KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
I have full recollection of this day – I thought I had hit a branch and had lost my wing mirror. I did not feel safe to stop at the time due to the nature of the road and not believing anyone else was involved.
I returned to the scene around 20 minutes later to try and find my wing mirror/see if anyone or anything else was there but found nothing. I then called 101 and was advised to report online. I did this twice and got a callback stating that there had been no reports of road traffic accidents on that day and not to worry. I have now received this letter three months after the incident date (22/01/22) and am incredibly anxious at the offences and possibility that I have caused harm or damage. I would really like some guidance or advice on what I need to do from here.
off annual payment of £***, I viewed the documents on the online portal and presumed all was OK. Unfortunately unknown to me, my card did not go through and the emails informing me of the issue went into my junk mail.
in February 2021, I was stopped by a police car who had picked up via their computer system that the car was uninsured. Even though they were sympathetic and under- stood that it was a genuine mistake, they said they still had to process the offence because it had been flagged on computer. I paid a £300 fine and have six points.
As it was a genuine mistake, is there any way of getting the points removed? I did not pursue it at the time as both my mother and father had serious health issues and were hospit- alised. Now of course it is impacting insurance prices etc.
A
Unfortunately, no, there is nothing you can do. Once you have accepted a fixed penalty of points and a fine, that is final and there is no way of getting it retracted.
The way to do it would have been, at the time, to reject the fixed penalty and argue the matter at court. You may well have had a decent special reasons argument at to avoid penalty points. I have won many similar cases in the past. It all comes down to whether it was reasonable for you to think you were insured, and considering you checked the policy documents and the emails went through to your junk, this may well have been reasonable.
However unfortunately, a fixed penalty is final and there is nothing we can do about it now.
Q
I have received a letter for Application for Driver Details. The offences listed are Careless Driving, Failure to Stop and Failure to report.
JUNE 2022 A
Firstly you must nominate yourself as the driver within 28 days. If you fail to do that you will be prosecuted for failing to give information and receive a minimum six points and up to a £1000 fine.
Just to make sure they have it, I would suggest sending it by recorded delivery.
However, nominating yourself as the driver is not automati- cally accepting fault. You can nominate yourself as the driver yet still defend the substantive allegations against you.
What is it you are supposed to have hit? Street furniture? A building? A car? A person? Do you know the extent of the damage caused?
Ultimately, what you are at risk of depends on the severity of the damage and what you hit. If it is minor damage to, for example, street furniture, you'd probably be looking at five or six points for failing to stop at the scene. But if you have caused a injury to a person and driven away, you could be looking at a disqualification or even community orders. You can even go to prison in very serious cases, however you probably would have heard something sooner than a few months later if it was overly serious, so I shouldn't worry too much at this stage.
Once you have nominated yourself as the driver, the police will either exchange insurance details and leave it to them to deal with, or they may summons you to court for those offences, or they may call you in for an interview if they are still investigating. It all depends on the severity of it.
If you need advice on motoring matters please email
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk or for regular updates on road traffic law follow us on
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