KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
If we win, we can avoid points altogether. But you do not want to take it to court lightly because if you lose, you will be at risk of receiving up to eight points or even a disqualification, as well as an unlimited fine. Please speak to us in more detail about the circumstances of the insurance and we can advise you whether taking it to court is the right thing to do.
Q A
My employer told me they’ve had a request to deduct money from my wage as they got a letter from the court regarding a fine. I checked my driving licence and I have six points for
“failing to provide drivers details”. Is there any way to get rid of the points or at least to get just three for speeding? The fine is from 2022 stated on the letter received by my employer and I didn’t receive anything at home.
When a speeding offence is committed, the police write to the registered keeper asking them to nominate the driver. If you have not received that letter, the police will accuse you
of not responding and they will charge you with the offence of ‘failing to provide driver information’. They will summons you to court and ask you to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. If you have not received the summons, you have failed to enter a plea. Any defendant who fails to enter a plea is automatically found guilty in their absence. That’s why you were given six points and a fine. Then if you then fail to pay the fine, the court will award an enforcement notice, meaning they can lawfully deduct your wages.
You need to make a statutory declaration where you go into court and swear under oath that you did not know about the proceedings. That will set aside the points and fine, and it will take it back to plea. At this point, we would need to assess the evidence before deciding what to do. You might have a defence to failing to give information on the basis that you never received it so you never had the opportunity to respond. But, if the reason you never received it was your fault, for example if you threw it away or if you have moved without telling anybody, the court may hold you responsible and find you guilty, in which case it may well be better to try to agree a deal with the prosecution whereby you plead guilty to the original speeding offence instead. But we would assess that point once we had got into court.
Q
We were celebrating my boyfriend’s birthday earlier in the day. We went back to his then his brother called asking for a lift because he was in
PHTM AUGUST 2023
an argument that was getting heated. He was a four minute drive away and wanted to go to his girlfriend’s house which was three mins further. On the way a fox ran out, I swerved and hit a wall. I didn’t plan on drinking and driving but only went because it was an emergency. I was breathalysed at the scene and station (55 and 57 readings), but at the station the police had trouble with the machine for about ten mins. If possible I want to avoid a ban because I rely heavily on a car for work.
A
If you plead guilty, you will be disqualified. For that reading you’ll be looking at a 12-16 month ban, together with a course to reduce the ban by a quarter. You’ll maintain maximum credit,
meaning that the fines and costs would be kept to a minimum (the fine is 150% of your weekly income minus 1/3 for pleading guilty, a victim surcharge of 40% of the fine and costs of c. £100). But you will be banned – regardless of how dependent you are on your licence.
If you plead not guilty, there are a few issues to look at. Firstly I would see if there’s any actual evidence of you driving. If you were with people at the time of the crash and you were not formally interviewed, the police might not be able to prove it was you behind the wheel. Secondly, we’d want to see whether it was a genuine emergency that justified driving. These are however difficult to run as we would really have to show that it was tantamount to a life or death situation. Thirdly, we could look at whether the readings are accurate as you said there was a problem with the machine. But on the face of it, the readings of 55 and 57 sound about right - it’s generally accepted readings will be accurate if they are within 15% of each other.
If we defend you then you would not be disqualified. But the risk is that if you were found guilty after trial you would lose credit meaning you would receive higher fines and costs (the fine would remain at 150% of weekly income - and this also means the victim surcharge will be higher at 40% of the fine, and costs would increase to in the region £700) and possibly a longer ban. Call us and we can talk through your plea in more detail.
For advice on motoring matters, email
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk For regular updates on road traffic law follow us on
facebook.com/PattersonLawMotoringSolicitors or
twitter.com/Patterson_law_
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