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The second option is to plead not guilty. If you plead not guilty the matter will be adjourned to a later date for trial. Between then and the trial, we would be able to examine your defence. If we were able to successfully defend you, of course you would not receive points and you would be entitled to a costs order so that you could be reimbursed your reasonable legal fees incurred. But the risk is that if you were found guilty after trial, you would have lost credit in sentencing, meaning you would receive higher fines and costs.
In terms of the fine it would remain at 150% of your weekly income and this also means the victim surcharge will be higher (40% of the fine), and costs would increase to in the region £700. You may also receive more points – so we have an increased risk of your licence being disqualified.
But initially I would like to check the evidence before we see if there’s scope to defend you. We need to examine what evidence of driving is there. Has anyone seen you behind the wheel? Was any other DNA found on the airbag (if not, it’s likely the court would conclude that you must have been in the driver seat at the point of collision)? Is it your car and are you the only one insured? Have you made any admissions to the police? These are all questions we will need to examine before we decide on plea.
receive the letter. It appears to be a genuine speeding ticket and I am the only registered driver, it was definitely me driving the car. what do I do?
Q A
The reason they have charged you for failing to give information is because they will be alleging that you have not provided details of who was driving at the time the speeding
offence was committed. When a camera detected offence is committed, such as speeding or driving through a red light, or even hit and run cases where somebody has had an accident and not exchanged details, the starting point is that the police need to identify who was driving. So they write to the registered keeper to ask them to nominate the driver, and if the registered keeper does not nominate the driver then the they are prosecuted for failing to
PHTM APRIL 2024
I’ve been served a single justice procedure notice for a speeding offence. This appears to be failing to name a driver but I was unaware of the offence in the first place and did not
provide driver information. So in your case they are alleging that you have failed to give these details. They will have charged you with this offence and taken you to court.
At this point, you have a couple of options, depending on what you’re charged with. If you’re charged with both speeding AND failing to give information, the first option is to plead guilty to the speeding matter now, and agree a basis of plea with the prosecution, where in return they discontinue with failing to provide driver information.
Four out of five times the prosecution are happy to agree. If they do, we should be able to get you points and a fine in your absence. I would hope to keep the fines and costs down to about 300 or £400 in total. The points you would receive depends on the speed.
If you’re charged with failing to provide driver information ONLY, your only choice is to either plead guilty and take 6 points and fines now (c. £800 in total), or defend. If you pleaded not guilty the case would be adjourned to a later date for trial. The defence we would have to put forward to failing to give information is that you did not get it. BUT – we need to examine why you didn’t get it. If the reason you didn’t get it is your fault, so for example if you are sloppy with your post and you’ve accidentally thrown it away, or you moved address and you didn’t update your details, or if you were on holiday so never picked it up, the court will find that it’s your fault and find you responsible. But if it’s correctly registered to you at your home, but you didn’t get it perhaps due to postal problems, then we have a defence and we can take it to trial.
If you are found not guilty, you receive no fines or points. But it is risky because it would leave failing to give information open, and if you were found guilty of that you would then receive 6 points and up to a £1,000 fine, which is of course a lot higher than the speeding matter.
For advice on motoring matters, email
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk For updates on road traffic law follow us on
facebook.com/PattersonLawMotoringSolicitors or
twitter.com/Patterson_law_
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