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Motorcyclist filmed doing 140mph on A21



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Published Date:
29 September 2008
A MOTORCYCLIST was filmed by police driving at breakneck speeds of up to 140mph as he raced from Hastings to London on the A21.
Police were alerted to the man's dangerous driving following numerous complaints from Hastings residents and drivers on the A21 road - often referred to as the snail trail!

They reported a motorcyclist riding dangerously and at excessive speed on a daily basis.

Police carried out intelligence work with regard to the biker who appeared to be starting his journey in the London Road area of St Leonards.

The method of riding was considered so extreme by investigating officers from the Sussex Road Policing Unit that normal stopping procedures were not considered appropriate.

Instead, the rider was safely tracked using unmarked cars and an unmarked motorcycle in order to gather evidence to support a prosecution.

In astonishing police footage he is seen speeding at over 100mph as he approaches Robertsbridge.

As he enters Hurst Green he is again filmed doing around 100mph - in a 30mph area.

The damning evidence goes on to show him overtaking on solid white lines, driving on the wrong side of the road, doing wheelies, driving one-handed, zipping between lanes, and hitting the horrifying 140mph on the Lamberhurst bypass.

But it was the end of the road for Michael James Collins, 22, when he was arrested at the motorcycle dealership in South London where he works on Wednesday last week.

Collins, who gave an address in Beckenham, Kent, appeared at Crawley Magistrates Court the following day where he pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving.

He was sentenced to a two year suspended prison sentence, disqualified from driving for two years (with the requirement to take an extended test), given 240 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay costs.

Speaking after the case, Inspector Marc Clothier said: "This type of riding is wholly unacceptable and poses a significant risk to every road user.

"Sussex Police will deal robustly with this type of flagrant law-breaking to ensure we make the roads a safer place for everyone to use.

"I hope this conviction will send out a strong message to motorcyclists who choose to use the roads of Sussex as a race track. We will not tolerate this behaviour and we have the ability and resources to deal with these riders."

He added: "Since we took delivery of a number of unmarked bikes, the number of motorcyclists caught breaking the law on our roads has increased dramatically.

"Road Policing officers will continue to deploy such vehicles as long as riders continue to behave in an irresponsible manner."

The full article contains 440 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 30 September 2008 11:51 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Hastings
 
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1

MickyT,

Essex 03/10/2008 20:29:37
Is it just me or was the police bike causing as much distress to the other road users as the guy he was chasing. Watching the video back I think that he had more than enough opportunity to signal the rider and stop him. I am not a bike rider and never will be, but to me it seemed that the police were just egging this guy on to push it a little more. It’s good that this kind of thing is getting stopped, but they should be stopped rather than just keep on recording.

I think the police should be just as ashamed as the guy they caught. They could have stopped this dangerous chase earlier and still got the result they did.
2

Paul-B,

Bexhill 04/10/2008 09:56:15
Wow! What an insanely arrogant and foolhardy display of police work.

If Michael Collins was riding so dangerously - then how come PC ‘Dave’ wasn’t considering that he mirrored every twist of Mr Collins throttle and the tracks of his tyres?

Michael Collins……You are clearly a sharp and talented rider - but you may have just been granted a big favour because normal motorists and pedestrians just cannot be expected to deal with traffic covering ground at those sort of speeds - and when your luck runs out….

PC ‘Dave’…..I am sure that you thoroughly enjoyed this entire ridiculous traffic cop detective project, and you obviously consider yourself a superior rider to the rest of us, but were you personally riding safely and insulating the public from risk while chasing Mr Collins into Hurst Green at 100mph?
3

Cushtymush,

Hastings 04/10/2008 11:06:59
Well done to the police for catching this maniac,he came past our place every morning at approx.70/80 mph,an old person or child,in fact anyone could and would have been hit suffering terrible injuries if not death,thanks to the police for removing him from our roads.
4

White Rose,

W Yorks 07/10/2008 11:19:16
What a legend. Shame he got caught.
Just more zombie commuters pissed off that they are stuck in traffic whilst others zip past.
5

