Company bills man for stopping 'speeding' HGV

Peter Swindon 1601 - 1601 • Published 5 Jun 2008 12:00 0 Comments

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A Cowdenbeath man who is campaigning to force drivers to slow down in Perth Road has been slapped with a bill after he chased down an HGV he claims almost killed him.

William Park, who has set up CCTV to monitor traffic, followed the lorry from his home in Perth Road until it finally stopped in Kinross.

A week later the company sent Mr Park a £50 bill for holding up the vehicle.

He explained: 'I pulled out and it came around the corner like a bullet. I panicked and touched the brakes. It swerved to the other side of the road, just missing me. I thought I was going to be wiped out.

'I followed, flashing my lights. I know he was trying to get away from me because he tried to overtake another lorry at one point.

'When he stopped I went to the cab and the first thing he said was "I wasn"t speeding". That"s a bit strange because, if it was me, I"d have asked what the problem is. He must have known why I followed him.'

Mr Park has no intention of paying the bill for wasting the driver"s time. 'I can"t believe they"ve had the audacity to send me an invoice when the driver was speeding,' he said. 'It"s ironic, because I didn"t do anything wrong.'

Mr Park has long lobbied Fife Council and the police over speeding motorists in Perth Road.

He said: 'They"re coming along there at 40, 50, 60 miles per hour. At speeds like that they just can"t stop. And it"s been going on for years. They"re bombing down that road and yet the council and the police don"t seem to be interested. I don"t know why.

He added: 'I"ve spent nearly £2000 on CCTV. I have evidence of speeding cars. I"ve given it to police. Maybe when someone is killed and I capture it on camera they"ll be interested? But I want the council and the police to take responsibility before that happens.'

Fife Police declined to comment, however Murray Hannah, of Fife Council"s Traffic Management and Safety department, said: 'We met with Mr Park and, as a consequence, Slow marking were added to help the situation.

'Since then we have also carried out traffic speed survey work and found that speeds are slightly higher than we"d ideally want to see. We"re now in the process of arranging a new survey near to Mr Park"s house to see if there are any anomalies. We"ve also scheduled meetings with Fife Police and the Fife Safety Camera Partnership.

'Once all of the data is accumulated, and we"ve met with the police and Safety Camera Partnership, we"ll be in a better position to decide what we will do going forward.'

This article appeared in Central Fife Times 05 Jun 08

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