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news
John O'Groats sign (Licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Rob Faulkner).jpgPolice urged to act against motorist who drove from John O'Groats to Land's End in under 10 hours
AA president Edmund King has branded a motorist who drove from John O’Groats to Land’s End in under 10 hours at an average speed of 90 miles an hour as “idiotic” and has called on police to take action against him.
Tommy Davies from Llangollen, Denbighshire, is claiming a new record for the quickest trip by road from one end of Great Britain to the other, completing the 841-mile journey on the route ridden by hundreds of cyclists each year in 9 hours 36 minutes.
He boasted of how the car he undertook the trip in with his friend Tom Harvey, an Audi S5, had been fitted with equipment to warn them of speed checks and intercept police radio transmissions.
The pair undertook the journey last September and later produced a video of their overnight drive, reports the Daily Mirror.
Davies said: "If you speak to a lot of people, the ten hour mark doesn't seem possible to break, with the average speed cameras and the police, the odds were stacked against us.
"A lot of people said it couldn't be done – so we went out to prove them wrong.
"We believe we are the only ones to do it that quick on land – only a FG1 Phantom fighter Jet has done it faster in just under 47 minutes."
It took the pair six years to plan the journey, and it is clear from Davies’s comments that evading the police was one of their key objectives.
"We had spread sheets just full of information just so we could get a good sense of what we were up against," he explained.
"We left at 8pm, which we perfectly timed to pass Glasgow at 11.45pm, then come through Liverpool and Birmingham in the dead of night as they are the most populated areas.
"We needed a car that was fully equipped to handle this sort of thing, so we made a number of modifications to it.
"It's a worthy adversary to a police car, with upgraded brakes taking it to 400 brake horsepower, counter measures to avoid speed traps and a detector to pick up police radio signals so we know if there are any police within a kilometre of us.
"It may just look like a lot of beeps and warning lights, but to us it's vital information that helps us build a picture of what or who is around us.”
AA president King said that Davies had been “idiotic” and “reckless.”
He said: “Driving like that should be confined to the race track and not the public highway.
"Five people per day die on our roads and often inappropriate speed plays a part in that carnage.
"It is an idiotic, irresponsible and dangerous act to set out on such an intentional and reckless mission. No doubt the police will investigate this self-induced death wish."
Davies insisted he did not present a danger to other road users, saying: “Speeding in this country is controversial and it's one those things where you are on the road with other drivers, and who am I to put their lives at risk,” he said.
"We were so focused if there were any other cars on the road I would slow down and make sure the passing rate of speed was safe to minimise any risk.”
The AA’s head of road safety, Ian Crowder, also called for police to investigate Davies and described his behaviour as “outrageous.”
He said: “Britain's road are crowded, and far too many people are injured and killed in road accidents every day.
“For somebody to deliberately set about to break the land speed record, film it, and admit how many police he passed and how many cameras he avoided is an outrageous example of putting thousands of people's lives at risk.
“I hope the police prosecute him. It is almost unbelievable that somebody would do that, deliberately, and then brag about it.
“No matter how skilled a driver you are, he was very lucky to avoid any kind of incident. What if somebody pulled out? He wouldn't have had a chance.
“And to film it? Words fail me.
“I think it will provide the police all the evidence they need to prosecute him,” he added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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43 comments
Speeding requires a S172/nip within 14 days of alleged offence. 6 months to lay charges at the magistrates court. Dangerous driving is the exception
There's also pretty good evidence of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. No limitation period in that offence, and it carries a maximum sentence of life. I'd stick that and dangerous driving on the indictment, expecting him to walk on the dangerous driving but go down for the conspiracy. And as a motor vehicle was used in the commission of the offence, the judge could still ban him from driving on conviction.
"Build up a good picture of what's around us to make sure we don't break the law."
The boy's got balls.
"Idiotic", is that all that King could muster? Why not senseless maniac driver who is atypical of the speeding motorist here in the UK, isn't that actually far more accurate Mr.King?
Pretty much all of us have gone over the speed limit at one point or another, some idiots like myself have even had points in their yoof (though a few were very unfair due to hidden signs and indeed cameras on stretches of road going 40 to a 30 in areas I didn't know), however this brazen criminality that was premediated should see him prosecuted the same as a drunk driver and lose his license.
Except plod will be lame as fuck and do nowt.
Oh that's priceless!
Start off into a rant about speeding motorists, only to admit that you have been caught speeding and then to roll off some of the same excuses the vast majority of other speeding motorists use.
Granted, though, your speeding is nothing compared to selfish ignorant half wit the article is about.
And I said I was young and stupid on the genuine times I was done. However driving at 37 in a 40 zone with no notification of change of speed due to signpost hidden by trees, worn road so painted speed limit missing and hidden speed cameras (as was the norm back in the 90s) was bullshit.
I bet you have always stuck to the speed limit every time, stop being a selfrighteous prat, I can at least own up to my mistakes from 25 years ago, clearly you're little miss perfect!
However there are times when through no fault of your own when you think you are abiding by the law the system/circumstances fuck you over, this has happened to a lot of people.
I also suspect he was uninsured (or at least had not informed insurer of modificaitons.
Also it doesn't matter how fancy your brakes are - they don't effect horsepower
Exactly. If this wanker's driving skills are on a par with his understanding of cars, it's a fucking miracle no-one was killed.
Except the bit where he mentions chipping the car is missing, it makes more sense when that is included in an inproved brakes, chipped and 400bhp kind of way. Slag the dude off, but slag him off for the right bits.
I'll be keeping an eye out for bleeping S5s up the Horshoe Pass from now on.
I think that blame is with the Mirror, not him.
Anyone know what a "VA" engine is? Typo for for "NA"?
Anyway, if it wasn't on Strava then it didn't happen.
It's how mouth-breathers pronounce "V8".
The Democratic Cyclists' Republic of Oxford condemns this.
Isn't brake horsepower the amount of horsepower measured at the crankshaft? Upgrading the brakes on a car isn't going to increase engine power...
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