Job Benefits

It doesn't matter what country you live in- being one of the Only Ones has distinct job benefits not available to mere citizens like you and me.

A police officer "with unusual driving skills" has won his High Court bid to appeal his conviction for dangerous driving after reaching speeds of up to 159mph in an unmarked patrol car.

But of course- his "skills" trump the law of the land. Oh, and his job had absolutely nothing to do with it I'm sure. I wonder what the court's definition of unusual skills is? What scientific process did they use to discover that this police officer's "skills" were more developed than us mere mortals who are charged with speeding when we go over the limit?

Pc Mark Milton, of Telford, Shropshire — described as the “creme de la creme” of police drivers — was found guilty last August following his second trial for the offence after the High Court overturned his original acquittal.

So he got away with it and then was found guilty- third time's a charm!

District Judge Peter Wallis, sitting at Ludlow Magistrates’ Court, found him guilty after ruling that his expertise as a Grade 1 advanced police driver was “irrelevant” to whether or not his driving was dangerous.

Seems to make sense to me- no matter how professional he was still driving at extreme speeds on the public highway. I seem to recall more than one professional racing driver being charged for driving too fast. It is called a speed limit, isn't it?

At Pc Milton’s first trial, District Judge Bruce Morgan acquitted him of dangerous driving and speeding charges in April 2005. In reaching his verdict, Judge Morgan noted that two police officers who gave evidence for the prosecution, including West Mercia Police’s senior driving instructor, had declined to classify the defendant’s driving as dangerous.

Well, of course that makes all the difference- I mean, you too could drive well over a hundred miles an hour so long as you weren't dangerous and the judge would take that into account. Wouldn't he?

A retrial was ordered before Judge Wallis when the High Court ruled that Judge Morgan had misdirected himself. Pc Milton’s second trial at Ludlow Magistrates’ Court was shown footage taken from the camera fitted to a West Mercia Police Vauxhall Vectra. Milton, 40, was seen travelling at more than 100mph on A-roads and up to 159mph on the M54 during the early hours of December 5, 2003.

Pc Milton claimed he was only “honing his skills” as he was trained to do.

Honing. Right. Not speeding on winter roads in the darkness- and every police driver is so amazingly well trained that a mistake could never happen at 159mph, could it? Those speeds aren't dangerous so long as you have the "skills" of a police officer- you've never heard of a cop with driving training ever being involved in an accident have you? And it's not as if anyone else's driving has any bearing on road safety at over 100mph either.

The Only Ones - flouting the laws that they enforce on you.