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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.
Latest Comments
- Paul J 2 sec ago
Holy crap at that shirt! My eyeballs are bleeding AND I'm going to have nightmares!
- Paul J 1 min 27 sec ago
Yeah, /that/ bike didn't look expensive, but if it was me the cop came up to wanting to commandeer my bike, I'd be quite reluctant now having seen...
- belugabob 1 min 36 sec ago
Well, there is the excellent transport museum, but I get your point - I left there 30 years ago and don't have any great desire to return (other...
- bigwheeler88 1 min 41 sec ago
Utter moron. Cyclists have the right to be in the middle of the lane, as they should be. Other road users (we're talking cars here) have the duty...
- OnYerBike 5 min 38 sec ago
Aside from being inaccurate (average speed in 1968 = 20.9mph; average speed in 2023 = 25.7mph; difference of 4.8mph. 2022 was even faster!), I'm...
- Patrick9-32 8 min 42 sec ago
We are talking about a village that is less than 1km long. Slowing down to a reasonable village speed (20mph) from an illegal 70mph would cost...
- chrisonatrike 23 min 18 sec ago
25mph cruise speed? Sounds like Nigel's celebrated courtesy and politeness finally reached breaking point...
- Jigzy99 37 min 25 sec ago
Have you tried the local press? They love a good 'police not doing their job' story. May just kick them into action.
- RobD 1 hour 32 min ago
So the appealing feature of this, being able to swap the setup from a road bike one day to a gravel bike the next involves taking it to a dealer?...
- SecretSam 2 hours 57 min ago
Fantastic that someone just thought of a new app that communicates to a group of people at the same time, as part of a private discussion group....
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43 comments
“Speeding in this country is controversial......"
No, speeding in this country is an offence, there is absolutely no controversy about it.
".....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."
Exactly! Who are you to put any other road users lives at risk?
He's obviously an intelligent person, but still a criminal with no regard for the safety of others, and spent years working out how to break the law and get away with it. He should be prosecuted for various offences and should be forced to press the button on the car crusher with his car in it.
Time and time again, reports on this site of bad driving, cyclist abuse, near miss etc are of people driving THAT marque. I feel sorry for those law abiding, considerate citizens driving their Audis. There must be a couple out there.
To me it feels like it's going the way of Burberry. A genuinely upmarket, tasteful brand long since devalued by chavs..
And what part of my comment on this bloke 'twat in an Audi' is incorrect?! He surely is.
Discsimer: None of the above stops me wanting an S4 Avant in monsoon grey, I'll just refuse to act on that impulse, not least because I get let out of more junctions in my Volvo.
You should get a bike, mate. You'll never stop at a red light again.
Of motor twattery -
When I'm not riding my bike, my invisable chafeaur drives me everywhere in my non-existent 1937 Talbot Lago T-150C SS
Who's the twat now!
My wife and I both have Audis. It was very confusing to work out which car brands were for twats, and which brands were for non-twats (a bit like bikes and cycling kit really). We were considering buying cars that weren't quite as nice, but in the end we agreed we definitely were both twats, and therefore that we should buy the Audis.
Chapeaux!
Sleep well in the knowledge that you're not a 'chav' in a BMW.
Well I've an Audi and the wife has a Renault so no guessing who the twat in our household is. Thing is the Renault has 12 years on the Audi but is actually in worse condition after 6 years on the road.
So which brands in cycling are for twats? Orro? Canyon? Are italian groupsets for twats? Is Rapha for twats, or like Audi actually very well made and sometimes worn by twats?
It is so very difficult isn't it? Luckily, there are plenty of twat-experts on forums to help us with such conundra.
I'll give you a hand on that one. I have an Orbea, a Kuota, a Ribble, a Felt and a Pipedream.
Let the thick twats judge.
You own a Kuota?
You're scum. Utter scum.
Hanging's too good for you.
You should have been strangled at birth. Along with every other future Kuota-owning newborns.
Nazi filth.
[What's a Kuota?]
Nah, don't tend to get terrorised by someone using a bicycle as a killing machine , so I don't think that's a thing..
Based on some of the roads at either end of the route which even in a fast car would be a struggle to average 50mph, they must have been doing some pretty ridiculous speed on the motorway.
So a little disappointing that they weren’t picked up at the time, notwithstanding Tom/Tommy’s counter-measures.
Most of the route was motorway, so not quite "the route ridden by hundreds of cyclists each year".
Oh well, guess that's alright then. Nothing to see here.
A lot of the route at each end (probably a good couple of hundred miles) won't be motorway, I get your point, but there's also a lot of the route that will be. It probably should state 'the journey ridden by hundreds of cyclists' to be more accurate.
This is awesome. Well done to the two guys. Planned it well and did what they set out to do.
You might be on the wrong forum here
I really do hope the CPS prosecute the pair of them and no insurer will ever go near them with a bargepole ever again. It can't be said there isn't evidence that's for sure.
I really do hope the CPS prosecute the pair of them and no insurer will ever go near them with a bargepole ever again. It can't be said there isn't evidence that's for sure.
841 miles in less than 10 hours?
Pretty obvious that they ar admitting - nay bragging - about breaking the speed limt in spades. Therefore apublic admission of guilt.
If it were motorway all the way then assuming no roadworks or other temporary causes of reduced speed limit, then it should take no less than 12 hours.
I used to say that we get the Govt that we deserve.
A mate of mine, who I diasgreed with, said we should have intelligence tests before being allowed to vote.
I'm starting to agree with him.
Joseph de Maistre may have just pipped you to the post there..
I never claimed to have thought it up...
Well aye, but the phrasing was clearly too good to pass up though
I regret to inform you that you have failed your ethics test and will have your voting rights withdrawn.
Another twat in an audi..
You have an Audi ?
Good one.
Butthurt because you own one yourself?
Nope - just bored of dumbass generalisations somewhere that gets its knickers in a twist about dumbass generalisations.
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