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The collectors must not be disturbed

Truckers do it, sales reps do it, pensioners do it, motor cyclists sometimes do it as well and that is give a flash!

As someone who has to drive about 35,000 miles a year on business I like being flashed by an oncoming driver or motorcyclist! Often accompanied by a thumbs-down hand signal by the driver a quick double flash of the full-beam can only mean one thing. The road-savvy know what this means – it means “slow down”.

I have returned the favour on many occasions with pride and pleasure as a public service, perhaps Dave might like to accept this as my part of contributing to the Big Society! It is straight forward common courtesy widely employed by road users to warn oncoming drivers to slow down. There might be a road accident ahead, a slow moving vehicle, something lying on the carriageway.

However the State has decreed that one motorist who used this flashing technique to warn oncoming drivers might be denting the takings of a uniformed tax collector.

Note the “victim surcharge” of £15! Who was the victim here? No one was injured, maimed or had their lives destroyed. There was no victim.

Let’s all carry on flashing and helping each other out on the roads.

From the BBC.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has defended a decision to prosecute a driver who flashed his lights to warn motorists of a mobile police speed gun.


He was fined £175 after being found guilty of wilfully obstructing a police officer in the course of her duties.

Some have questioned if the prosecution was a waste of resources but the CPS said it was “deemed appropriate”.

Thompson, of Augustine Avenue, was also ordered to pay £250 costs and a £15 victim surcharge at the hearing at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court.

He claimed he was flashing his headlights merely to try to warn motorists to prevent them braking dangerously when they saw the mobile speed trap.

A CPS spokeswoman said: “Cost is not a consideration in our decision to prosecute.

“When a file is provided to the CPS from the police, it is our duty to decide whether it presents a realistic prospect of conviction and whether a prosecution is in the public interest.

“In accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors a prosecution was deemed appropriate.”