KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
After trial, and much deliberation, the court was satisfied that he did drink after driving and therefore was not guilty of the offence. He was awarded a costs order to be reimbursed for his legal fees and he was not banned.
The key to this case was that there was a lot of evidence to prove what he said was true. If he had proceeded on his own and not challenged the prosecution evidence, as at the first hearing, it would have ended up being his word against the police witness, and he easily could have lost (which is why the court were putting so much pressure on him to plead guilty in the first place).
CASE 2
QUESTION: Mr Y called us after he had already been found guilty and was looking for advice on appeal. He was charged with failing to provide driver information.
He had received a Notice of Intended Prosecution with a request for driver information for low-level speeding – for which he would have been offered a speed aware- ness course. He responded to it nominating himself as the driver, but the police said they didn’t receive his response so accused him of ignoring the request.
He had received the court papers and entered a not guilty plea online. The case was initially listed for trial in early 2021 but was adjourned three times due to lockdowns and a lack of court time. By the time the case got to court in 2023, it was nearly three years after the original offence.
He attended trial on his own and disputed the police wouldn’t have received his response as he sent it by recorded delivery. But there were two major problems:
1) The prosecution had served evidence on him two years earlier saying that they had not received the response - and he had not rejected it. If he wanted to dispute this fact he was supposed to reject the evidence within seven days of receiving those statements. Because he didn’t do that, he couldn’t challenge it.
2) When he said he sent it by recorded delivery and produced his receipt, the court refused to allow him to give that evidence because he had not served the receipt on the prosecution before the trial.
So, without being able to challenge the police evidence and without being able to introduce his own evidence, he had nothing going for his case and he was found guilty. He was given six penalty points and nearly £2,000 in fines and costs.
PHTM FEBRUARY 2024
He held a private hire licence - although that’s not relevant to the facts of this case as he wasn’t working at the time, it was going to put him at risk with the licensing authority.
HOW THE CASE PROCEEDED: Immediately we lodged an appeal. You have 15 business days to appeal to the Crown Court from a Magistrates’ Court and luckily, he had called us just in time.
On appeal to the Crown Court the evidence is heard afresh. which meant that we could prepare his case properly.
We then rejected the prosecution evidence. It meant that the police witnesses would have to attend court to be cross-examined on the fact that they said they didn’t receive his response.
Next, we asked for the postal records from the Post Office and discovered that it was delivered - so the police must have lost it! Before the appeal date we served this new evidence on the prosecution, together with his receipt for recorded delivery, proving that he had sent it back.
Finally, we obtained a copy of the police records to show that he had never completed a speed awareness course previously so there would have been no motive for him to fail to nominate himself as the driver.
OUTCOME: This turned out to be a very strong case - and one which he had only lost because he had not dealt with the trial administration properly.
Before the appeal, we made written representations to the prosecution asking them to withdraw. Considering the new evidence, and probably because the police didn’t want to be questioned on the fact that they had seemingly received his nomination and lost it, the prosecution agreed to drop the case.
At the appeal itself, the Crown Court removed the six points from his licence and refunded him the total amount of the fines and the costs. We also received a costs order so he could be reimbursed for his reasonable legal costs.
As you can see, legal matters are complicated, and require specialist representation and preparation. We recommend never to go it alone! If you need guidance on motoring matters, call us for free advice on 01626 359800 or email
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk.
67
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
