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S Sep 30, 2024 at 20:32 history suggested Mark Amery CC BY-SA 4.0
Favour official gov.uk version of Highway Code over a private company's well-SEOed but imperfect copy of it - see summary at https://law.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/64303 for examples of copying errors. Note link was not in original police source so this edit doesn't falsify the quote.
Sep 30, 2024 at 20:21 review Suggested edits
S Sep 30, 2024 at 20:32
Sep 30, 2024 at 15:54 comment added Richard @MarkAmery - The point here is that an absolute offense is one where you're found guilty on the face of the evidence. The 'a copper told me to do it' part is not a defence that can be used.
Sep 30, 2024 at 15:15 comment added Mark Amery @Richard In the scenario the solicitor raises of being prosecuted after a policeman directed you to commit the offence, I'd rather expect this to be brought up beforehand, in a motion to throw out the charges on grounds of entrapment - not merely afterwards in mitigation! (Note that entrapment isn't a defence per se in the UK like the US; instead it's a basis to ask the court to dismiss the charges against you for being an abuse of process, even though you still technically committed the offence.)
Aug 10, 2024 at 12:02 comment added Richard Note that he's not saying that the excuse will result in you being found not guilty. The mitigation bit happens afterwards.
Aug 10, 2024 at 12:01 comment added Richard @AndrewLeach - The law may be absolute, but from a 'public interest' perspective, no judge or jury is going to find someone guilty if the police explicitly told them where to drive, and a camera snapped them doing so. The CPS would decline to prosecute.
Aug 10, 2024 at 11:46 comment added Andrew Leach RTA 1988 s36 does not have any exceptions. I've no idea where the solicitor got that advice from.
Aug 10, 2024 at 10:58 history edited Richard CC BY-SA 4.0
added 180 characters in body
Aug 10, 2024 at 10:54 comment added Richard @Aetol - Ah, now the law says that you can user the fact that you were asked to move by an ambulance or told to move by a policeman as effective mitigation. You'll still be found guilty of an offence though, because you absolutely did commit an offence.
Aug 10, 2024 at 9:08 comment added Aetol That last quote does not say you'll probably fail in this specific case, giving way to an ambulance is explicitly given as an exception to the general rule.
Aug 9, 2024 at 19:03 history answered Richard CC BY-SA 4.0