Allright, So I finally received a reply saying: I think this solves the matter for me. Thank you all for helping me!!!

This will be Off Topic, but... Thank you! I have been learning English since I was 6 years old, and remember that I started to attend English lessons instead of going to kindergarten I like this language and always preferred it as a foreign language. I did not come to UK to just 'work because there was lack of jobs in Poland' as most Polish people that were just too lazy to go to Job Center and find something suitable for them. I came here firstly - to live on a level worthy of, in a better organized state, secondly - to work and be paid better for what I can do and develop my skills in a more suitable conditions, thirdly - to be self-sufficient and not dependant on my parents. I am ambitious person that want to achieve something in life, unlike other people that just want to 'vegetate'. Btw. Letter was sent out. Anybody knows how long can it take to get a reply? Best regards, MungoPL

Agree. This is how my letter looks now. Will be send today after work. Regards

You got to the point. This is exactly what I meant and was trying to say

Thank you! I like it, and the letter was changed. MungoPL

I agree that beginning could be changed. As you mentioned the current one would be apropriate if they were rude to me etc. Could you please suggest me what would be the more correct beginning then? Thanks!

I think some of still get me wrong. I do know that I am guilty. I do also know that I was not given apropriate information by the Officer (it was not even mentioned by him, what's more - he denied it). And this is exact case as the one with Dutch motorist that was issued summons instead of FPN and passed the matter to the European Commision. I would like to get 3 points and a 60 pounds fine as I would get if the Officer knew about the current law (if only he did not decide of passing the matter to the Court - bearing in mind that he knew at that time of the possibility of FPN being issued to me). I do want to save myself hassle and day off work that I would have to go through if I am meant to go to Court.

What I want to do is to send a letter to the Chief Constable, complaining on the way I have been treated, and the fact that I was not informed of the current law. This is what I wrote: What do you think ?

From Driving in Great Britain (GB) on a licence issued in a European Community/European Economic Area (EC/EEA) country : Directgov - Motoring

Thank you for your quick answer. I will change the beginning and try to fit other information to the text. Regarding my comments about the police. This was the second time when I was given false information by the police officers that were unaware of the current law, but despite that were trying to convince me to what they were saying. This false information could have had an impact on what decisions would have been made by me after it. Eg. first time, after being UK resident for over 2 years, I was told during the routine check that my driving licence is invalid and I should replace it immediately for a UK one. After it, I phoned up DVLA and was told that I am allowed to drive on my licence until it's valid, or for three years, or until I`m 70 yo (whichever is longest period of time). If you mention that I should not include it in my statement, can I make an official complaint? And if yes, can I do it before or after the hearing, and where exactly? One more thing. If I was told that will receive court summons, does it always mean that I will, or is there a chance that I was only threatened?

What would you suggest that should I start it with then? Very constructive advice. Be aware of the fact, that I do wish to plead guilty and everything else I would like to be treated as mitigating circumstances. These are not my words that you've quoted - I mean 'take advantage'. Read this form - in particular explanatory notes in part B on the 2nd page. http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/gr...dg_10030243.pdf

OK, This is what I came up with regarding my defence: "I plead guilty of driving my car with a tyre having a tread under legal limit of 1.6mm. To the best of my knowledge at the time I was stopped I was not aware of the tyre being faulty. I was very surprised when the Officer told me about a defect, as I always do my best to keep the car in the top working condition. Whatmore, I was driving with my girlfriend as a passanger. I was angry at myself because I could have never forgive myself if anything happened to her or any other person as a result of my carelessness. Therefore, I fully understand seriousness of the offence I have unwillingly commited. As my defence, I would like to show that I treat the whole situation seriously and because of that I had the faulty front left tyre replaced straight after the incident (got the receipt as a proof). What's more, few days later I did replace front right tyre as well (got receipt as a proof). I could have replaced both tyres at the same time, but I did not have enough money to pay for both. Also, I would like to remark that 0.6mm depth of the tread that was recorded by the Officer could not be confirmed by the employee of ********* located in ******** in which I had my faulty tyre replaced straight after the incident. Although, measurements taken by the member of staff at ************* that were wrote down for me do not indicate that the tyre was legal at that time, they do show that tyre must have worn out not long before the incident. This is different to the situation if the tread depth would be only 0.6mm. This particular model of a tyre is made of a soft, high-grip rubber, and I personally think this makes it more likely to wear quicker than others. Therefore I commit myself to carefully check condition of the tyres more regulary. There is one more, and last thing that I would like to present. After I was alleged by the Officer of commiting an offence, I told him that I was not aware of the faulty tyre. I also accepted accusation and asked for a fine. I asked whether the Fixed Penalty Notice could be issued. The answer I got was, that it cannot be applied in my case, as I am the holder of a non-British Driving Licence and therefore Penalty Points cannot be imposed on it. What I found out the next day was, that according to changes made to the Road Safety Act 2006 (c.49, sections 8 and 9) that became effective on 1 April 2009, UK Police Officers are now able to issue Fixed Penalty Notices to the European Community or European Economic Area licence holders. It clearly means that I am allowed to take an advantage of a fixed penalty system. Therefore I truly believe that I was given misleading information." What do you think about it?

