Overview
- An Essex Police officer watched Jamie Spence repeatedly sound his van horn outside Braintree railway station on December 4, 2025 and reported the action as not being a warning to other road users.
- Police records show Spence was offered a fixed penalty notice before the force decided to bring a criminal charge on April 29, 2026 after he did not respond to the offer.
- Spence pleaded guilty under the Single Justice Procedure at Colchester Magistrates' Court on May 12, 2026 and was fined £146 with £120 in costs, a total of £266.
- Court papers quote PC Asa Smith saying the horn was used to attract a friend rather than to warn of danger, which is the only Highway Code justification the RAC recognises for horn use.
- The case was handled behind closed doors as one of 110 matters that day and underlines how routine driving behaviour can trigger low-level criminal prosecution and a recorded conviction.