KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
When the case gets to court, we have a couple of options. The first is to try to argue special reasons. A special reason is where someone is guilty of an offence but there are special reasons for not giving points or disqualifying. The special reason here would be on the basis of a medical emergency.
Obviously this would be the most ideal outcome, as if we win we can avoid sentences altogether. But I do have some concerns. A lot of it depends on the severity of the condition, because if her condition wasn’t hugely serious - if it wasn’t life or death - then going at that speed may not have been justified.
CASE 2
Question: I received a Notice of Intended Prosecution
for a
speeding offence that happened. The camera recorded me doing 133mph in a 70mph zone on a dual carriageway. I was trying to get home as quickly as I could - my mum was in a depressive state, and I was really panicking. I didn’t call an ambulance because it would’ve made things worse for her, and I didn’t want to escalate the situation.
I would also like to mention that I currently have 6 penalty points on my licence. Could you please let me know what my options are at this stage, and what the most likely outcome might be?
Answer:
Firstly, you are under a duty to respond to the Notice of Intended Prosecution to nominate yourself as the driver. If you fail to do that you will be summonsed to court for failing to provide information which carries 6 points and up to a £1,000 fine.
After that, the speed is too quick for a speed awareness course or a fixed penalty offer, so the police will summon you straight to court.
The Sentence Guidelines at court state that speeds of 101mph and above in a 70mph limit puts the driver at risk of either 6 points or disqualification of up to 56 days, or even longer if they consider the speed as “grossly in excess of the limit”. I would suggest your case would almost certainly be considered “grossly in excess”.
PHTM AUGUST 2025
On top of that, we really do need to explore why you didn’t call an ambulance. And it is risky, because if we went down that route and lost, we are significantly increasing the chances of higher fines and costs as well as lengthier disqualifications.
Alternatively, we can simply plead guilty, abandon special reasons and concentrate on presenting this as mitigation.
The benefit of doing that is that we maintain maximum credit and maximum sympathy. And by offering full remorse, we have the best chance of keeping the disqualification to a minimum or perhaps even persuading them to give you points instead.
Outcome:
In this case, we decided against running special reasons. It was a very difficult one to argue because on one hand we would have had to justify the speed of 133mph by arguing that the situation was almost life or death, yet at the same time we didn’t call an ambulance.
However, the court still had a lot of sympathy with his situation, and although they suggested we really ought to have called an ambulance, they accepted that he was overcome with emotion and only disqualified for 28 days.
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