Why SY police chief constable should receive a custodial service
Britain’s most senior traffic policeman could be banned from driving after allegedly being caught doing 90mph on a 60mph road.
Meredydd Hughes, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, has yesterday evening reportedly resigned as head of roads policing at the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).
Mr Hughes was allegedly caught while on holiday in North Wales, where the chief constable is Richard Brunstrom, Mr Hughes’s predecessor in the Acpo role and the most zealous advocate for greater speed-camera enforcement.
Mr Hughes has two previous speeding offences, but they were much less serious and, because they were committed more than three years ago, the six penalty points have been removed from his licence.
Med, as he’s know to his friends, has been summoned to appear before Wrexham magistrates on 21 November.
A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police confirmed that Mr Hughes had been sent a notice of intended prosecution.
A force statement read: “Chief Constable Med Hughes has received a notice of intended prosecution in respect of an alleged driving offence in north Wales in the early morning of a Bank Holiday Monday in May while he was on holiday.”
This is the same Chief Constable who in June argued that “less conspicuous” speed cameras should be considered by police as a way of slowing down drivers.
In an interview with The Times in May, Mr Hughes said that he would have resigned from the Acpo role if he had reached nine penalty points, leaving him one offence away from an automatic six-month ban.
“I try my hardest to stick within the limit,” was his cautious answer when asked if he still sometimes broke the limit in his Audi A8.
So lets get this right……
Meredydd Hughes was appointed South Yorkshire’s chief constable three years ago. His role, on behalf of the South Yorkshire taxpayers, is to uphold the law, to serve and protect the people. It is not to flaunt it.
The rank of senior police officer in charge of road policy for Britain’s chief constables involves; the strategic improvement of the road transport infrastructure, to improve the safety of millions of fustrated motorists stuck on over-congested, gridlocked roads and motorways across Britain and to uphold the law laid down by the government.
This includes the use of speed cameras in areas of accident hotspots. They are strategically placed to save lives.
Three times Mr Hughes has been caught by speed cameras exceeding the legal limit. The previous two times, I presume, he has received the appropriate penalty.
This time, Mr Hughes was allegedly clocked by cameras driving along the A5 near Chirk in north Wales. An Acpo spokesman suggested that the alleged offence was less serious than it appeared because it took place “at 8am on a multi-lane road”.
Traveling at 90mph in a 60mph zone is equivilant to traveling at 105mph on a 3 lane motorway. An instant ban?
So why do I believe the Chief Constable for South Yorkshire should receive a custodial service?
In a high profile position one should always remember you who work for, and how far you can push them. You work for the taxpayer, you’ve pushed them too far. Anybody can fall foul of a speed camera, we’ve all done it, and lets be honest, we were breaking the legal limit. We took the punishment.
Depending on your mentality and your need to drive in today’s world, you soon realise that when the lucky points on your license reach 6, its time to slow down at speed cameras. Three times is stupid. Do we need stupid people, with no adherance to our laws, running our police constabularies? Basically No.
In a taxpaying position of authority, Med should be considered a ‘persistant offender’. Obviously he’s not heeding the warnings previously given.
When he answers the summonds, no doubt it will be whilst he takes a ‘holiday’ day from his post and be driven down by a constable at our expense.
The other points to note are:
Why are the South Yorkshire Constabulary so quiet?
Why, if the offence was commited in May, did he not resign before yesterday when the offence was made public?
Why, if the offence was commited in May, was the Apco not requesting his resignation then?
Why aren’t the South Yorkshire Constabulary asking for his resignation now?
Makes you wonder doesn’t it? Makes you realise where the taxpayers money is squandered.
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Why do these people think they can lord it over policing, and then proceed to flaunt the law they are supposed to serve?
I agree, he should get a custodial sentence for his perpetual breaking of the law.
I also believe he shouldn’t be allowed to resign from the SY Constabulary, he should be fired!
I agree with the sentiments contained in the comments about this hypocritic Chief Constable. However, the law does not permit a court to pass a custodial sentence for an offence of exceeding a speed limit.
Well it’s about time the taxpayer made an example of these law abusers.
We expect and pay for a Chief Constable to behave in a manner apropriate to his office.
If one gets promoted to this office, he should know before he puts his ‘bobby’s helmet on what is expected of him.
To then proceed to flaunt the law THREE timesm then as far as I’m concerned a custodial sentence is a fair prosectuction on the grounds of being totally STUPID.
Shame on Meredydd Hughes for speeding. What a hypocrite he is. Obviously we need tougher penalties made available to magistrates in order to ‘administer justice’ to the Chief Constable if he is found guilty - current law is inadequate.