This is how they were dressed: http://www.kent.police.uk/Your%20Area/Mid%20Kent/Mid_Kent_news/special%20for%20web.jpg Regarding the measurements. Just got back from the MOT test centre. I spoke to the man working there (from his age - 50/60 yo - I can assume that he has been working there for years now and he know what he is saying). I asked him some more questions that I had. He was more than happy to help me, especially after I explained to him what has happened. I was told that the tyre tread depth does not have to be measured whilist being on the alloy, or there's no need the tyre has to be inflated. This is in accordance with MOT testing guidelines. He then told me things that I already knew, like the area on the tyre that needs to have tread depth above 1.6mm etc. He took the measurements of the old tyre and told me that two of the rows in central part of the tyre were out of spec, but were not less than 1.4mm deep. Therefore the tyre is illegal, but (he said) there's no way any part of tread on the tyre is close to 0.6mm. He advised me to take the tyre to the court. Just to make it clear: I didn't ever hope that anybody will tell me that the tyre is good. Thing is, that I do not wish to plead guilty of driving with a tyre having 0.6mm tread (which is nearly bald). I would like to prove that the measurement taken by the officer were incorrect, and and as a result of that: if the proper and accurate measurements were carried out at the time I was stopped (+if they have knew of the fact that I can actually accept points on my license) a FPN might have been issued instead of summons.

Do you mean you didn't see the picture? This picture: http://img233.imageshack.us/i/forum1l.jpg/ 1,26mm 1,62mm 2,28mm

Allright, time for some picture story. I am after work now and managed to recover my old tyre. What I did is, I asked a guy at the tyre centre to measure the depth of the grooves on the tyre. I was surprised when he took out a digital measuring tool , exactly this one: in comparison to what officer used to measure tread depth, which was: Device was calibrated in front of my eyes, then the tyre was measured by a guy from tyre centre and measurements were written down. Three grooves with the depth measured are shown on the photo below: (click to enlarge) Some other photos that you may want to see: What do you think about that? Anybody knows if the depth of a tread needs to be measured on the inflated tyre? I am waiting for replies. Many thanks in advance! Simon

Thank you for your advice. If it goes about endorsing a non-UK license, the thing I found was a Commencement Order No 5 2008 for Road Safety Act 2006 which makes EEC and EU licenses endorsable without the need of possesing a counterpart to this license and/or a GB license (commencement date 1 April 2009). This is what i found on the net about it: Document was called "ROAD SAFETY ACT 2006 commencement dates.pdf" which stated: No, nothing at all... and this surprised me as well.

It would sound to me the same, if only he did not mention the court in what he said.

I will do this first thing after work. As for the serial number, I didn't notice him writing down exactly that, but I saw him writing down tyre make, model and size. I have been browsing the net to find similar example as mine with no success. But what I found is, that from 1st April 2009 according to amendments to Road Safety Act 2006, (as far as I understand it correctly) I should have been issued FPN instead of court summons as long as I was able to provide a proof of my UK address. I did that by showing them all the paperwork that came to me from my insurance company. Am I correct?

I did this straight away. Unfortunately I did not ask anyone else whether the tyre was good or not and I did not keep it Good thing is, that the tyre still can be in the garage that fitted a new one and possibly I could get it back tomorrow. Any rough estimate what it can be like?

