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XH558

Established Member
Joined
25 Oct 2020
Messages
108
Reaction score
51
Location
Sawbridgeworth
Hi and thanks for the add to your forum.

My name is Nick and the avatar is of Stanley our Schnauzer and family distribution manager :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:.
I'm a diy'er (is that swearing on here?) and am trying to spend a bit more time 'messing in the shed'.
My first career was that of a building surveyor but for the last 20 years I have been a driving instructor. I currently spend my time delivering Speed Awareness Courses (Hands up who has done one or two or three?) So I'm part time. We also foster.

I'm here to ask questions and to learn.
 
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I reckon the majority here are only in it for the joy of doing it Nick, so welcome from another enthusiastic wood butcher.

I did do one speed awareness course. The forced "play with the people on your table" was insufferable! I imagine its much more enjoyable now as its surely done via zoom?

Love the username. I had the pleasure of seeing her fly a few times and actually live under a mile from the airbase where some of the V fleet were stationed.
 
Hi Nick,

Welcome and another one to have seen your user name in action. I live about 20 minutes from Finningley where she is housed now. Last saw her do a full display at Waddington air show a few years ago. Set off all the car alarms :)

Speed awareness - well I've only done one! It was quite a few years ago now, but I managed to find myself in a Police escorted convoy of football supporter buses being lead to Hillsborough. SYP's finest motorcycle police division escorted us all through a speed trap doing 35 in a 30 zone, £82 and 3 hours of my life I'll never get back.
 
Hi Nick,

Welcome and another one to have seen your user name in action. I live about 20 minutes from Finningley where she is housed now. Last saw her do a full display at Waddington air show a few years ago. Set off all the car alarms :)

Speed awareness - well I've only done one! It was quite a few years ago now, but I managed to find myself in a Police escorted convoy of football supporter buses being lead to Hillsborough. SYP's finest motorcycle police division escorted us all through a speed trap doing 35 in a 30 zone, £82 and 3 hours of my life I'll never get back.
Ah, 558, yes I have invested a few quid in the project over the years. Raised a few quid too.
Great bit of engineering, and so pleased to be at her first public display with my family. My boys could finally see and hear what the old man was on about.

Speed Awareness.............. Great fun to do from my side of the fence. Meeting lots of people, some well known who broke the speed limit. The course is now in its ?4th reincarnation. I can't remember. The group work is really about getting clients to talk and open up a bit. The last classroom incarnation was the best version yet. Very thought provoking and a lot of useful information.

It's now on-line due to COVID-19 and that has its own challenges which are being overcome. Similar content to the pre covid in class course. for me its great as I don't have to get up at 05:30 to get to a venue and set up a room, 2 courses and then drive home. Now I just fire up the laptop and away we go.
 
Ah, 558, yes I have invested a few quid in the project over the years. Raised a few quid too.
Great bit of engineering, and so pleased to be at her first public display with my family. My boys could finally see and hear what the old man was on about.
Bet your glad Bruntingthorpe didn't end up taking her in?
I came to the party late but was very chuffed to be at Shuttleworth, for sadly, the last public display.
Cheers Andy
 
Bet your glad Bruntingthorpe didn't end up taking her in?
I came to the party late but was very chuffed to be at Shuttleworth, for sadly, the last public display.
Cheers Andy
Doncaster or Brunty, tbh Brunty was always favourite but back in 2015 no one envisaged the lease deal at Brunty. Doncaster imho, was a non starter as a final resting place. Airside at an airport? Was never a good idea. Too many things that could potentially go wrong and too many prohibitions but it is what it is.
 
Excuse my "foreigner ignorance" folks, but WHAT is a speed awareness course please (here, if you get caught "speeding" just a little bit you get a hefty fine - I got caught doing 58 Km/hr in a 50 limit and had to pay CHF 100 - about 80 quid - and if you're "miles" over the limit - never happened to me - they "just" take your licence - AND your car - away)?

P.S. I worked on Vulcans once - only a training airframe, during my RAF apprenticeship - - but ended up on Lightnings.
 
Excuse my "foreigner ignorance" folks, but WHAT is a speed awareness course please (here, if you get caught "speeding" just a little bit you get a hefty fine - I got caught doing 58 Km/hr in a 50 limit and had to pay CHF 100 - about 80 quid - and if you're "miles" over the limit - never happened to me - they "just" take your licence - AND your car - away)?
I've not been on one but here, the first time you get caught speeding, you have the option of attending a course where they teach you all about the dangers of speeding. I believe taking this option negates the points(3 points) that would normally be endorsed on your driving license? Having points on your license can increase insurance premiums. Normally, being caught doing 30mph OVER the speed limit leads to prosecution and a hefty points addition (6-9 points) . In theory you can have your license suspended once you get 12 points but there was a recent story in our local paper that claimed there were dozens of drivers with 20+ points and still legally driving. You can claim mitigating circumstances here - like the NEED to drive for your job - and you get treated differently.
 