John Spence,

St Leonards on Sea 07/10/2008 12:12:45
Having watched the video, even though I am a motorcyclist my self I feel that Mr Collins was traveling a bit too fast for the road conditions. But I feel that he was being pushed by the un marked police bike, which in my eyes the rider of was being just as dangerous and irresponsible as Mr Collins. The police officer had numerous occasions in which he could have indicated to Mr Collins to pull over. As for the close shave with the oncoming motorbike, it was the Police rider who had the near miss, I too have nearly been hit head on by an unmarked police car in a similar situation. What rule book was the police rider reading from, not the same as mine, and it is obvious that he himself does not know the speed limit approaching Flimwell, or even where he was. If this was a marked police bike the rider would have probably stopped, but he thought that he a race partner, with the amount of radio contact the police rider had he could have had the bike stopped, especially at the Pembury Bypass roundabout, but it is the same old story, they have that magic get out of jail free card, and with there collection of high performance cars and bikes they can violate the rules which us lesser mortals have to abide by. It is nice to see that our council tax money is being spent wisely on Police Toys, because at the end of the day, an unmarked police car or bike is just a toy for the police to break up the mundane job of catching real criminals, and having a play with no threat to their licenses.
6

Blues2s,

Oxford 07/10/2008 22:54:56
Whilst the young guy they nicked was very foolish IMHO and was putting his own life at risk and probably no one else's, the thing that bothers me more is the 'professional' police rider was taking as many chances and riding appallingly.

I thought there was no dispensation for the police to break the law in this manner. At the first offence the rider should have been stopped removing the risk from the public highway. Instead we have a deliberately long shadowing (not a pursuit) keeping the risk high, not only for Collins but for the police rider and the public sharing the road.

It is fairly obvious that the police rider following so closely was having the effect of making Collins ride in a stupid manner.

Also, why is it acceptable for a lone police rider to be using the equivalent of a mobile phone continuously when we are told it is more dangerous than drunken driving?!!

If this chase was at the individual officers decision he should be prosecuted and if at the behest of his bosses then the Chief Constable should be prosecuted as well.

How many deaths this year involving the police getting caught up in the buzz of the chase?
7

Andrew, Hastings,

Hastings 08/10/2008 13:45:14
What were the police thinking?

In the Police's opinion, Mr Collins' 'method of riding was considered so extreme by investigating officers' and yet he was being 'safely tracked' by the unmarked Police bike following, taking even more risks to keep up and most likely causing Mr Collins to ride even faster, as he would have considered the unmarked Police bike to be 'playing'.

Whoever came up with the decision for this chase to continue for so long should be made accountable and justify why the speeding bike wasn't pulled over at the earliest opportunity. After all, road safety is surely paramount, and not gathering good footage for Police, Camera, Action.

I would love to hear why Sussex Police considered 'normal stopping procedures were not considered appropriate.'

I would also like to see the missing minute of footage from the Flimwell (ex-dual) carriageway. Either the Police bike made a serious mistake, which was cut, or he lost sight of the bike in front. Considering Mr Collins' speed, I wonder what speed Copper Dave had to do to catch back up?

I hope the Observer pursues this with Sussex Police and doesn't just roll over and hail it as a victory against nuisance bikers. There are serious issues here. In the fifteen minutes of Police chase there could easily have been serious injuries or fatalities caused, unnecessarily, by both riders.
8

paul -itl,

hastings 13/10/2008 16:38:33
tho i can agree mr collins was driving at such speeds as to be a danger to himself and others (more importantly others!!! ) can it really be safe for some stupid copper to follow him just as recklessly ??? ..did the police even attempt to flash him and see if he would pull over...they were waiting for him, as the route and his speeds were known in advance. so why not try the usuall sirens and flash- pull him over ..why the stupid following ? surley the police had all the evidence they needed by hurst green.
if my children had been killed by mr collins or the even just as pratish high on the bike ride pc dave believe me i would be seeking retribution from them both.

andrew, John Spence, Blues2s, MickyT, Paul-B etc have all worded it up nicely in much better words than my own.
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