Operation Snap: Man admits dangerous driving on the A5 Watling Street

A 50-year-old man has been disqualified from driving for 12 months after footage capturing him driving dangerously was submitted to Northamptonshire Police’s online reporting service – Operation Snap.

John Downes was recorded by another driver’s dash-cam as he overtook on solid white lines into the path of oncoming traffic on the A5 Watling Street, near the village of Dodford, shortly before 1pm on March 21 this year.

In the footage, Downes, of Leicester Road in Shilton, Coventry, was driving his Audi Q7 north along the busy single carriageway when he carried out the dangerous manoeuvre, forcing an oncoming motorist to mount the verge to avoid a three-vehicle collision.

The footage was uploaded to the Force’s Operation Snap online portal and when reviewed, police officers believed that the video proved Downes had deliberately caused the motorist to take evasive action, endangering both himself and other road users.

Downes was issued with a notice of intended prosecution and on Monday, July 15, appeared before Northampton Magistrates’ Court, where he pleaded guilty to one count of driving his motor vehicle dangerously.

He was disqualified from driving for 12 months and will have to take an extended driving test to regain his licence. Downes must also complete 150 hours of unpaid community work, pay £85 costs and £114 victim surcharge.

PC Mo Allsopp-Clarke of Northamptonshire Police’s Safer Roads Team said: “It is hard to understand why so many people continue to put their own life and the lives of others at risk when the consequences of getting it wrong are so extreme.

“Holding a driving licence is a privilege, not a right and it’s clear from the footage that John Downes’ driving on that day fell short of the standard required to use our roads legally and responsibly. It is just by sheer luck that his actions did not cause a serious collision.

“Together with our Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance partners, reducing the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on our roads remains our focus, and we are pleased another dangerous driver has been taken off our roads.

“We take instances of poor driving very seriously and through Operation Snap, 29 drivers have been successfully prosecuted for dangerous driving since its launch four years ago. We would encourage people to install dash-cams to help us make our roads safer for everyone.”

People can report driving offences by uploading video evidence via the simple online Operation Snap portal on the Force website and completing a form, which automatically creates a witness statement to provide a full account of the incident.

Reports are then triaged by trained police staff, who check the footage to ensure it falls within the scheme's remit and contains clear views of an offender’s number plates so they can be identified.

If it matches the Operation Snap criteria, police officers in the Safer Roads Team then examine the footage. If a driving offence is identified, legal proceedings will begin where required.

The team only has 14 days to investigate any offences and members of the public are asked to submit their videos as soon after the incident as possible to allow the maximum time for the footage to be reviewed.

Anyone who submits footage via Operation Snap can find out the outcome of their submission by following the link on their confirmation email which will take them to a monthly update.

For more information about Operation Snap or to submit video footage, visit the Northamptonshire Police website at www.northants.police.uk/OpSnap