Entrance to Boleyn Road, Hackney
In the interests of brevity the particulars of my grievances and concerns regarding the role of the Police in issuing a Fixed Penalty Ticket on 22nd May 2012 for entering a No Entry zone are outlined below. Really interested if other drivers have been lured or caught-out by such unsavoury conduct, please feel free to contact me at sales@morethanav.co.uk or on 07985 776629.
I am eager that any camera footage is preserved in this instance to verify this account which I will appeal, having requested a Court Hearing.
Having begun work at 0400 on 22nd May 2012 – with my work in Highbury, London completed – I was travelling to Hackney at approximately 0945 to see a Client, my second call of the day. In an unfamiliar part of London on a route I had not travelled previously which was not a main road I came to be following a Police car.
The Tom Tom Sat Nav which I use in the course of my business throughout Europe (clearly visible to other road users) showed a route consistent it seemed with the route the Police Car in front was taking, bearing deliberately left on a widening approach road and then turning immediately right to join a main road.
The Police Officer seemed familiar that the Tom Tom would have taken me that route, and also that it would not alert me to the fact that the road was a No entry road; the Police Officer, by his own admission, stated that he could not see the signs until pretty much the last moment so he had pulled over immediately before the corner.
I stayed a reasonable distance behind the Police car in front which moved to left as it approached the corner. As it approached the left hand turn, the car indicated left and then stopped in the road and pulled up next to a car at that time facing in the same direction in which there were two young people talking.
Unsure if the Police car had stopped to take issue with me or my vehicle for whatever reason I pulled alongside the Police car and looked at the driver who was sitting very still and was staring directly ahead. He made no effort to communicate with me. I tried to catch his eye as I was led to swing out and then take a sharp turn left. As I took the corner immediately in front of the Police car I glanced in my wing mirror and it appeared the Police had stopped for some reason not relating to me.
Upon subsequently taking the corner and then indicating to turn right onto the main road the Police car then appeared on my right and I was asked if I knew that I had gone through a no-entry sign, to which I answered no. To be honest I was absolutely oblivious that I had done so, which is self-evident given that there was a Police car now stopped on the corner immediately behind me after turning into the road. I was then asked to pull over to the left, ultimately I was asked to follow the Police car back to the place where they had stopped directly in front of my vehicle, both distracting me and forcing me to go around the outside to take the left-hand turning.
I explained to the Officer that I was in an unfamiliar part of London and was to an extent following my Sat Nav following them back to a Main Road before they had stopped in front of me. I asked at the time how many people they catch like this every day, and stated I had been distracted by having to go around the outside of their vehicle and then swing left. I further asked why they had stopped their vehicle right at the entrance to the corner (at which point I would have had full sight of the signal to my left-hand-side.)
The Officer explained to me that he too had been working since 0330, had never been to this part of London and said had only realized at the last moment that there were No Entry signs to that road entrance, hence he had stopped in the road just before the turning which I maintained had distracted me, inferring that he had deliberately done so. I stated then that I was looking for some sort of sign from him as I was led to go around the outside of his vehicle whether he wished to speak with me, (or with the benefit of hindsight which would have been appreciated if he could have warned me that they too had not noticed unclear signs until they were almost taking the corner.)
My concern is this – on an approach road where by way of inference from the Police Officer the signs were not clear at all until actually committed to turning into the road – since I had borne left as he had done, the Police Officer had every opportunity to make me aware that they – since there were two of them in the vehicle, had only just realized it was a No Entry road. I was clearly following them and the Route they were seemingly intent on taking also, the signs were unclear it seemed to us both as were both bearing left to take the corner.
I accept it is not an Officer’s responsibility to remind me of the Highway Code, but with evidently unclear signage if I am to believe the drivers account that he had never been to that part of London, with him having to stop at the entrance to the corner, it remains unclear why there was not a sign or a signal from the driver given that they had only seen the signs at the last minute, which were unclear to both drivers, moreso to the driver in front.
I fully accept I am responsible for taking heed of clear road signs since I travel by van in excess of 50,000 miles a year mainly in the UK but at times in Europe in the course of my business, but the road signs were unclear particularly in the warming light of the day with a shadow cast over the right-hand sign and the sign on the left-hand side indistinguishable from the red and white Ladbrokes sign immediately behind it.
The attached photo was taken approximately 5-10 minutes after the incident occurred from the opposite side of the road to which I was travelling, therefore the angle was far more acute and the signs were not visible to both the Police Car and even less visible to myself behind. Whereas the term entrapment may be inappropriate in this instance I cannot divorce myself from my over-riding concern that I have been led into this error, by following a Police Car until being distracted to go around it when it stops in the road in front of me whose driver then makes no effort whatsoever to communicate why it has stopped in the road leading me to go around the outside of it. This particular bit of road appears to me to be what is commonly known as a ‘honeytrap.’
The Police Officer seemed more intent on issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice than he did warning me of patently unclear signage which he claimed he himself he had not seen until approximately 3m before the actual turning, evidently letting me endanger myself and any other oncoming traffic. Admittedly the particular road could have been no longer then 40 metres, I travelled at 20 mph on the left hand-side of the road given that a Police Car was directly behind me and there was little danger of a collision, the police car was quite happy to travel on the right-hand side of the road and then pull up to my right-hand side, effectively blocking the road entrance from the other side to ask me ‘Do you know you have just been through a No Entry sign?’
What did he expect me to say in response? Yes? As far as I am concerned they were fully aware of what they were doing and this matter will be reported to the Police Complaints Commission as well as at Court. Common-sense policing? If there had been a collision after the Police Car stopped – ‘who had only noticed at the last moment that it was a no entry sign’ – and who made no effort to communicate that the signs were unclear, would they be equally to blame? If it had been a cliff top would they have warned me? Probably not, simply because they couldn’t issue a ticket for going over a cliff. Furious and if anyone else has experienced this sort of conduct from our beloved Met Police I would be glad to hear from you
honeypotfpn 