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 on real enquiries that we have received from professional drivers this month. If you need any advice on motoring matters please email e.patterson@pattersonlaw.co.uk or call 01626 359800 for free legal advice.


Q


I’m being prosecuted for driving without due care and attention under Section 3 Road Traffic Act 1988. I am looking for someone to help me defend my name.


I have been the victim of an aggressive cyclist. I am an HGV driver. I was coming down Bayswater Road and there was an idiot on a bike right in the middle of the road and he wouldn't let me pass. I beeped him a couple of times to let him know I was there but he just wouldn't move over. Just as I got to Queensway tube station I went to go past and he banged on the side of my cab. I pulled over to the left to see why he was banging on my cab and he rode right into the side of me. I didn’t give him much room but I wasn’t prepared to let him cycle on if he’s damaging my cab.


His bike was scratched but I don’t know if it wasn’t like that already. I got out of my cab and he punched me in the face. There were lots of people around and they had to separate him from me. I was really shaken up. The police arrived and they have charged him with assault. He pleaded guilty in court. Then I got a letter from his solicitors claiming damages to his bike. My insurance company paid it. They said I shouldn’t have pulled to the left and given him no room. But I thought that was the end of it until I got a Summons to Court for driving without due care and attention and now I feel really aggrieved because I have already paid for the bike. I want to defend it because this was his fault just as much as it was mine.


A


You will struggle to defend the allegation if you accept you were at fault, even though you only accept partial blame. Driving without due care and attention is where the standard of your driving falls below that


of a careful and competent driver. Your defence seems to be on the basis that you were both at fault for the collision - you pulled over to the left but he rode into you. So even though it was only partially your fault, the standard of your driving still fell below that of a careful and competent driver.


The fact that the insurance company have already paid is not going to help. If the collision is, say, 50/50 then an insurance company may well only pay for 50% of the damages, but in criminal law that doesn't matter.


It may however matter for sentence. Driving without due care carries 3-9 points or a discretionary disqualification. The fact that you were in a goods vehicle is not going to help as the court will consider that as inherently more dangerous. They


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may well also regard this as road rage, so you have to tread carefully.


I would advise a guilty plea but ask the court for a full hearing for you to attend with representation so we can mitigate. If we accept responsibility but only on the basis that you pulled over to the left and not for the collision or the altercation that happened afterwards, we would be mitigating some of the more serious elements of the offence and therefore hopefully be able to keep the sentence to the minimum number of points rather than a ban.


Q


I need help overturning a driving disqualification urgently as I am a taxi driver. I opened a letter this morning from the court telling me I was disqualified. But I didn’t know anything about it until today


because I have only just moved back home.


I called the court and it turns out that last year I was caught speeding three times and I failed to name the driver. But I didn’t receive any of the letters because I wasn’t living at home. I had moved out because of Covid. I had to keep working and my partner was vulnerable so I stayed in rented accommodation for a few months. She was putting all of the post to one side for me for when I returned and I must have just missed all of the letters from the police. But it looks like it went to court three times for failing to give information they gave me 18 points, a £2,000 fine and a six-month ban. What do I do?


A


The first thing you need to do is make a statutory declaration. That is where you go into the court and swear under oath that you did not know about the proceedings. This will set aside all sentences including points, fines and disqualifications. However,


you only have 21 days from the date you found out about it to make the declaration so we have to move quickly


Once the declaration is made, they will ask you for your plea. You have two options, you either plead guilty or not guilty.


It is a defence to failing to give information if you can show that it was ‘not reasonably practicable’ for you to provide the requested information. It might seem obvious it ‘wasn’t practicable’ for you to give the information if you never received the letters, but the law expects you to have a system in place for dealing with your post if you are not readily available at the address to which the vehicle is registered. It comes from a case called Whiteside.


You mentioned that your partner was putting the post to one side. If you had some form of system in place for you to deal with it whilst you were away, for example leaving it for you to collect every week or so but the notices were still not received due to postal issues, then you may have a defence, in which case plead not guilty to all three allegations against you and we will have a trial.


JANUARY 2022


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