Rude driver gets fine and penalty points after caught making hand gesture to traffic police

A cheeky van driver caught making a rude hand gesture at a traffic cop has been charged with speeding and not controlling his vehicle.

Michael Carrick thought he was driving at a safe limit when he spotted the traffic officer holding a speeding gun and gave him the w***er sign.

But instead the roofer received a £315 fine and three penalty points.

The 27-year-old was stunned when he received a letter with the snap, claiming that not only had he been caught speeding but also driving without a seat belt and ‘not being in full control of a vehicle’.

Mr Carrock said he paid the fine and took the penalty points for the speeding offence near Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, in return for police to drop the other charges.

‘It was a brief moment of stupidity though it is all a bit over the top. I did see the camera but I didn’t think I’d been done,’ he said.

‘I suppose I saw it at the last minute – then I get a letter through the post two weeks later. They said I was speeding and also that I wasn’t in proper control of my vehicle.

‘It was a w***er I was calling them. It was all very harsh.’

Michael was caught doing 58 in a national speed limit zone – which drops from 60mph for cars, to 50mph for vans – because he didn’t realise the lane had shifted from a dual to a single carriageway in August.

He then shared the post on social media in an attempt to raise awareness that vans can only do 50mph on a single lane national speed limit road.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: ‘North Yorkshire Police’s fleet of mobile safety cameras are deployed to sites where there is a history of speed-related collisions.

‘Safety cameras are part of a range of tactics – from enforcement to education – that we use to help us in our commitment to protect all road users and keep our roads as safe as possible.’