It all happened in a matter of 20-30 minutes
I had just finished meeting with a client for work and was on my way home. I was driving up to a traffic light to turn left onto a main road. I had a red arrow for pedestrians crossing (I drive a manual Toyota 86), so I was creeping up to the lights when I reached the line I got a green arrow so I dropped the clutch, accelerated and turned. A moment later, the red and blue were flashing in my rear view , assuming they were trying to pass I indicate and move over to my left lane they follow and at this point, I realise they are trying to pull me over so I pull up to the side of the road, put my window down and waited for the officer to come up .
After a short moment, the officer is at my door letting me know I'm being filmed and voice recorded. He asked me if I knew why he pulled me over while I am sitting there clueless. I suggested a random breath test and he proceeds to explain that I lost control of my car as I turned back at the intersection which I hadn't or, at the least, had not noticed (how do you not know if you lose control of your car?)
He insisted I had let my tyeares slip and drove sideways and that it was on video. I denied it of course because I didn't intentionally (if my car did slip I hadn't noticed, it has great traction control), my car may have lost traction when I dropped the clutch through the turn ( I drive trucks and heavy vehicles while working so I'm used to heavier less responsive clutches ).
The officer breath tested me 4-5 times each time clear. He was clearly agitated and I felt threatened at this point, almost as if he would pull me out of the car. His tone was over aggressive with me. He demanded my drivers licence and went back to his car for a moment and came back shortly after with a traffic infringement notice for negligent driving.
I told him I refused to accept it as it was an unlawful and unfair infringement notice. He wrapped it around my drivers licence and held it out to me nicely folded and enveloped around my license. I asked for my drivers licence back and he held it closer to my face to which I told him I won't accept the notice but I will have my licence back, which led to him trying to convince me I had lost control of my car and I told him again it was unlawful what he was doing, and then he flicked the paper and drivers licence at my face and walked off.
I stuck my head out the window and said to him that he just assaulted me as he climbed back into his vehicle, I grabbed my phone and stepped out to get a picture of him but he was already inside his heavily tinted highway patrol vehicle so I took a picture of the number plate and then got back into the car to put my phone away then climbed back out to talk to him but he sped off. Shaken and upset, I got back into my car and turned into the next street to go back to the nearest police station to file a complaint about the abuse I had received
The constable at the police station was helpful. He gave me 2 options:
1 was to report it to the station Sargent for in station resolution.
2 to take it up with an NSW police website that handles complaints.
I went with the first option, reporting it to the station Sargent and said if I wasn't comfortable with that, I would take it up with the complaints webpage. After it was all done and he had filled out his form on the computer. I asked for a copy for record purposes but he insisted it was an internal affair and had nothing he could give me. At which point I asked for a signed note with a brief detail of it, but insisted he couldn't give anything but a contact card with a barely readable name and "HWP complaint" written underneath.
Basically, what I want to know is if the $425 fine is worth disputing in court with expected costs of around $5,000 and if there's any point in pursuing the complaint.
I've had some terrible luck with fines since I bought this car. I'm currently disputing an unregistered vehicle infringement which is another story which I'm fairly confident I won't have to pay because I was misinformed by the dealership of when the rego was due and I never received an RTA notice to renew
I had just finished meeting with a client for work and was on my way home. I was driving up to a traffic light to turn left onto a main road. I had a red arrow for pedestrians crossing (I drive a manual Toyota 86), so I was creeping up to the lights when I reached the line I got a green arrow so I dropped the clutch, accelerated and turned. A moment later, the red and blue were flashing in my rear view , assuming they were trying to pass I indicate and move over to my left lane they follow and at this point, I realise they are trying to pull me over so I pull up to the side of the road, put my window down and waited for the officer to come up .
After a short moment, the officer is at my door letting me know I'm being filmed and voice recorded. He asked me if I knew why he pulled me over while I am sitting there clueless. I suggested a random breath test and he proceeds to explain that I lost control of my car as I turned back at the intersection which I hadn't or, at the least, had not noticed (how do you not know if you lose control of your car?)
He insisted I had let my tyeares slip and drove sideways and that it was on video. I denied it of course because I didn't intentionally (if my car did slip I hadn't noticed, it has great traction control), my car may have lost traction when I dropped the clutch through the turn ( I drive trucks and heavy vehicles while working so I'm used to heavier less responsive clutches ).
The officer breath tested me 4-5 times each time clear. He was clearly agitated and I felt threatened at this point, almost as if he would pull me out of the car. His tone was over aggressive with me. He demanded my drivers licence and went back to his car for a moment and came back shortly after with a traffic infringement notice for negligent driving.
I told him I refused to accept it as it was an unlawful and unfair infringement notice. He wrapped it around my drivers licence and held it out to me nicely folded and enveloped around my license. I asked for my drivers licence back and he held it closer to my face to which I told him I won't accept the notice but I will have my licence back, which led to him trying to convince me I had lost control of my car and I told him again it was unlawful what he was doing, and then he flicked the paper and drivers licence at my face and walked off.
I stuck my head out the window and said to him that he just assaulted me as he climbed back into his vehicle, I grabbed my phone and stepped out to get a picture of him but he was already inside his heavily tinted highway patrol vehicle so I took a picture of the number plate and then got back into the car to put my phone away then climbed back out to talk to him but he sped off. Shaken and upset, I got back into my car and turned into the next street to go back to the nearest police station to file a complaint about the abuse I had received
The constable at the police station was helpful. He gave me 2 options:
1 was to report it to the station Sargent for in station resolution.
2 to take it up with an NSW police website that handles complaints.
I went with the first option, reporting it to the station Sargent and said if I wasn't comfortable with that, I would take it up with the complaints webpage. After it was all done and he had filled out his form on the computer. I asked for a copy for record purposes but he insisted it was an internal affair and had nothing he could give me. At which point I asked for a signed note with a brief detail of it, but insisted he couldn't give anything but a contact card with a barely readable name and "HWP complaint" written underneath.
Basically, what I want to know is if the $425 fine is worth disputing in court with expected costs of around $5,000 and if there's any point in pursuing the complaint.
I've had some terrible luck with fines since I bought this car. I'm currently disputing an unregistered vehicle infringement which is another story which I'm fairly confident I won't have to pay because I was misinformed by the dealership of when the rego was due and I never received an RTA notice to renew
