Association of British Drivers - Fighting Fund

[KF328]

As a newbie - like it says opposite - I don't know all the scores and hope TSN site managers and mods will be sympathetic to this post and make it sticky, but if I'm breaking site rules or in any other way being naughty I'm sure you'll let me know. I think it's important enough to risk the wrath of the mods.

You may have noticed some news stories where law-abiding drivers face prosecution from improperly introduced or signed speed limits or potentially inaccurate speed measuring devices. Some motorists have successfully defended their innocence, but other 'innocent' drivers have lost their cases and been convicted. The Association of British Drivers has supported some of the high profile cases which you may have read about, but has backed others too. I'm involved with the ABD, as you might have guessed.

We don't support every claimed instance of rough justice, for obvious reasons, but we DO want to support drivers where specialist advice suggests that there is a problem unresolved, or a clarification of the legal position is needed. Doing so successfully depends on the state of our Fighting Fund. Last year we gave just over £6,000 to help drivers defend unreasonable charges or lodge appeals against unsound convictions.

Next year there are some important cases coming to Court, and £4,000 has already been committed. Your contribution to the ABD Fighting Fund would be much appreciated by the motorists we help, and allow us to continue defending wrongfully prosecuted drivers. All donations will be wisely spent - not on the ABD or its officials, but in support of drivers who can’t afford the cost of justice. We're not talking megabucks here, the donation page of our website asks for £2 up.

Many of our members already make regular donations in addition to their subscriptions, but even so we are also appealing to existing members in 'On The Road', the ABD’s journal. We are also making appeals on some other sites. As we suspect there will be many like-minded souls on TSN, you may wish to make a donation - and can do so at any time - to the Fighting Fund and also join on-line, all safe and secure.

Thank you.

[Insurance Jon]

count me in i'll donate from work tomorrow

[KF328]

Thanks i_j. If anyone has questions or maybe concerns about what happens in the situations described, or would like to find out more on what the ABD is about generally, just ask.

[peterb]

Having been a member of ABD for two years, I wonder how many other TSNers are also members.

[KF328]

Good to see you're staying with the ABD.

If you're a member or fighting fund supporter it would be appreciated if you;d mention the Fighting Fund Appeal to motoring friends and relatives. It's not about getting dangerous drivers off the hook, it definitely is about situations where due to error(s) by the authorities it isn't clear what the speed limit is, where it starts or ends, or maybe the device used to record speed was used outside type approval or gave a false reading for other reasons. It's about this type of case, where the driver couldn't afford to try and get justice on their own. It could happen to anyone.

[KF328]

Bump

[CarMad]

I think you will find we all talk a good fight about us against the system etc. But when it comes down to it very few people do anything about it because the feel they can't make a difference.

We would have to live in France and down tools every time we didn't like something.... thank god we don't but yes we should be doing more to keep the government et al in check.

[KF328]

You're right that a lot of people don't do much or anything at all about it, but we can always write letters to our MP and the local or national newspapers. However we're talking here about definitely doing something, and the something can and does work. The ABD has been involved in a number of cases where (with specialist advice) the motorist has been found not guilty, including some high profile cases where large numbers of motorists have had their fines and points shown to be unsound. A number of others are on-going. We can't give details for 'sub judice' reasons and also because the CPS are learning about the problems from our work in Court, e.g. there are a lot of illegally introduced speed limits, and improperly signed speed limits, and there are demonstrable errors in devices used to measure speed. The CPS seem to like dropping individual cases rather than have a decision go against them that could have wider implications. So we have to be careful. I would dearly like to put some specific details up here but can't for the reasons I've just given.

The basic message is the same - there are drivers who have been shown to be wrongfully prosecuted who couldn't take their case forward without some help, that's what we provide in certain cases and that's what our Fighting Fund appeal is all about. Please do give something to it, the donation page asks for £2 up

[KF328]

Just to save anyone scrolling up the page here we go again

Fighting Fund

Join the ABD

[KF328]

Telephone call to the ABD today:

"Can you help? [An elderly person] has had his car impounded because he had no insurance. The man actually did have insurance but the details didn't show on the police database..."

Someone vulnerable is also feeling victimised right now.

[NeilB]

I'm gonna sign up. Anything to stop the feckers runing our lives on the roads.

[KF328]