Lee Faulkner
Answer
You need to write to the police, confirm that you have entered a guilty plea and the visor is now no longer needed as evidence and it remains your – property. It is not unlawful to have possession of an iridium visor, it is only illegal to use one on the public highway. It is not as though you had your stash confiscated and you have asked for it back.
As a general point, if you are pulled for having a black visor, you should always offer to sign the police officer’s notebook confirming that you have had a black visor and that way the police officer will have no need to seize the visor as evidence, because you will already have admitted to its illegality. The police can only hold evidence where they need it to prove a case. If the police officer decides that he is going to confiscate it anyway, he is just about within his rights to keep it, unless and until a formal plea of guilty is entered. Once a plea of guilty is entered, there are certain circumstances within which you can withdraw it, but if you have already admitted to having an illegal visor any withdrawal of an admission of liability will be regarded with a mixture of flared nostrils and suppressed laughter from the Magistrates.
Andrew Dalton
Fast Bikes Issue Number September 2005
