New driver revocation

[royboy68]

Anyone any advice on the quickest way to get licence back after revocation. To sumarise, my son had been driving for 12 months using my second car (modified mondeo) when he decided to buy a more sensible car (old BMW). A rush of blood to his head and he went to 51mph in a 30mph zone. Held his hands up and pleaded guilty by letter. Magistrates fined him £250 with £50 costs and 6 penalty points. He accepts all of the penalties he has been given but as the DVLA have revoked his licence its looking like its going to take around 6 weeks to re apply for his provisional, book and sit the theory and book and re take the practical. As his job is a delivery driver, i was wondering if anyone knows a quicker way to complete it. It just seems like another penalty to lose his job for 1 offence.

[Chesterexpress]

If his job depended on him having a driving licence, then he really ought to have attended court rather than plead guilty by letter. As for getting his licence back, there are no short cuts to speed up the process.

[Conniff]

Unfortunately speeding is a criminal offence, that is the punishment laid down and he must suffer the consequences.
He will have to ask his boss if he can do something else until he gets his licence back, if his employer will not agree then he had an early lesson on abiding with the law.

[leetwin]

This law stinks... My brother recently had his license revoked for getting caught for the 2nd time 3 weeks before the end of his 2 years.. I attended court with him where he asked for a short 2/3 week ban instead due to the fact that his job depended on it only to be told that he was'n't going fast enough to warrent a ban as under new government guidelines he needed to be doing 39mph and he was only doing 35mph in a 30 zone.. This stinks of punishing the less guilty again and as now resulted in him losing his job and having to claim benefits which obviously me and you have had to fund... It may also result in him losing his car as he is now struggling with his repayments due to losing his job... Now i'm all for punishing speeders but surely the courts should have some descretion in this as my brother has done well over 100000 miles since passing his test when some folk take 10 years to do this .. Surely if your job depends on it you should be allowed some leway...

[patdavies]

Revocation is nothing whatsoever to do with the Courts. In fact, they are specifically cautioned about sentencing with revocation in mind. A Court has no discretion regarding revocation as it is not a Court procedure.

Revocation is not a ban. It means that the individual must apply for a new provisional licence and take both tests again. Employment could be retained simply by having the driver accompanied (at his/her expense presumably)

Also, revocation does not take effect unless and until a notice is served by the DVLA announcing the revocation. An individual can continue to drive with a full licence until then.

[royboy68]

No one disputes that the court have nothing to do with the revocation process. However the people handing down the sentences do know that giving 6 points will end up with a revocation.
I just hope that the people who say the law is the law would do the moral thing after that statement and if unfortunately they get to 6 point they would surrender their licence. After all the law is the law for everyone not just some. Maybe it should be that way anyway. Afterall surely it would be beneficial to revoke a licence for all, especialy for older drivers who probably wouldnt pass a test these days. Im probably one of them.

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by royboy68

However the people handing down the sentences do know that giving 6 points will end up with a revocation.

What part of this (in bold) is not understandable?

Originally Posted by patdavies

Revocation is nothing whatsoever to do with the Courts. In fact, they are specifically cautioned about sentencing with revocation in mind. A Court has no discretion regarding revocation as it is not a Court procedure.

[royboy68]

That wasnt a dig at you Pat, as i said it isnt a dispute that the courts dont deal with the revocation. What my point was is, in my sons case it was a first offence, the court decided to give him 6 points and in doing so knew it would mean revocation. Surely they must have some leeway on the number of points. Someone has said that if he had attended court, he might have got away with a lower sentence, so much for the pleading by letter route.

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by royboy68

What my point was is, in my sons case it was a first offence, the court decided to give him 6 points and in doing so knew it would mean revocation. Surely they must have some leeway on the number of points.

You are still missing my point.

The Court is not allowed to award a lower number of points just because the 'normal' award would lead to revocation. They must ignore the whole revocation scenario when sentencing.

[royboy68]

According to a member of the court staff, the guidlines for the speed he was doing for the speed limit of the road are between 4 and 6 points. What they said is if he had attended court he could have pleaded that it would possibly mean losing his job and so could have been given less than 6.
This would point that the courts do sometimes take the revocation system into account.
In my sons case he held his hands up and addmited by post to the offence whereas it seems others who attend court could get a lower sentence.
Even the member of the court staff thought the ammount of the fine together with the ammount of points was a little exesive.

[Conniff]

Perhaps they are giving your son an early warning that irresponsible driving will not be tollerated and so by giving him this 'shock' treatment now, he will remember it all his driving life.

[royboy68]

So you wouldnt mind getting your licence revoked for 1 offence yourself. Whats good for 1 is good for all.
How fair is it that I get at least 3 speeding offence chances and just because someone has not been driving for 2 years only get 1. Speeding is speeding no matter how long someone has been driving. Im counting myself in this as well, like most of the elderly drivers we would find it difficult to pass a test straight away now. Try doing the mock theory.
If it was 2 offences in the first 2 years then i could agree.

[Rob S]

There are other offences around which allow magistrates to give out 6 points in one go. Unfortuantely he was driving at a speed which was considerably above the posted speed limit.

The only option he may have is to appeal against the sentence at crown court to see if it may get reduced to a lesser amount of points.

[royboy68]

Its pointless Rob. First you have to appeal to the magistrates court who will then forward it to crown court then you have to wait for a slot to get the case heard.
Hes decided to accept it, hes already got his provisional licence back and booked his theory for next thursday. He is then booking his practical straight after.
My points have been not just for him but for others who for a rush of blood once will get far more penalised than the rest of us.
Like i said most wouldnt pass first time. Luckily for them they have already done the new system so it shouldnt be to hard to pass.
I would be worried if it was me that had to retake a test as i think most of us so called experienced drivers would be.
1 speeding offence = 6 points +
£250 +
£50 (costs) +
£50 (new licence) +
£30 (Theory test) +
£56.50 (Practical test) +
Los of earnings equals one hell of a punishment for 1 offence

[patdavies]

On a positive note, once he passes, he is no longer subject to the new driver revocation act (it only applies to the first test pass).

The 6 points will be carried forward to his new licence and will remain valid for 'totting' (12 points) for 3 years from date of the original offence.

[royboy68]

Thats his frame of mind at the moment. originaly he didnt know that revocation could only happen once. It was only by me asking on here and other places that we found that out.
I just hope that the powers that be see sence in this farcical situation. As this site is all about unfair penalty charges we should all see this. Anyone that says different would sound like the people who dont get bank charges, "it dosnt happen to me so they deserve it".
I must admit I have been fortunate not to have lost my licence before now. Now i watch my speed with vigilance and still creep a couple of MPH over the limit on occasions, I must spend 25% of my time watching my speedo now.

[royboy68]

All sorted now. Hes passed his test again this morning and is now back on the road. Hopefully he has learnt a verry costly lesson.
Thanks to all for the advice from you all.

[crem]

He's done well passing a new test at the first time of asking royboy. It's amazing how quickly bad habits creep into new driver's driving making it very hard for them to re-introduce the "perfect driver" they were first time round.

I have a pupil at the moment who was driving for nearly 2 years then had his license revoked, and has now taken 3 new tests but always lets one of those "normal" bad driving habits slip into the test that we see everyone else using every day of the week.