Basically this, expect the worst and hope for the best. I recently had a court date for two violations. I, fortunately, had a witness, and we were both trying to figure out our way through a coned area set up to handle race track patrons. The officer was very unprofessional, and the stop resulted an a rather heated exchange between us and the officer. I vowed to him to take the issue to court, and demanded a jury trial. When the court date came, there was no jury, and the officer was nowhere in site. The judge started talking about entering pleas, while my summons clearly stated that this was to be a trial. Well, I played along for a while and entered my plea, along with three others in the room. Ony one person entered a guilty plea for whatever their violation was. The rest of us, the Judge ratteled off "prosecution recommends dismissal" and sent us on our way, one person at a time. I was actually kind of bummed, as I had my questions, and evidence all ready to go. I'll take the win though. Granted it sounds like you were treated very well by the citing officer, and they have a real case. I'm not sure exactly how the courts work in the UK, but keep very sharp for mistakes. They made enough that morning for an immediate dismissal several times over.