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 around real enquiries.
If you need any advice on motoring matters, email
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk or call us on 01626 359800 for free legal advice.
CASE 1 Question:
My father was involved in an accident involving a cyclist. He admits he hit him, but feels he wasn’t informed about matters properly. The police officer who attended the scene said these things never lead to anything and then said it normally never goes to court. So my father admitted it was his fault, thinking that was the easiest thing to do.
We’ve now received a summons and seen the detail the cyclist has gone into, some of which is contrary to my father’s account. Furthermore, the police have now put in their statements that my father admitted everything, but left out that they told him that it wouldn’t go to court.
We totally feel ill advised by the police. We’ve not been to court before so are a bit worried and stressed to say the least! Would appreciate any advice! Thanks
Answer:
Now he has been summonsed, he has two options, to plead guilty or not guilty.
If he pleads guilty, he will be at risk of 3-9 points or a ban. The court will have to determine culpability when it comes to sentence. Culpability means how culpable you are – i.e. whether it was an accident, or whether you were on your phone, whether you were speeding or overtaking. If it’s serious, you would be in the top bracket (7-9 points or a ban). If it’s moderate, it’s a middle bracket offence (5-6 points), and if it’s minor, it’s low level (3-4 points). So the first option is to plead guilty and mitigate to try to minimise the sentence.
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Regarding the financial penalties, by pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity he would maintain maximum credit in sentence, meaning he will receive a fine of 100-150% of weekly income minus 1/3 for pleading guilty, a victim surcharge of 40% of the fine and costs of about £100.
The second option is to plead not guilty so the matter will be adjourned to a later date for trial. Between then and the trial, we would be able to examine the defence. This is where we can certainly scrutinise the officer’s comments and whether they have misled or were ill advised. We’d get the footage from the arrest and the original notes which we can scrutinise.
However, my concern with doing so is that even if we manage to make a lot of headway in that regard, the fundamental point of the trial is still whether or not the standard of his driving has fallen below what was expected. So even if we managed to persuade the courts that the police have completely misadvised him, he still might be found guilty on the basis that his driving was below the required standard.
If we were able to successfully defend, of course he would not receive points and would be entitled to a costs order so that he could be reimbursed his reasonable legal fees incurred. But the risk is that if he was found guilty after trial, he would have lost credit in sentencing, meaning he would receive higher fines and costs. In terms of the fine it would remain at 150% of 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. But initially I would like to check the evidence before we see if there’s scope to defend.
Outcome:
In this case, the father decided to attend court and pleaded guilty. It was the right thing to do as even though he made admissions to everything at the roadside, the facts of the case still indicated that the standard of his driving fell below what was expected. So even if the court had disregarded everything the officer said and all his admissions to the police, he would still have been guilty.
However, the court did have sympathy and imposed only 3 penalty points, which was the best outcome we could have hoped for.
AUGUST 2025 PHTM
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