Hello all, Just being curious and trying to get an explanation. Here it goes: I was stopped by two police officers today afternoon. Reason for stopping me (as they stated) was the fact of my tax disc being covered with (!) a week old council parking ticket which I placed there. After I removed it, they`ve checked my tax disc, and surprisingly for them everything was fine with it. Then I was asked to provide my driving license and car insurance. When one of the officers was checking my driving license, the other one went back to their car and checked my car details using my reg number. He stated that everything was fine, but the guy checking my driving license (which was issued in Poland) still wanted me to show them my insurance certificate, what I did. I was also asked to provide my UK address first, and then to prove that Insurance Certificate was issued to the same address I have given him (what I did as well). Because up to now on everything was fine, and I didn't have any motoring offences before they`ve decided to take a closer look at my car. After a while they`e spotted that front left tyre is low on tread. I was asked to turn my wheels to one side, so one of them can measure the tread. Using some kind of a measuring tool, the depth they`ve measured was (what I was told) 0.6 mm. As far as I saw, this was measured in one place only. Tyre tread width was also measured using something that looked like a ruler. I was told that tyre tread depth is less than minimal 1.6mm and therefore driving a car like this is illegal. I didn't now that one of the tyres is out of a limit, what I clearly stated to them. I was asked to change the wheel to a spare one, which unfortunately was too small when compared to the other 3. So they told me to drive straight to the nearest garage and replace the tyre (saying that if I am stopped by another patrol I will be done again for the same tyre). Do they have right to advise me to do something that is contrary to the law? What I was told is, that because I have a foreign driving license, summons will be issued and case will go to court, and there is no possibility to issue a FPN. My question (apart from the one mensioned above) is, what options do I have now, and what fine should I expect to be given? Thank you all in advance. Best regards, Simon

On saturday I went to Orange Shop in Truro. I asked about their Complaints Procedure, or Complaints Department. They said me that I should write to Customer Services. So now there`s is there a point writing to the same place one more time, complaining about their response to previous letter?

When I phoned them on Friday, I was told that somebody will contact me in few days on my mobile number and explain me why the account was closed. Should I then ask them about copy of their Code of Practice? One more thing that I`m not happy about is that Orange Customer Service is not replying by post for the letters they receive. It`s like not treating their customers seriously. As a customer, my only option of communicating with them is writing a formal letter. They advise to call Customer Service first, but there is not really much to achieve this way. It seems for me that their Customer Service operators are given not enough informations to help resolving customers` certain issues. There`s also no point in going to Orange Shop, because their staff is not helpful in Customer Service enquires. Only thing they do is take the phone, call 150 and give it to customer to speak with their Customer Service dept. over the phone (same thing I can do while sitting at home). Just as an example. Orange in Poland has got separate Customer Service department in every Orange Shop. And it`s far more likely to get things sorted personally in Orange Shop than speaking with them over a phone. Plus, they treat customers seriously and they seem to care more for them. What would you suggest then? Cheers

I`m using pay monthly phone in Orange. Broadband was FREE as part of an offer (for mobile phone plans worth 35 quid+ a month). Now they closed my internet account, but mobile one remained untouched. What I read once here on forum was that mobile phone and broadband in this offer are on two separate contracts. So terminating of one of them doesn`t affect the other. Is that true? If not, I`ll be more than happy to leave Orange permanently. Cheers

Hi Shanks! I`ve checked with Royal Mail, and letter was received. I didn`t accept offer of MAC code. When I phoned them on friday, they`ve said that there is no chance of re-opening my account. When I said them that I was not given enough notice prior to closing the account, the guy said that I was phoned 5 days after I`ve sent letter to them, and advised that my account will not be opened again. What did not happen ! So, f*ck Orange. I`m just waiting for my contract with Orange to expire (it`s due till May '08 ) and I`m leaving Orange (btw. what`s best way to do this to be 100% sure?). Yesterday I`ve signed up to ADSL24 (I`ve chosen that after reading forum) and I`m waiting for line activation. Hope that they won`t make any problems in the future. Thank you all for help. Cheers, Simon

Hi! I`m sorry that I was away for so long time. I came back from holiday from Poland on saturday, and didn`t have time there to even browse forum. I still haven`t got reply from them and I really don`t know what to do. I haven`t switched to another ISP yet, because I`d like to stay with Orange (free calls to Poland 24h/7). I think that I`ll write another letter, to them, as well as to complaint dept. Is it a good idea? Many thanks!