A man caught speeding by a road safety camera van has been fined by magistrates.
Stuart Dargue, 50, of Newton Arlosh, received three penalty points and fines totalling £784 at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court last Thursday.
The court heard that on July 10 2020, the mobile speed camera van recorded a Ford Transit van travelling at 38mph on Wigton Road in Carlisle.
The driver was offered a fixed penalty of three points and a £100 fine.
The fixed penalty was rejected and Dargue pleaded not guilty to speeding on the basis that he was using the speed limiter device on his van and could not have been travelling above the 30mph speed limit.
It was also claimed that the laser device used to record the speed had been mishandled and that the camera operator had done so deliberately in order to obtain a false speed reading.
An independent expert witness was appointed proving beyond doubt that the speed reading by the laser device was accurate.
The speed was independently calculated using the markings on the road and by analysing the frame rate of the video recording of the offence.
There was no doubt that the vehicle was travelling at a minimum of 38mph, police said.
Sergeant Callum Young, of the mobile support group, said “We will continue to prosecute those putting other road users at risk on our roads.
“Speed is one of the fatal factors in serious and fatal collisions.
“When driving, a few miles per hour can mean the difference between life and death. The faster someone drives, the less time they have to stop if something unexpected happens.”
