New blow for speeding fine couple

A Sheffield couple who spent £20,000 trying to overturn a speeding fine have failed in their latest legal challenge.

Dr Iain Fielden and his wife Vikki claim a speed camera near Huddersfield could not have been accurate as it was set up on a bend in the road.

They have been trying to overturn the £60 fine and three penalty points issued to Mrs Fielden three years ago.

A High Court judge said on Friday the case was "doomed to fail" and refused permission for a further appeal.

Mr Justice Maddison, sitting with Lord Justice Richards, said "a simple case was made exceedingly and unnecessarily complex".

'Inaccurate' reading

Mrs Fielden, 52, of Shirecliffe Road, Sheffield, was convicted at Huddersfield Magistrates' Court in August 2007 after her VW Polo, in which her husband was a passenger, was photographed on the A619 at Brockholes, West Yorkshire.

The camera recorded Mrs Fielden travelling at 36mph (58km/h) in June 2006.

Dr Fielden, a research scientist at Sheffield Hallam University, argued that the reading was inaccurate because the radar beams of the speed cameras only work in straight lines.

The couple were issued with a £15,000 legal bill last year after their appeal against the ticket was dismissed by a judge at Bradford Crown Court.

Dr Fielden, 43, who said he was "seething" at the outcome of the case, estimated that, on top of the £15,000 costs bill, his wife now also faced paying around £5,000 more to cover the fees of her own legal team.

After Friday's ruling, Mrs Fielden vowed to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

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