A policeman replies

Sir,

I am writing in reply to the letter of Mr. P. G. Williams (“The Motorist’s Lot”), January issue.

Mr. Williams, I do so feel sorry for you, after all you were doing only nearly 50 in a 30 limit and on the second occasion just over 40. Naturally the letter of the law was rightly observed; we are not employed to allow you and your kind to be Stirling Moss the second, as you nearly were on yet another occasion.

You seem to be under the misguided impression that it is the Police that decide your fine in matters of this kind. May I suggest that you have a morning in the Law Courts in your area, then you will realise that it is the magistrates and them alone.

You call us Goons in Blue and put forward the idea that due to our lack of courtesy and discretion we would be hard pressed to find employment elsewhere. We have been called a lot worse than that, Mr. Williams, but let me point out that your job does not include unpaid overtime, bottles thrown at you, and being knifed and shot at, and sometimes even killed. You, Mr. Williams, have been taken to court, convicted and fined. Have you ever thought that it may have been done to prevent you killing yourself or worse someone else? If you cannot drive your Volvo 144 automatic in a manner required by the law, then you had better sell it and start walking. Or would you then start saying it is dangerous to walk on the pavement as there are too many foot bobbies about.

Smethwick.
J. R. A. Harding.
Police Officer.

[Well said! Although mild excesses in speed limits do not necessarily imply dangerous driving and the shadow of death and far too much time is wasted in Magistrates’ Courts over such “crimes”. Police have a job to do and, in this country, do it admirably except when put on to catching lawless drivers. Mr. Williams’ “crime” was not so much going a bit too quickly but being seen to be going a bit too quickly by the men he called Goons in Blue.—E.D.]