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KNOW YOUR RIGHTS that a ban would cause somebody exceptional hardship.


You have 21 days from the day you were sentenced to lodge an appeal, which will automatically send your case to the Crown Court.


Whilst the appeal is pending we would make an application for the ban to be suspended, pending the appeal. There is no guarantee it would be agreed, though.


If we appeal, the case would be sent to the Crown Court where it would be considered by a bench consisting of a Judge and two Magistrates (no jury).


On appeal we are not necessarily appealing the Magis- trates’ Court’s decision - the Crown Court can make their own decision; they can hear fresh evidence and old evi- dence can be excluded. So we would need to prepare your argument in detail. We will talk to you about your work, why you need a licence and the consequences if you were disqualified, including being unable to pay your rent. It will certainly help to have supporting letters from those who would be affected such as your partner, and possibly your landlord, suggesting that you would be evicted if you couldn’t pay the rent. It would be useful to know if you are in any debt or have ongoing financial agreements which would spiral out of control if you were unable to work.


But the risk is that they will look at the entire sentence again so they may very well reduce the ban but they may also increase it (although if this was your first disqualifica- tion it is unlikely they would do so.)


I was on my way to pick up a customer earlier today and I clipped the wing mirror of a parked car. I stopped and saw there was a little damage but there was nobody around and I didn’t have a pen and paper so I couldn’t leave my details. I’ve just gone back to the scene and the car’s gone so what should I do?


Q A


Where an accident occurs and damage/injury is caused the driver has a duty to stop and exchange details with any person who may reasonably re- quire them. You did stop and there was no one around to exchange details with so you have done


nothing wrong there. There is no lawful requirement to leave your name and address on a piece of paper.


But if for any reason you cannot stop and exchange details you must report the matter to a local police station or po- lice constable as soon as possible. I would advise doing this immediately. You cannot do this by calling 101.


If you fail to report the matter you could be at risk of failing to report an accident, which carries a minimum five points.


The police may want to investigate whether you were driv- ing without due care and attention as you have clipped the


FEBRUARY 2020


wing mirror of a parked car, an offence which carries be- tween three and nine points. Saying that, if the damage was only minor and the other driver was willing to deal with it privately, I would hope that we can persuade the police to leave it to the insurance companies to deal with.


Q A


Two years ago I was banned from driving for three years. It was my second drink drive offence so they gave me the minimum three-year ban. I have read that I can make an application to the court to get my licence back after two years but can I still do it


if I was given the minimum three-year ban?


When someone is banned for more than two years they are able to make an application to remove the disqualification early. Section 42 (3) Road Traffic Act 1988 specifies the time periods after which a person make an application:


a. Two years, if the disqualification is for less than four years;


b. One-half of the period of disqualification, if it is for less than ten years, but not less than four years;


c. Five years in any other case. So you can make the application after two years.


Even though an offender has been disqualified for the min- imum three years because of a second drink drive offence they may nevertheless apply for their licence to be lifted early under section 42. However, as Lord Widgery ob- served in Damer v Davison [1976]: “Justices… may if they think fit regard a mandatory [three year] disqualification as one which they are somewhat less ready to remove.”


The procedure is that we would write to the court to ask them to list the application as soon as possible. You would need to attend.


When considering the application the courts will have regard to:


• The nature of the original disqualification; • The defendant’s conduct since the time of the alleged offence;


• Any other circumstances of the case.


We would need to prepare our arguments around the above three points. We would need to prepare a robust argument to persuade the courts to give you your licence back in the circumstances.


This impartial advice has been provided by Patterson Law Solicitors www.pattersonlaw.co.uk


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