I’ll fight on vows father who’s lost £30,000 battling £100 speed fine
A DRIVER has spent almost £30,000 on a legal battle over a £100 speeding fine – only to lose.
Richard Keedwell, 71, claimed he was wrongly clocked doing 35mph in a 30mph zone in 2016 and has been fighting the ticket ever since.
The retired engineer appeared before magistrates four times and even took his fight to the crown court on appeal.
But a judge ruled in favour of the Crown Prosecution Service in August, leaving Richard out of pocket.
Bitter
He is now determined to take matters further as long as his legal team say an appeal is worth pursuing.
His Nissan Qashqai set off a speed camera in Worcester as he was driving “around the block to a car park” but Richard insisted there had been a “flawed reading”.
He suggested the camera may have been faulty, or that a car in an adjacent lane may have triggered it.
Richard, of Yate, Gloucestershire, said: “I’m 71. Why would I want to tailgate the car in front like a boy racer?” He was offered a speed awareness course or three points on his licence and a fine.
But taking either would be admitting guilt, so he refused.
“It was time to stand up,” he said. “Why should they [the authorities] be allowed to get away with it?”
Richard has now spent £28,000 on barrister’s fees and court costs.
He also admits he has dipped into some of the money he set aside as an inheritance for his three sons, who have questioned why he was even fighting the fine.
“The eldest thinks I’m mad,” Richard said. “He asked, ‘Why are you bothering?’
“I said it’s like anybody fighting something – sometimes you have to stand up and be counted. But I don’t get much sympathy. I didn’t think it would cost this much.”
Asked what advice he would give someone in a similar position, Richard said: “I would say, very bitterly, don’t bother.”
Last night a CPS spokesman said the case was “complicated”.