Dear All
If you get caught speeding, you have no one
to blame but yourself.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been banned
from driving for six months after being found guilty of speeding.
The spot that he was playing ‘boyracer; is
a notorious accident blackspot on the A9 in Perthshire.
The A9 is a dangerous road, when people were
wondering how to help reduce fatalities, my first thought was that average
speed cameras was the right solution, I am sure you can google and find my
suggestion somewhere. It also turned out to be the view of the Transport
Minister a few days later.
Anyway, rather than lump it and be stoic,
Neil Lennon has decided he is not happy with the verdict, well you wouldn’t be.
In a show of the petted lip, he has branded
the verdict "nonsense."
He was disqualified under the totting up
procedure, if you accumulate too many points, then you get banned, Lennon, 42,
already had nine points on his driving licence when he was caught.
The solution to any speeding problem is
simple, you leave earlier.
Neil Lennon obviously likes driving, and
why shouldn’t he; it’s fun, however Lennon seems to need to retake his driving
test in my opinion, he was cleared on a technicality on another driving charge
just weeks ago.
His continual habit of trying to use loopholes
to avoid being found guilty isn’t terribly dignified in his position!
He is supposed to be a role model, perhaps
he should act like one.
However, you have to admire his cheek, as
he tried to persuade Perth's Justice of the Peace Court that the Gatso radar
machine that clocked him driving at 83 miles per hour was not accurate.
His ‘brief’, Liam O'Donnell, wanted the case
to be thrown out on its ear because the certificate produced by the Crown in
evidence made no mention of the Gatso being accurate at the time.
Some people will try it on, but in Lennon’s
case, Justice of the Peace Allan Robertson rejected the no case to answer submission.
Then he found Lennon guilty of speeding on the
Perth-Stirling dual carriageway.
Mr Robertson said:
"I have taken time to consider all the
evidence before me and I believe the Crown has put forward the case beyond
reasonable doubt and therefore I find you guilty. You were sitting on nine live
points and when somebody reaches that tally they should be very careful about
how they conduct themselves on the road. I am going to add four penalty points
to your licence, which will take you over the threshold for totting up [12
points] and you will incur a six-month disqualification from driving."
Win some lose some!
Neil Lennon was also fined £260 and given
one month to pay the fine in full.
He got off cheap on the fine, so happy endings
all round it seems, bar one, the Crown is happy, the public are happy, his
lawyer is happy.
Lennon added:
"You saw it for yourself. I do want to
say something about it."
Maybe given the circumstances of Scottish
independence going so badly for Alex Salmond and Scotland’s unpopular Deputy
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that Neil Lennon should apply for an exemption from
the Laws of Scotland on the sole basis he doesn’t like guilty verdicts.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
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