A father was slapped with a hefty fine after he ‘celebrated’ driving under the limit while passing by a police speed van.
44-year-old Ben Baron stuck both his middle fingers at the camera as he went to a known ‘hotspot’ in Lancashire.
“It’s a known hotspot where they put cameras. I knew I was under the limit because I’d been done there previously,” he said.
Ben continued: “It’s on the brow of a hill and as you come round the corner, you can see the van. I saw it and I was elated that I was under the speed limit.
“I carried on giving the guy the finger all the way past, smiling and laughing. I’m sure the guy took it a bit personally and rewound his tape to see what was going on.
“I knew I was being filmed flipping the finger, but I was celebrating being under the limit.”
“I thought I was perfectly fine and it wasn’t an issue, but clearly they’ve decided to make it personal as I had two hands off the wheel,” Ben said.
The father said that he was ‘in tears of laughter’ when he received the legal letter with photos showing him swearing while the person in the passenger seat laughed along.
“It’s a clear-cut case of me flipping the bird at them with both hands. It’s a bit of kudos. It’s so funny – I’m happy to pay the fine,” Ben said.
“I did a celebratory double-flipping, two-handed, which is obviously now leading to the prosecution. I carried on doing it for quite a while – around 200 metres potentially. They’ve got good cameras.
“I think, looking on the internet, the maximum fine is £1,000 for that offence. I decided to launch a GoFundMe.
“Hopefully people with a sense of humour (will donate). I’ll pay the fine off then give the rest to charity if there’s anything left.”
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Replaced!