SARAH VINE: Only in a country waging a vicious war on motorists could driving at 24mph in a 20mph zone land my famous neighbour in court | Retrui News | Retrui
SARAH VINE: Only in a country waging a vicious war on motorists could driving at 24mph in a 20mph zone land my famous neighbour in court
SOURCE:Daily Mail
The actor Colin Salmon is in a spot of hot water. Salmon, you may remember, played the dashing MI6 deputy to Judi Dench's M in three James Bond films.
The actor Colin Salmon is in a spot of hot water. Salmon, you may remember, played the dashing MI6 deputy to Judi Dench’s M in three James Bond films.
He’s also starred in EastEnders, Prime Suspect and a raft of other TV shows and films.
Anyway, he made an emotional appearance at Lavender Hill Magistrates court in South-West London this week.
What, you may wonder, was his crime? Had he been accused of inappropriate behaviour on set? Had he failed to pay his taxes (or, like some Labour MPs, his stamp duty), mugged a granny or robbed a bank?
Had he built an illegal extension or been caught fly-tipping? Had he assaulted someone with a weapon?
None of the above. But he was guilty of an offence, one which carries a heavy penalty and brings shame upon the perpetrator. He had been caught ‘speeding’ at 24mph in a 20mph zone. At 7.17am. While driving his ancient 1.3 litre Suzuki Wagon R.
I can’t begin to describe how much this infuriates me. Only in Britain, only in Sadiq Khan’s London, only in a country obsessed with waging a punitive war on motorists could something so utterly trivial land a man like Salmon in court.
It’s not only a monstrous waste of time and taxpayers’ money, it’s also insulting in a world where knife-wielding maniacs and child rapists seem to roam unchecked on our streets.
Actor Colin Salmon was caught ‘speeding’ at 24mph in a 20mph zone. At 7.17am. While driving his ancient 1.3 litre Suzuki Wagon R
Only in Britain, only in Sadiq Khan’s London, only in a country obsessed with waging a punitive war on motorists could something so utterly trivial land a man like Salmon in court
Why is it that we don’t have the resources to deal with real crime, while inconsequential minor infractions are prosecuted all the way to hell? These are perverse priorities.
Salmon’s case is emblematic of so much that’s gone wrong with this country, and it will resonate with every law-abiding, hard-working citizen who’s ever found themselves caught up in the Government’s bureaucratic web of idiocy – or in this case, one assumes, Khan’s Transport for London (TfL) and/or the local authority where the ‘offence’ took place.
As it happens, I know Salmon a bit. I haven’t seen him for a long time, but we used to be neighbours-but-one in North Kensington.
He was our street’s resident celebrity. He and his wife Fiona have four gorgeous children, and Colin was at the heart of the local community. He is still heavily involved in various youth-related charities, and volunteers in prisons.
He’s not some spoilt celeb in a fancy car who thinks he’s above the law. He’s the real deal. I imagine this ordeal has really taken it out of him, especially since poor Fiona has interstitial lung disease, which is terminal, and recently underwent a double lung transplant.
To top it all, his daughter Sasha had blood cancer in 2019, which must have been devastating for the family.
He himself, now 64, has just had a hip replacement, so has limited mobility. His car, as for so many people who aren’t fit and healthy or young, or who don’t live close to their place of work or have complicated family needs, is his lifeline. Without it, he’s screwed.
Which is why they let him off with a fine and stopped short of taking away his licence. But really, he should never have been in court in the first place, even if it was not his first driving offence. Because the truth is that these days, if you are a motorist, it’s almost impossible not to fall foul of the ‘law’.
And before you say that the law is the law, and if you break it you must pay the penalty: not if the law itself is an ass, which in the case of the vast majority of responsible drivers it very much is.
I know so many people in Salmon’s position, people who have accumulated points on their licences through minor infractions and then suddenly find themselves barred from driving, not to mention sorely out of pocket.
