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 us on 01626 359800 for free legal advice.
Q A
I received a speeding ticket and I nominated the per- son who was driving. It was a family friend visiting from Singapore. The police wrote back and said they needed evidence that this person was driving. I
don’t have any evidence, they turned up out of the blue. I told the police this but now they want to interview me for perverting the course of justice. Will I need representation? I have tried to contact the driver, but they have gone back to Singapore and now I can’t get hold of them.
Yes, you will need representation. Perverting the course of justice is a very serious charge that will carry a custodial sentence. You could easily be facing some time in prison if you are found guilty.
The police will want to interview you because they believe that you have made it up. Whether they can prove it is a different matter.
If you nominate somebody from abroad that cannot be contacted, occasionally the police may do thorough investi- gations and check things like visa applications or Home Office records to see who has come in and out of the country since the time of the speeding offence. If they can find no record of the person you nominated having left the country or even having applied for a visa, then they will accuse you of making up a name.
I would suggest getting as much evidence as you can to prove this person was visiting you at the time. It worries me that he just turned up at your door and left without notice. Usually if a family friend visits there is at least some form of communication by email or text.
Have you got any messages at all between the two of you? Any photographs whilst he was here? Any records at all to prove that he was in the country at the time? Even witnesses who can confirm this?
If you have nothing, and the police have evidence that he was not in the country, you may be on sticky ground.
Come back with this information because we need to decide whether you comment during the interview or not, and whether we advance a positive case or simply try to make the
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police prove that you have provided a false nomination. If the police have not conducted thorough investigations and are simply guessing that you made up a name, you may be better staying silent and putting them to proof, meaning that we make them prove that you have lied.
After the interview, the police will make a decision whether to charge - but that decision could take months and will depend on what evidence they have.
Q A
I have just got a Notice of Intended Prosecution for driving without due care and attention for passing too close to a cyclist. I’m angry about this. I gave him plenty of room as I came past but he took a swipe at
my car. When I pulled over to check for damage, he then confronted me and accused me of dangerous driving, pushing a mobile phone in my face as he filmed me. How can I go about requesting an interview so I can tell the police exactly what I think of this cyclist?
I anticipate that in addition to the Notice of Intended Prosecution you have a request from the police asking you to nominate the driver? In which case you must respond to that nominating yourself. Failure to
do so may see you prosecuted for failing to provide driver information, an offence which carries six points and up to a £1,000 fine. Nominating yourself as the driver is not admitting guilt. You can nominate yourself yet still defend the substantive allegation against you. However, I would be very wary of requesting any form of interview. I would advise being legally represented at this stage.
It concerns me that you say you pulled over to check for damage. When you drove past him and he took a swipe at your car, you knew he was on your left-hand side and so pulling over to the left, directly in front of his path, could easily be seen as an aggressive move to force him to stop. This, backed up by apparent video footage of the two of you having an argument, all goes towards a road rage incident. The police may take it very seriously.
I can tell that you are angry about it. But if you come across as angry in the interview, that coupled with the footage and pulling into his path will all go against you. It needs to be handled carefully. Driving without due care and attention carries 3-9 points or disqualification in serious cases. But if they feel this was road rage or you perhaps had deliberately tried to run him off the road, it could be upped to dangerous driving, which carries a minimum 12-month disqualification.
I would suggest in the first instance responding to the request for information and providing a written statement, getting across your case in a controlled manner. The idea would be to try to persuade the police not to take any further action. But if they do and you end up being
MAY 2022
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