points/court summons question

[delsinboy]

hello, a few months ago i was caught speeeding with 9 points on my license. i now have a court summons but during this period my points have reduced to 6 on my license.
my question is will the courts decision be based on the 6 points i have now or the 9 points i had at the time of the incident.
if it is based on the 9 points i had then, will the duration of any ban not exceed the time from the incident to the point at which my llicense returned to 6 points (about 6 weeks).
please note that it was a relatively minor speeding offence and the officer would have given me 3 points and a £60 fine if my license could have taken the points at the time.

many thanks,

john.

[Expressit]

Any new points will be from the date of the alleged offence.

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by delsinboy

hello, a few months ago i was caught speeeding with 9 points on my license. i now have a court summons but during this period my points have reduced to 6 on my license.
my question is will the courts decision be based on the 6 points i have now or the 9 points i had at the time of the incident.
if it is based on the 9 points i had then, will the duration of any ban not exceed the time from the incident to the point at which my llicense returned to 6 points (about 6 weeks).
please note that it was a relatively minor speeding offence and the officer would have given me 3 points and a £60 fine if my license could have taken the points at the time.

many thanks,

john.

If you are convicted of speeding by the Magistrates, then the points for your conviction are valid from date of offence. This means that, immediately following the offence, you would have had 12 points and are likely to be disqualified for 'totting up'.

A disqualification (ban) will run immediately from the date of this last conviction.

My advice is, do not drive to Court - you may not be able to drive back

[Rob S]

The key will be the date of offence of the endorsement that has now dropped off. Can you tell us the date of the offence of this endorsement please?

[delsinboy]

Originally Posted by patdavies

A disqualification (ban) will run immediately from the date of this last conviction.

the police officer advised me that i may be banned for a short period (4 weeks or so) - this would surely come into effect after the court hearing?

also, i wont be attending court - i am pleading guilty and don't need to attend. if i get a ban, how and when will i be informed after the hearing?
the letter says that if i plead guilty and don't want to attend, then the decision will be made up to a month after the proposed court date. will i get any notice of a ban or will it be out of the blue?

thanks,
john.

[Rob S]

If you don't attend and they are considering disqualification then the case will be adjourned for you to appear in person.

Are you able to give us the date of the offence of the oldest endorsement?

[delsinboy]

thanks rob, the date of the offence was 7th april 2007 and i returned to 6 points on 31st may 2007.
the proposed court hearing is on 22nd august 2007.

[Rob S]

John,

I'm assuming that the date of the offence of the oldest endorsement was the 31st May 2004?

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by Rob S

John,

I'm assuming that the date of the offence of the oldest endorsement was the 31st May 2004?

Surely 1st June 2004?

Also, for some offences, points run from conviction not offence. For some offences, points remain valid for 10 years.

[delsinboy]

Originally Posted by Rob S

John,

I'm assuming that the date of the offence of the oldest endorsement was the 31st May 2004?

sorry, yes thats correct rob

[Rob S]

Ok John, thanks for confirming that. That does mean that when you go to court that you will be dealt with under the totting up procedure which will mean a mandatory disqualification. I believe that is a 6 month disqualification. The only good news is that the points are removed at the end of the disqualification and you start off with a clean slate.

The only way around the disqualification is to prove to the court that extreme hardship would result from the disqualification. It might be worthwhile consulting a motoring solicitor to see if this is an avenue you can explore.

[patdavies]

Rob's advice is spot-on.

The only way to avoid totting up is to be found not guilty of the latest offence. Otherwise it is automatic.

The only way to avoid/reduce the length of the disqualification is to claim 'special circumstances' like undue hardship. Inconvenience to you (even up to loss of employment) is not undue hardship - most Courts will only accept if the undue hardship is caused to others.

Try Pepipoo, there are threads on there about mitigation.

[delsinboy]

ok, well thanks for the info.
i've decided to plead guilty and not attend a court hearing and put my mitigating circumstances in writing which are as follows:-

1. driving is my job & i'll lose it if i get banned
2. i drive 100,000 miles per year so it's easier for me to pick up more points than normal in a 3 year period.
3. i was only 7 weeks away from being on 6 points when i was caught speeding.

what do you think?

[Rob S]

I would go to PePiPoo: Helping the motorist to get justice as Pat suggested and ask for some mitigation advice there.

You might be able to get a letter from your boss saying that if you get banned that you will lose your job which might carry more weight, but I suspect that stating that you drive so many miles per year will carry little weight with the magistrates. Mentioning you were so close to losing an endorsement will also not be too impressive to the magistrates.


PS This site http://www.hegarty.co.uk/documents/CaughtSpeeding.pdf

under the "Automatic Ban for up to or over 12 penalty points" makes interesting reading about the hardship angle.
It may cost you, but seeing a solicitor is also a good idea to see if you can put forward genuine mitigation of extreme hardship.

[i_spam]

I would attend the hearing and put my case to the magistrates it could be that the prosecution witness does not turn up in which case the prosecution will try to have the case adjourned but you must refuse the ajournment then if the ajournment in not granted you have no case to answer even if the adjournment is granted they cannot do anything except for another hearing and again you can ask for a specific date.