General Chat

and i need to get this off my chest! a few weeks back,a baby died in a road traffic accident,one of the cars involved,had two bald tyres...my pal at work has just phoned,and said the guy appeared in court this afternoon,and was fined £120,and received three points on his licence...what price a babies life! bryan.

Doesn`t seem right does it, should have got a long sentence for that.

Bryan, we live in a mad world, and it makes no sense, awful xx

Bryan That is awful, beyond words! 3 lousy points and £120 for having an unroad worth car and taking a childs life! That poor family must be distraught Kim x

hiya bryan. words fail me x

the babies father,is still in hospital,as he was badly injured,and might never walk again. the mother had over fifty stitches,mainly to her face and head, when the police at scene told me about the tyres,he said,dont worry we will nail the bxxxxxd. fat chance with our law on motoring offences. bryan.

It is little wonder that the morale amongst our police force has been going downhill for many years - when they manage to get offenders to court - they see them all too often - either get away with it or such a light sentence that it is laughable except to the victim and their family. When can we expect justice? Ann

What was he charged with? It should have been manslaughter. Part of the trouble is that fines are graded on ability to pay. Plead poverty and you don't pay much. Doesn't work that way for fixed penalties, though. He'd have got a fixed penalty of £100, reduced to £50 for payment within 14 days, simply for parking in London.

ann,your so right,but today tony blair has tried to change the terrorism law...and 'civil liberties' have said no way! i'me really upset over this,for reasons i can't give,but there will be some angry people at work tomorrow. bryan.

I agree. It is outrageous. There is a young man who parks his untaxed car in our church carpark without permission. Presumably he is not insured either. Tomorrow we have mothers and toddlers. I hate to think what would happen if he had an accident with one of the children. I suppose we would be responsible. David

Bryan, the trouble is there is no true justice in this country anymore;;; it is full up with do gooders and nothing gets done about things like it should ;; I think the B has fell of Britian and there is definetly no great about it anymore. babs

Years ago when someone died as the result of a traffic accident it was regarded as manslaughter and carried an automatic prison sentence - what has happened to change this? All too often now murder charges are reduced to manslaughter - why? If we cannot have a death penalty - then life imprisonment should mean exactly that. There is no deterrent - life is cheap now - not a precious thing anymore. Ann

a couple of years ago,i was called to a stabbing,in a block of flats,but the man was dead ,and could not be re-sussed. he was stabbed repeated'ly by his flat mate,why? because he ate the last sausage,that was in the fridge. in crown court,he was given five years! yes,five years for taking a mans life! bryan.

I dread to think how many of these 'hoons' driving around like maniacs have no insurance and mot. There should be more done to make sure cars are roadworthy. One of our neighbours I am sure has no insurance or mot on the car he's using. He's been driving it for a good 5 months. The tax ran out end July and he hasn't put any on. They also have an untaxed car sat outside their house in the road again for the past 5 months. Why doesn't anything happen to these people. It's always the poor buggars they hit who suffer.

Diane The man I mentioned had a car with a may 05 tax disk, he now has one with an aug 05 disk. About 10 days ago he said 2 PCs let down his tyres. He was quite indignant. David

Diane - it is an offence to have an untaxed car parked on the road never mind driving one. Inform the appropriate authorities. Ann

I have to go to work in a mo but wanted to add: Diane the chap in your street that you suspect has no insurance and/or mot and/or tax disc...... grass him up luv. Davo............ you need a nice big piece of paper and super glue it to his drivers side FRONT window ........ asking him very nicely not to park in the car park ever again!!! Or just keep calling the Police or councilwho I am sure will tow away the vechicle!! I have done BOTH . In fact one police man ( after a neighbour had reported me for such a deed) offered me a job LOL!! Our law is a very unfair one. Much happiness Debi

Whilst I agree entirely with the sentiments, the driver was in court for driving with bald tyres, and was fined accordingly. He was not charged with killing. The big problem with any case of death caused by driving is actually proving that the driver deliberately caused the death in the first place, this is why there are so few cases taken to court. The fact that a driver is breaking the law at the time of an accident does not necessarily make him or her guilty of killing - a very difficult one when emotions are running high and not much comfort for the victim's family I know, but this is the reallity of it. I think the laws should be tightrened so that those convicted of serious motoring offences, particulary where safety is put at risk are treated with the full force of the law, with a penealy that is sufficiently high to hurt them hard. This is particularly relevant for repeat offenders who just seem to get awy with yet another ticking off and a token fine.

Disgraceful. Our Magistrates and Judges need a taste of the real world, perhaps then they could relate to us. Btw, the garage that passed the car with an MOT should be prosecuted. Tyres don't go bald overnight. Jean x.

''tyres do not go bald over night...........'' true, unless someone take a fancy to your wheels and leaves you with his rubbish!!! however I know of a van that was nearly three years old' A genuine 22,000 miles on the clock, and the front tyres needed replacing. power steering was the reason,(allegedly) Bob