I'm nothing special and I'm certainly not a big-wig lawyer! I'm just a 30-something self-employed guy living in the North of England.

An early morning in December 2005 - and I mean early, about 5am - I was driving to work down an empty dual carriageway in Manchester. Maybe I was exceeding the speed limit, maybe I wasn't; I honestly don't recall.

I got the shock of my life when I saw the blue lights of a police car in my rear view mirror and I promptly pulled over. The police officer invited me into his car and another policeman got out and crossed the road. The remaining officer explained that it was his superior he was dropping off at the local station. Because he had his sergeant with him, he explained, he was issuing me with a 'Notice Of Intended Prosecution' instead of the usual 'Fixed Penalty Notice' as he had to make a show of me in front of his superior. 'Notice Of Intended Prosecutions' were normally reserved for motorists caught exceeding the speed limit by 30mph, he said.

This in itself incensed me but I took the paperwork and got on with my days work. That night I went to my local Police Station to produce my essential documents, only to find out that the Policeman who pulled me had messed up on the paperwork and despite me producing well within the 7 days, I got a warning!

The court summons duly arrived and I pleaded guilty in absence to my case. You can imagine my suprise and anger when I received a fine for £450 PLUS COURT COSTS AND 6 PENALTY POINTS on my otherwise clean licence!!!

This is when something inside me snapped and I decided to get up and fight the alledged incident. I immediately appealed to get the case reopened.

Being self-employed I am lucky enough to have frequent blocks of spare time. I spent EVERY spare minute researching and reading up on my rights.

I did everything you can imagine... I spent days at libraries, countless weeks on the internet and even consulted (and paid for!) some of the most experienced (for experienced read expensive in my humble opinion) to gather together the best advice I could.

I applied the research to my specific case and as a result I managed to find several flaws in the evidence provided by the police and the CPS. I changed my plea to Not Guilty and gathered my evidence together.

After 5 court appearances my case was eventually dismissed. Not only was my previous fine wiped and no points put on my clean licence, but I was also able to claim from the CPS for my lost earnings and expenses in fighting the case - over £1,300 in total!

How did I do it? I simply researched and got to know the 'system' inside out. You too could do the same... anyone could - but do you have time to spend weeks and months researching?

I've done the research. I'll share it with you. In just 5 minutes you could be reading through it on the very computer you're sat at now!