SPEEDING

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Ernie Harbon was driving along a quiet country road with open fields all around when he was flashed by a speed camera. The 62-year-old law-abiding painter and decorator has now been banged up with thieves, rapists and murderers for refusing to pay the £60 automatic fine. Previous graduates include the Brink's-Mat gang boss. Faced with the choice of paying up or going down, Ernie declared, "I have nothing to lose but my freedom and I'm prepared to make a stand on this. Many of these cameras are not there to protect road users. They're there to raise money and that's not right."

Ernie, from South Normanton, was caught as he drove along the A6007 between the villages of Loscoe and Codnor, a few miles north-west of Nottingham. As well as a £60 fine he was given three penalty points on his licence. There were no speed-limit signs and he thought the restriction on the open road was 40mph. He refused to pay and the fine was increased to £400. When he continued to refuse to pay, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Ernie told Derby magistrates, "It's all open fields there and there are no signs saying what the actual speed limit is." But JPs jailed him for two weeks for non-payment of the fine and he was sent to Category B Leicester Prison. Not content with ruining his good name, magistrates took away his driving licence too, so now he's in danger of losing his livelihood. A few days later, police were out in force on the A6007, targeting speeding drivers. The Government's rules on speed cameras say mobile traps can be used if there have been "at least four personal serious injury crashes over a three-year period".

Ernie planned an appeal to clear his name after it was discovered that signs warning drivers about the cameras broke the rules. Road safety expert Richard Brentley said the wording on the speed trap warning signs did not comply with legislation. He said, "They said 'mobile police cameras' and that's illegal." Derbyshire Council promised action and a spokesman said, "These signs will be replaced by 'Police Enforcement Cameras' signs."

But while JPs came down hard on Ernie, the courts have repeatedly failed to get tough on serious crime. Every day feeble judges set free child molesters and career burglars on the thinnest of promises that they will mend their ways. In 2003 child molester Christopher Harris walked free from Norwich Crown Court after assaults on girls aged nine and 10. Pervert doctor Charles Bartlett escaped with a rehab order at Cardiff Crown Court after amassing a huge child-porn collection. Career criminal Mark Patterson was spared a prison sentence for aggravated burglary after the Old Bailey heard he was a talented poet. And at Edinburgh High Court, David Swinburne was given 200 hours' community service. He had killed his wife Margaret, stabbing her 11 times after she admitted having an affair.

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A motorist was arrested at his home, driven 150 miles and held by police for nearly 24 hours without food, because of a SPEEDING ticket. Jeff Simm was also handcuffed to a violent junkie before being taken to a court hearing that lasted ONE MINUTE. He was fined £120 and told to make his own way home by train. But the amazing saga is estimated to have cost taxpayers £1,500. The businessman, whose ordeal began when he was stopped for allegedly driving his VW Golf at 90mph on a motorway in Scotland, said, "It was a complete nightmare. I am still shaken by how badly I was treated." Jeff said he was stunned when, cops pulled up in a riot van outside his home near Manchester and put him in a cell without food for ten hours.

He was again left in a cell and then cuffed to a heroin addict. Jeff, who drives 40,000 miles a year and had a clean licence, said, "On the day I was stopped it rained and there was a lot of spray. I think the police made a genuine mistake due to the poor visibility and stopped the wrong blue Golf. I challenged them in court but couldn't make that original hearing because I was ill and on painkillers. There was an exchange of letters with the police, but they still contacted officers in Manchester to arrest me." Jeff was arrested by police who arrived in a riot van at his semi in Ashton-under-Lyne.

He added, "I think they thought it was a joke at first and even used my phone to call Dumfries and check it wasn't a mistake. After that, though, it was no laughing matter. At the Manchester police station I was handcuffed, stripped of my shoes, belt, laces and personal possessions, then locked in a cell from 11am until 9pm until two officers from Dumfries turned up. I joked on the way they ought to be careful because they didn't want to get stopped for speeding. We arrived back in Dumfries at 1am and I was again locked up without food till 9am. I was then taken to court handcuffed to a heroin addict who'd had to be subdued with CS gas."

Jeff said that although he was innocent, he pleaded guilty for fear of being held in custody any longer. "I just wanted to end the trauma," he said, adding he might sue police. But Chief Inspector Stewart Wilson for the Dumfries and Gallaway force, which last year dealt with an average of just three serious crimes a week, said Jeff got what he deserved. He claimed, "He clearly had no intention of answering the case against him. In order that justice could be administered, an arrest warrant was issued and he was traced, arrested and conveyed to Dumfries."

More drivers than burglars are being locked up each year. There were 15,039 motorists jailed in 2002 compared to 10,178 house breakers. Just 2,570 of those sentences were for serious offences such as drink-driving. Government figures also reveal motorists held on remand awaiting trail have risen 400% but burglary detections average 10%. David Blunkett promised to end the ridiculous system where more drivers are jailed than burglars. The Home Secretary vowed to act after figures revealed that 5,000 more motorists than burglars were locked up in 2002. One had not paid a fine for doing 32mph in a 30 limit.

Mr Blunkett said he was looking at a shake-up to end the "nonsense" of drivers being jailed for minor offences and will hold talks with Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf to ensure the courts take action. He said of the fourfold rise in the number of motorists receiving prison sentences, "That is absurd. I said at the time we should, with the Lord Chief Justice and Constitutional Affairs Secretary Lord Falconer, do something about it. Gradually we're putting the jigsaw together to make sense of what sometimes appears to be a nonsense. We are saying, tougher sentences for people who kill, community sentences and fines for offences that aren't so serious."

Peter O’Flynn was stunned to receive a speeding notice claiming a roadside camera had zapped him, at an astonishing 406MPH. The sales manager, who was driving a Peugeot 406 at the time, said, “I rarely speed and it’s safe to say I’ll contest this.” Officials admitted it was a clerical bungle, but insisted he would still be prosecuted. Cheshire Safety Camera Partnership, which issued the fine, said they would still take action despite the blunder. A spokesman said they would be applying to magistrates for a summons.