Fined £195 for Letting a Police Van Pass — While a Fake Policeman Who Terrified a Driver Got £620

• Stephen James was fined £195 by Waltham Forest Council after pulling into a bus lane to let a police van get past.
• That same month, a man convicted of impersonating a police officer to pull over a frightened young woman was fined £620 — and kept his licence.
• Put the two cases side by side, and they tell you everything about how road enforcement in Britain has lost its way.

Back in January 2023, two road enforcement stories broke within days of each other. We followed and reported both at the time — and together they say more about British justice than any Court judgement ever could.

The first happened on Forest Road in Walthamstow. Stephen James, 37, was in traffic when a police van came weaving through behind him, unable to get past.

He did what almost any of us would do: pulled left into the bus lane to give the van room.

His reward was a penalty charge from Waltham Forest Council for £195.

“The Rules Are Very Clear”

Stephen assumed a human being would look at the footage, see a Driver making way for a police van, and quietly bin the whole thing. He appealed.

The council rejected it. In its statement, Waltham Forest said the rules on bus lanes are clear and “it is the responsibility of drivers to know and follow them” — arguing that after letting the van pass, he should have pulled straight back out into traffic rather than continuing along the lane.

The council does say Drivers who move aside for an emergency vehicle on lights and sirens won’t be fined. In Stephen’s case, it decided the small print mattered more than the obvious: a Motorist had helped the police, and the system charged him £195 for it.

Now hold that thought — because in the very same month, another case showed what you pay for genuinely menacing behaviour on the road.

The Man With the Flashing Lights

Morium Akther, a 24-year-old driving to work near Gateshead, saw white LED lights flashing in her mirror and pulled over — exactly as she’d been taught to do for the police.

But the man who approached her car was not a police officer. Kevin Armstrong, 63, had fitted flashing lights to his own vehicle, and now stood at her window telling her she’d been speeding and driving dangerously, and that he was going to issue her a ticket.

When she denied it, his response — as reported by the BBC — was chilling: “we can either do this the nice way or the nasty way”.

She was rescued only when a passing Motorist realised something was wrong and intervened. She later said she kept thinking about how much worse it could have been, and that she’d felt safe only because she believed he was a real officer.

Armstrong was convicted of impersonating a police officer. His punishment? A £620 fine and 3 penalty points. Women’s safety campaigners called the sentence no deterrent at all.

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£195 vs £620: Do the Maths

So there it is. Help a police van get through traffic, and the system charges you £195 with an appeal that goes nowhere.

Frighten a young woman half to death by posing as a police officer, and the system charges you £620 and lets you drive home.

One of those penalties was generated by a camera and defended by a press office. The other required a criminal conviction in front of magistrates. And barely £400 separates them.

Is that a system weighing right and wrong — or a system that’s simply very, very good at collecting from the compliant?

Why This Matters for Your Licence

The lesson from Stephen’s case applies to every envelope that lands on your doormat: automated enforcement doesn’t do common sense, and the first appeal often runs into a wall of standard wording. Reasonable behaviour is no protection unless someone actually fights your corner.

That’s survivable when it’s a £195 bus lane charge. When it’s a NIP, points, or a potential ban, the stakes are your licence and your livelihood — and that’s when a specialist matters. DriveProtect™ Members get direct access to a specialist Speeding Solicitor who reviews their case and advises them exactly what to respond, for a fraction of the normal cost of legal help.

Got a NIP or points on your licence right now? See how DriveProtect Membership works — a specialist Speeding Solicitor in your corner from £25/month.