A British retiree spent £30000 (37,000$) of his money in a failed attempt to achieve “justice” after he contested a £100 speeding ticket.
Richard Keedwell,71, said that he had fought the “seriously flawed” British legal system for nearly three years and used up his sons’ inheritance money.
Keedwell was fined after he was allegedly found driving 35 mph in a 30 mph zone in 2016.
“I really could not believe that I had been speeding,” he told the BBC. “It made a simple day out turn very sour, actually.”
Keedwell, who lives in Yate, a town about 100 miles west of London,recruited the help of a video and electronics expert who told the court the speed camera may have been triggered by a car in an adjacent lane or have been faulty. Keedwell appeared in lower court four times and unsuccessfully appealed to the Crown Court, arguing that there was a “flawed reading” by the speeding camera.
Keedwell said that he had expected the case would be “fairly quick” but had eventually spent “the best part of £30,000”, including about £21,000 in barristers’ fees and £7,000 in court costs, as well as travel expenses.
Keedwell added that he felt guilty his family would miss out and said the case had proved “very stressful”.
“I’m sick and tired at the whole system which is steamrolling ordinary people,” he said.
“I regret the amount of money. I very simply wanted justice.”
Yet Keedwell still plans to continue fighting the case as long as his lawyers advise it, but warns anyone else with a similar case: “Don’t bother.”
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman responded that “some issues raised by the defense led to the need for additional hearings and for expert evidence to be obtained.
“As the case involved both a lengthy trial at the magistrates’ court and subsequent hearings at the crown court to progress an appeal against conviction, the overall length of the case took some time to conclude.”
As reported by Vos Iz Neias