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#Post#: 84898--------------------------------------------------
Victory for driver fighting speeding charge could lead to 60k co
nvictions being overturned
By: ZigZagZog Date: August 9, 2025, 8:42 am
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HTML https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/tfl-speeding-driver-fights-court-case-lbc-host-iain-dale/
Victory for driver fighting speeding charge could lead to 60k
convictions being overturned
Previous motorists prosecuted include LBC radio presenter Iain
Dale
Gareth Corfield Transport Correspondent
08 August 2025 8:41pm BST
A senior Transport for London manager has claimed that there is
no need to tell motorists whenever speed limits are temporarily
lowered.
Gerard O’Toole, the authority’s network regulation manager, told
a court that he believed details of “emergency” cuts to speed
limits did not have to be made available to the public – even
though such orders effectively create new criminal offences.
Mr O’Toole was giving evidence during the trial of John Dunlop,
55, who is accused of breaking a temporary 40mph speed limit
imposed on the A20 near Sidcup, south-east London, last year.
As many as 60,000 motorists have been prosecuted for speeding
along the same stretch of road between late 2023 and early 2024,
campaigners have previously said. Victory by Mr Dunlop could
potentially lead to the conviction of these drivers being
overturned.
Those previously prosecuted include LBC radio presenter Iain
Dale, who said last year that the case against him collapsed
after a police witness failed to attend court.
Normally the speed limit on that stretch of the A2, which is the
main road between south-east London and Kent, is set at 70mph.
It was lowered at short notice in October 2023 after standing
water formed on the carriageway, causing a traffic safety
hazard.
Mr Dunlop’s defence is that temporary speed limit signs put up
by TfL contractor FM Conway were below the legally required
minimum size.
He also claims they were positioned too low down at the sides of
the road for motorists to see them, as traffic sign rules
require.
Mr Dunlop, of Chislehurst, Kent, also claims a temporary traffic
regulation order (TRO) made by TfL, giving precise details of
where the speed limit had been dropped, could not be read by any
member of the public despite putting drivers in legal peril if
they broke it.
At Bromley magistrates’ court on Friday, Mr O’Toole was asked by
Mr Dunlop’s counsel Chris Jeyes: “You recognise, undoubtedly,
that making a traffic order is making a serious step? It may
criminalise actions that may not otherwise be criminal?”
The TfL manager, who was wearing a grey suit, rimless glasses
with black arms and white-soled shoes, replied “Yes”, later
adding that for temporary TROs: “There’s no statutory
requirement on us to publish them.”
When asked if he believed that the Openness of Local Government
Regulations 2014 apply to TfL – a law which says public
authorities must make formal records of their decisions
available to the general public – Mr O’Toole answered: “The
openness regulations, yes, they apply to Transport for London.
Obviously they don’t apply to the making of traffic orders.
Because traffic orders have their own legislation and own set of
statutory guidance.”
Mr O’Toole also said that TfL had taken out advertisements in
local newspapers the Bexley News and the News Shopper saying
that the speed limit on the A20 near Sidcup had been lowered.
District Judge Sarah Turnock adjourned the case until Nov 13.
#Post#: 84901--------------------------------------------------
Re: Victory for driver fighting speeding charge could lead to 60
k convictions being overturned
By: 666 Date: August 9, 2025, 8:57 am
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"The TfL manager, who was wearing a grey suit, rimless glasses
with black arms and white-soled shoes"
It's good to see the Telegraph homing in on the key points of
the case.
#Post#: 84903--------------------------------------------------
Re: Victory for driver fighting speeding charge could lead to 60
k convictions being overturned
By: Southpaw82 Date: August 9, 2025, 9:19 am
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At least they didn’t say how much his house is worth.
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