A white van driver in Essex has been handed a criminal conviction and a £266 court bill after tooting his horn to attract the attention of a friend. Jamie Spence, 52, was spotted by an Essex Police officer while sounding his horn outside Braintree train station on December 4 last year.
Incident Details
The officer reported Spence for “sounding an unauthorised audible warning instrument on a vehicle”, which led to a criminal prosecution. PC Asa Smith told the court he had started watching Spence’s Ford Transit van after suspecting the driver was exceeding the 20mph speed limit on his approach to the station. “When outside the station, subject vehicle hooted horn a number of times to try and get the attention of a friend, not for the purpose of warning other road users,” the officer wrote in a statement to Colchester Magistrates’ Court.
Court Proceedings
Spence pleaded guilty to the charge. At a hearing last week, magistrate Richard Deacon sentenced him to a £146 fine and ordered him to pay £120 in costs. Court documents reveal that Spence, from Chelmsford, was offered the chance to settle the case out of court but did not respond to a police offer to pay a fixed penalty fine. The case was handled under the Single Justice Procedure, where low-level crimes are dealt with behind closed doors. Essex Police decided to bring a criminal charge on April 29, and the magistrate passed sentence on May 12, deciding on Spence’s case among 110 criminal cases dealt with that day.
Broader Context
Also last week, motorists across England and Wales were prosecuted for offences including not maintaining windscreen wipers, driving the wrong way up a motorway slip road, and attending an illegal road race. The RAC advises that the Highway Code states drivers “should only use a car horn when they need to alert other road users of danger of a collision or in the event of a potentially dangerous situation. It can also be used to alert drivers when approaching a blind spot or corner.” The RAC adds online: “Misuse of a car horn is illegal and can result in fines for the driver and owner of the vehicle.”