Even the former archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, once fell foul of these draconian limits: in 2022 he was caught doing a whole 25mph near Lambeth Palace in London.
He admitted the offence online and was fined £300, received a £120 victim surcharge, £90 in court costs, and was given three penalty points on his driving licence. Proof that all traffic cameras are, in fact, the work of the Devil.
But really, the whole system is evil. It’s set up to make it as hard as possible for motorists, with cameras everywhere and local authorities given powers to change the rules at will.
It’s not just ‘speeding’, either. Last year, I got sent a fine by Richmond council for driving down a banned road. I had no idea – that road had always been perfectly legal, and then they suddenly decided to change the rules.
Colin was our street’s resident celebrity, writes Sarah Vine. He and his wife Fiona (pictured together) have four gorgeous children, and Colin was at the heart of the local community
In some parts of London you can only use certain roads at certain times of the day due to ‘traffic calming’ measures – when and where is anyone’s guess.
Even the most innocuous looking cul-de-sac can turn out to have some hidden restriction. Only red cars on Tuesdays; no delivery vans on Wednesdays; surcharge for unloading on Thursdays. It’s almost as though someone at TfL has a Random Penalty Charge Generator.
All these measures, which are dressed up as environmental or safety initiatives, are in fact designed for one thing alone: to rake in cash for councils. In 2024, for example, TfL made almost £90million from penalty charge notices issued on London’s red route network (bus lanes, junction boxes and so on). It collected over £360million for congestion charge penalties.
You can’t even drop someone off at an airport these days without risking a fine.
As for speed limits, they are now so random and restrictive it’s actually quite hard not to make a mistake. I’m sure poor Salmon, exhausted at that time in the morning, didn’t think to himself, ‘Oh, I know what I’ll do, I’ll go crazy and drive four miles over the speed limit.’
He probably just drifted into the danger zone because keeping a car, even a clapped-out old Suzuki, at 20mph is actually quite hard. Frankly, it feels like walking pace.
Of course, in Wales, where a mad Labour administration has been in charge for years, they tried to extend the 20mph limit to most roads. Even the Welsh, who on the whole are a fairly benign lot, refused to put up with such nonsense, and the policy was quietly watered down after a record-breaking petition to repeal it.
The 20mph limit is especially ridiculous when you consider that there are people on unlicensed, uninsured electric bikes doing twice that along the vast network of cycle lanes that have been built to accommodate them.
As a cyclist myself, I’m all too familiar with the feeling of being buzzed by some crazed hoodie on a motorised scooter. At least if I get hit by a motorist, he or she is obliged to have insurance, but these guys have zero liability.
It’s laughable. The other day, as I was crawling down the road at a studious 19mph with my daughter in my car, heading to our local car boot sale with a full load, she asked me if I was OK. ‘Sure,’ I said, ‘why do you ask?’ ‘Because you are driving ridiculously slowly,’ she said. ‘Just respecting the speed limit,’ I replied, to her utter surprise (she doesn’t drive). ‘But Mum, I cycle faster than this!’
She’s right, of course. Even I, aged, 58 and with arthritic knees, can cycle faster than 20mph. The whole thing is insane.
It wouldn’t be quite so maddening if the money from all these fines was at least spent on something useful, like extra police on our streets to tackle the real crimes blighting our society.
But you just know it goes on papering over the fiscal incompetence of failing local authorities, who are too busy painting LGBTQ rainbow crossings at junctions and funding other pointless virtue-signalling initiatives to tackle the real problems. So much easier to go for the low-hanging fruit, and hound the few remaining useful members of society to their wits’ end.
Salmon works hard to provide for his family. He is a good father, a loyal husband and a passionate charity campaigner. He’s precisely the sort of person we should be praising, not punishing. And yet if I were him, I would feel utterly demoralised and defeated by a system that seeks to punish any motorist who doesn’t drive like a necrotic snail.