OK, thanks Brian. What actually happens on these courses, anyone know (from a couple of the above posts, it sounds "interesting")?

BTW, we don't have points on your driving licence here (at least, I don't think so - see what a law-abiding citizen I - usually - am)!
 
From what I've heard it's a bit of a re-education exercise with lots of pictures of accidents due to speeding. I'm sure you might get some 'confessionals' though from those who have attended??
 
I've not been on one but here, the first time you get caught speeding, you have the option of attending a course where they teach you all about the dangers of speeding. I believe taking this option negates the points(3 points) that would normally be endorsed on your driving license? Having points on your license can increase insurance premiums. Normally, being caught doing 30mph OVER the speed limit leads to prosecution and a hefty points addition (6-9 points) . In theory you can have your license suspended once you get 12 points but there was a recent story in our local paper that claimed there were dozens of drivers with 20+ points and still legally driving. You can claim mitigating circumstances here - like the NEED to drive for your job - and you get treated differently.

SAC's were introduced in the UK in the early 2000's. I have been delivering them since 2006. Currently in order to get 'invited' you need to be exceeding the posted speed limit within a range of; speed limit +10% of the limit + up to an additional 9mph. Above that threshold its prosecution time.

So you break the limit, the registered keeper gets a letter and they are required to declare who was driving the vehicle when the offence was recorded. That person is then usually given a choice.
1. Speed Awareness Course (subject to the entry requirements above + £90 course fee.
2. £100 + 3 points on the drivers licence or
3. Summons to court.

It's the drivers choice what they do. Option 1 is the cheapest!!

Driver books the course at a local venue (Pre Covid-19).
Driver books an on-line course.

Undertake the course and most importantly COMPLETE the course and no further action is taken by the police.
Course fee paid which is cheaper than the fine and you didn't get points on your licence. As someone has already commented there is rarely any increased insurance costs either.

The drivers Driver Number is entered onto a National Police Database. So should you get caught speeding in the three years from the date of the original offence the driver cannot return to do another course. 3 years later the driver number is automatically removed from the database. So if they get caught the next day, the database is checked and if they meet the current entry requirements at the time they will get to do another one.

I'm not going to say anything about the course content other than it is very thought provoking for the attendees and huge fun to deliver. You don't get told off or anything like that. You are just given information. What you decide to do with that information post course is down to the driver. I have seen drivers return and they are warmly welcomed.

I hope that gives you a bit of an insight. There are other courses available too, not just speeding. Motorway Awareness, What's Driving Us, Safe and Considerate Driving and RIDE for motorcyclists.

When we started doing these courses we honestly thought that the courses would have a life of about 3-5 years but 15 years later we are still doing them and there seems to be so signs of it coming to an end. The best bit is that the driver chooses whether to get an invitation or not. No one makes drivers offend in the first place.
 
Thanks for the clarification.
No worries. Glad to be of assistance.

Oh, one thing i forgot to mention the number of points needed to be disqualified from driving is only 12 on the totting up process. The actual number needed is ZERO.
Any offence that results in the placement of points on a drivers licence, if tried in the magistrates court, MUST be aware that the magistrates have the discretion to disqualify the driver. It's all in the small print at the bottom of page 126 of the Highway Code..... As Michael Caine used to say, 'Not many people know this'.
 
I'm not going to say anything about the course content other than it is very thought provoking for the attendees and huge fun to deliver. You don't get told off or anything like that. You are just given information. What you decide to do with that information post course is down to the driver. I have seen drivers return and they are warmly welcomed.

I have to be honest, after the 3 hours in a room being forced to interact with the people on my table, and in a room filled mostly with mutes who refused to join in, fun is not what I would use to describe the experience. I did learn a few things about the smart deathtraps motorways and I'm sure some there learned more about some aspects of speed and driving than I did.

At the end of the day it was my fault for getting caught speeding.
 
DBT.

Getting caught. Quite agree. The difference is, before cameras, all one needed to do was keep an eye on the rear view mirror. It was easy to read the word police, written in 'mirror writing"!

John
 
It means you were driving "without due care and attention" as you failed to spot the speed camera as you drove past. :)
 
I did my motorcycle advanced riding course.....best money ever spent....
the test was done by a Police motorcyce instructor...the main test was urban but then we had to do an open road ride....
his words were "if u can keep up safely u've passed".....it was set in the Yorkshire dales....he was riding a Police Beemer....
those stone wall look awfuly solid....hahaha.....
what a great bloke.....
now 72, still riding.......happy days.....

oh, welcome to the mad place, very informative and so many interesting views n people....
 
. You don't get told off or anything like that. You are just given information.

It’s a good few years since I did one, but I was made to feel like a naughty little boy caught with my fingers in the cookie jar. Not a nice experience, but better than points. Possibly comes down to the presenter I guess. I didn’t learn anything new. I still occasionally find myself a couple of mph over the limit. Not intentionally, but it wasn’t intentionally the time I was caught either.
 
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