On the 27th November 2006 Queen Square Chambers successfully represented John Coombes in the Divisional Court.
Mr Coombes was appealing against the decision of HHJ Darlow and two magistrates who refused an appeal against a guilty finding by the court below.
The appeal was by way of a case stated. The question for the court was to decide whether a driver could be convicted of speeding when one or both speed limit notification signs were obscured by overgrown hedgerows.
The appellant argued that the failure to adequately maintain the signs was such that he should not have been convicted of speeding.
The court found that where a speed limit sign was obscured it must follow that the driver has not been given proper notification of the speed limit and thus could not be guilty of speeding in those circumstances.
Coombes v DPP [2006] EWHC 3263 (Admin), The Times, December 29, 2006, LTL 3/1/2006, full text available at
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2006/3263.html
