Archive for July, 2009

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Some quick speeding ticket advice

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Q. How many points do I have to have before I am liable to be disqualified under the totting up provisions?

A. 12 within a 3 year period going from the date of conviction to the date of latest offence.

Q. If I delay the court proceedings can I take it over the 3 year period?

A. NO. The time limit starts on the date of the oldest conviction and runs to the date of offence. So if you have 9 points and the oldest was imposed on 12 September 2006. You are stopped for speeding today (28th July) it’s todays date that counts not when it is dealt with in court so even if you delayed it until after 12 September at the time of the offence (28th July) you would have had 9 points.

Q. I think I was flashed by a speed camera a few weeks ago but I still haven’t heard anything how long do I have to wait to see whether I get a speeding ticket

A. The Police have to issue a notice of intended prosecution to the registered owner of the car within 14 days so assuming the car is registered at your address you should have heard within 2 weeks. If you haven’t then they are out of time (assuming it hasn’t got lost in the post!)

Q. There are road works on the motorway and a temporary speed limit of 50 I was doing 70. I have been told that temporary speed limits don’t count. Am I right.

A. No, you can still be fined and points imposed for exceeding temporary limits

Posted in Speeding | 2 Comments »

I have received a Notice of Intended Prosecution but I don’t know who was driving

Friday, July 24th, 2009

I have been asked to tell the police who was driving my car but I don’t know; what do I do?

This is a common scenario and something motoring solicitors get asked often.

Typically a car is shared by a husband and wife. The registered owner gets a notice of intended prosecution because the car was flashed by a speed camera.

The couple know it can only have been one of the 2 of them driving but cannot remember who was driving at that time. What can they do?

The law says that the registered owner must identify the driver. The police must send the Notice of Intended prosecution to the registered owner within 14 days. If they have done that then it is easier for the owner to remember who was driving. It is easier but the reality of life is that it is not always possible. Can you remember where you were at 9:47am 11 days ago? This is a source of frustration for lots of clients. Where husband and wife equally share the driving how are they to remember?

You can ask for a photo to see if it helps identify the driver but more often than not it does not help.

The case becomes even more difficult if for some reason the initial Notice of Intended Prosecution does not arrive. The police have posted it but it got lost. Now the couple may get a reminder, this might be some 6 weeks after the event. Now try and remember who was driving on that unremarkable trip 6 weeks ago.

The temptation is just to name one of you, pick a name, any name. The risk with that is that if you were wrong and if it was proved that you were wrong it could be said that you have perverted the course of justice.

The alternative is to do all that you can to co-operate with the police. Tell them that you cannot identify the driver, explain why. You will probably get a summons for failing to give the drivers details.

If you can show to the court that you have done all you can to find out who was driving but cannot then that is a defence. It is a matter for the court to decide whether they accept that you have done all you can so keep a not of enquiries you have made.

The courts are reluctant to find people not guilty in these sort of cases because it is easy for people to just make it up but a well prepared application properly presented can often be successful. You will need to show that you have made all reasonable enquiries.

I would advise that you contact a motoring solicitor as soon as possible once you have received the Notice of Intended Prosecution so that they can guide you through what needs to be done.

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How to avoid penalty points on your licence, even if you are guilty

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

I have had my licence for less than 2 years and have been charged with no insurance, what can I do to avoid having my licence revoked?

This is one of the most common questions I get asked as a Motoring Solicitor – how can I avoid points on my licence if I am guilty?

Driving without insurance carries a minimum of 6 points so a new driver with less than 2 years experience will have their licence revoked if convicted.

There are no real defences to driving without insurance, unless you are driving your employers vehicle. Generally if you have no insurance you are guilty. The fact that you thought you had insurance is not a defence.

So how do we get around this? Whilst it’s true you will almost certainly have to plead guilty there is a way to avoid penalty points. It doesn’t apply in all situations but if it does it can make a huge difference to someones situation.
Even though you have pleaded guilty you can argue that there are special reasons not to impose penalty points.

Special reasons are not easy to win but with careful preparation they can avoid points on your licence. Special reasons have to relate to the offence, not the person. So the fact that you only drove a short distance may be a special reason, the fact that you will lose your job will never be special reasons. What might amount to special reasons? The list is never closed and can apply to any offence where penalty points or a disqualification are obligatory. I recently successfully argued that a client should not have points on her licence because although she did not have any insurance she had been misled into thinking she did have insurance. The court accepted this because she had been misled, if she had merely made an oversight and thought she had insurance that would not have been enough.

Other special reasons might be that you had driven a very short distance, that you drove because of an emergency or that your drinks had been spiked.

If you are successful in arguing that there are special reasons not to put penalty points on your licence then the court will simply mark your case as guilty but no points and normally impose no fine and no costs.

The list is never closed so if you think you may have a good reason to avoid penalty points on your licence contact a specialist motoring solicitor.

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Posted in Penalty Points | 1 Comment »

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