KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
In this month’s edition we feature more road traffic issues relevant to the trade supplied by Patterson Law. These questions are based on real enquiries that we have received from professional drivers.
If you need advice on motoring matters please email
e.patterson@
pattersonlaw.co.uk or call us on 01626 359800 for free legal advice.
Q A
I’ve got 9 points on my licence and just got another four tickets through. They’re all by the same camera apart from the fourth which is a
different one, but they are all on the same road. Can you help me and tell me if there is a way round this please. I don’t want a six-month ban.
You must respond to each request for information nominating yourself as the driver. If you don’t, you’ll be prosecuted for failing to give information, an offence that carries 6
points and up to a £1,000 fine.
After that, you will receive a fixed penalty offer for each of the four matters, but you won’t be able to accept them. You can only accept a fixed penalty where doing so would leave you on less than 12 points, meaning the case will automatically proceed to court.
When the case gets to court, you will have to enter a plea. You have a couple of options. The first is to tick the box saying you don’t want to go to court. They’ll initially send you a Notice of Proposed Disquali- fication making sure you’re aware you’ll be banned, and after that the court will sentence you to a six- month ban in your absence. You’ll go back to having 0 points, but the disqualification and the convictions will still be showing on there.
The second option is to try to avoid a ban. When somebody reaches 12 points the courts have the discretion not to ban if they believe that a ban would cause you exceptional hardship and so that is the argument that we would present. We would firstly ask the court for a hearing. That will trigger the court to list a physical hearing for us to attend. You will have to give live evidence and we will need supporting evidence to prove what we are saying is true.
However, only one argument can be presented every three years. And if it is successful, the effect is that all
74 A
You must attend the hearing. If you don’t attend then you risk them sentencing you in absence, or worse still, issuing a warrant for your arrest.
If you plead guilty, you will be at risk of 3-9 points. The court will have to determine two factors in deciding sentence. Harm and culpability. Harm means accidents/damage. Culpability means how culpable you are – i.e. whether it was an accident, whether you were on your phone, whether you were speeding or overtaking. If there’s both, you would be in the top bracket (7-9 points or a ban). If there’s one or the other, it’s a middle bracket offence (5-6 points), and if there’s nether, low level (3-4 points).
From what you have said, clearly there is some damage here so it would be at least five or six points. The question is whether there is culpability as well and whether the court would consider it a top level offence.
Re: the financial penalties, by pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity you would maintain maximum credit in sentence, meaning you will receive a fine of 150% of your weekly income minus 1/3 for pleading guilty, a victim surcharge of 40% of the fine and costs of about £100. You would also have the best opportunity of keeping the points to the minimum.
APRIL 2024 PHTM
of the points are added to your licence but you are simply not disqualified. In your case it means that if you went to court for the first one and presented a successful argument, you may be able to drive but when the last one comes through you would be prohibited from presenting a second argument and you would inevitably be disqualified. So the key in your case is to tie all matters together so we can present one argument covering everything. We need to do that by way of application.
Q
I’ve been charged with driving a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road/in a public place without due care or attention on the XXXX … The vehicle is registered to myself and was
recovered by the police. Forensics were conducted. The driver airbag was deployed and there were blood smears over the airbag which has not been tested due to saliva being in the same area which has been tested and came back to myself. Paperwork states the court date given XXXX at XXXX Magistrates’ Court.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
