Police Use Social Media Post as Evidence in Case Against Travelling Community

Kinloch Lawyers Proved Social Media Footage Insufficient as Evidence

Baby filmed while sitting on lap of driver in moving car.

Kinloch Lawyers client is a traveller from a very well known travelling community in the West of Scotland.

Her and her family are the target of constant Police attendance.  

She was sitting in her car with her friend as a passenger.  

She was bouncing her baby child on her lap and drove a very short distance.  

The passenger thought it was funny and posted the video clip on social media.  

The Police Have a Bespoke and Dedicated Social Media Unit and Recognised Our Client.

Our client could have lost her driving licence

The client was interviewed in the presence of our Mr Kinloch from David Kinloch & Co Solicitors

The police tried to use the social media post to prosecute our client but failed to provide evidence of any warning to our client, as specified under Section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act.

In the context of the Road Traffic Offenders Act, specifically Section 1, the requirement for a warning does not directly pertain to the need for corroboration. However, the case highlighted that CCTV footage alone might not always be sufficient for a conviction without corroborative evidence.

The Crown Could Not Establish the Mobile Phone Footage

Our Mr Kinloch took various objections to the provenance of the CCTV and after various discussions with the Crown where we indicated the case did not prove and the Crown strenuously disagreed.  He turned up at Court and pointed out the deficiencies in the Crown case regarding no warning under Section 1 of the Road Traffic  Offenders Act, the Crown could not establish the mobile phone footage.  There was no corroboration despite the well known CCTV case of our client.

The Outcome of the Case

What was Agreed

Thankfully, we had a realistic prosecutor and they simply did not proceed with the case.  

Our client was absolutely delighted with Kinloch Solicitors. As part of the travelling community she needs to drive.  She has young children and the loss of her licence would have been catastrophic.