensure these idiots are actually caught, banned and stopped from driving again.

Sorted!