KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
In this month’s edition we examine what happens when a road traffic matter goes to court.
Most drivers won’t ever be in a situation where they receive a court summons, however if it happens, it’s important that you know what your options are and what you need to do.
We cannot stress enough the importance of seeking legal advice once a case is at court. You’re going to be coming up against police officers, prosecutors and Judges who do this as a day job. We’ve seen thousands of people try to represent themselves unsuccessfully at court, not knowing what they are doing. Always obtain legal advice.
When will a case get to court?
There are a few scenarios where a case will proceed to court, but broadly you can split these into two categories. The first is where an out of court disposal was not accepted. A lot of traffic cases are dealt with before court by way of a course or a fixed penalty of points/fine, such as speeding, using a mobile phone or driving without due care and attention. And once an out of court disposal is accepted, it concludes matters.
However, if an out of court disposal is not accepted for any reason, so if you didn’t attend the course as you were sick or maybe the fixed penalty was lost in the post, then the case automatically proceeds to court.
The second category of cases are ones that are too serious to be dealt with by way of an out of court disposal. This includes more serious offences such as driving at high speeds, where someone has too many points on their licence, drink-driving, dangerous driving or failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
How will I know if I’ve been summoned?
You will receive a letter in the post. This will either be called a Single Justice Procedure Notice (SJP) or a Postal Requisition.
A SJP deals with minor offences and it will ask you to log online to enter a plea. You will typically have 21 days to do that.
For the more serious offences, such as drink-driving or failing to stop at the scene of an accident, the Postal Requisition will give you a court date where you will have to attend and enter a plea in person.
78 If I’m summoned, what plea should I enter?
This is where legal advice is always required. Even for a very minor offence, don’t automatically assume you will just receive 3 points and a £100 fine. For example, speeding at 41mph in a 30mph limit would usually carry a speed awareness course. But if you fail to attend the course and the case proceeds to court, the Magistrates have different guidelines which suggest you will get 4 points as well as £400/£500 in fines and costs.
Generally, what plea you enter depends on various factors; evidence, what you are charged with, if you are putting forward a defence. There is no easy answer. Every case is dealt with on its own facts.
What happens if I plead guilty?
Typically, for minor offences such as speeding or contravening a red light, there will firstly be penalty points. The penalty points are set by the Magistrates Sentencing Guidelines and Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. The number of points you receive will often depend on the severity of the offence.
There will always be financial penalties as well. The fine will be between 50% to 150% of weekly income, and with an early guilty plea you receive a reduction of one third. There will also be a victim surcharge of 40% of the fine, and the prosecution will ask for c. £100 costs.
For minor cases, it is fairly standard practice to request that somebody be sentenced in their absence, meaning they wouldn’t actually have to attend court (although note that in certain cases you might specifically want to attend court, such as cases where you already have 12 points on your licence and you are at risk of a 6-month disqualification, as you might want to attend in person to persuade the magistrates not to ban you).
For the more serious cases, usually the defendant would attend court in person to enter a plea and mitigate to try to keep a sentence down. Serious offences might also carry the risk of a community order, such as unpaid work or a tag/curfew, or even prison, and the defendant would be required to attend in person if such a sentence is imposed. If a defendant pleads guilty early, they will also receive 1/3 off the community order.
Failing to stop at the scene of an accident is a good example of this. For minor cases of failing to stop - e.g. a scrape in a car park - you might only get penalty points and a fine. Yet if you cause a significant amount
APRIL 2025 PHTM
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