Robbie the Pict takes on Speed Guns

Press and Journal
PICT TAKES ON LAW AGAIN - THIS TIME OVER SPEEDING CASE Date : 17.08.06

Maverick Highland campaigner Robbie the Pict is taking on the law again - this time toprove that a widely-used handheld police speed gun is illegal.
The man who led the titanic struggle to have the Skye Bridge tolls scrapped will contest aspeeding case on the basis that Northern Constabulary was issued a radar device notapproved by the UK Parliament.
He will argue that the Muni Quip K-GP device which allegedly caught him speeding throughRoy Bridge, near Fort William, is not officially recognised in law.
Mr Pict said: "I have no problem with speed cameras or speed limits. I live in a rural Skyevillage where if somebody was doing 40mph they could do damage, but this must be donelegally. If you leave yourself wide open as an authority the whole exercise in controllingspeed becomes futile."
He will argue at the High Court in Edinburgh, at a date to be decided, that while the devicewas covered by 1988 road traffic law, the legislative system changed in 1991 requiring a"statutory instrument" - a mini Act of Parliament.
Statutory instruments do not require full parliamentary approval before becoming law.
Mr Pict said: "I specifically asked for disclosure of the device and was told it was a Muni QuipK-GP, which is believed the most popular of the handheld radars. For 15 years they've useda measuring device whose evidence is inadmissible."
Mr Pict's interpretation of the law is that there would be no retrospective quashing ofconvictions unless those convicted appealed individually.
But he added: "There is a moral duty on a minister of transport to examine something likethis immediately because these are incompetent prosecutions and wrongful convictions."