NIP - 76 in a 50 motorway zone - short term disqualification

[Man in the middle]

The first you will hear will be a "Single Justice Procedure Notice" (SJPN). As mentioned they have 6 months to produce this and usually take all of that. The usual sentence for that speed is  6 points (1mph slower and you would have been offered a Fixed Penalty of £100 + 3 points). Unless you opt for a court hearing (option will come with the SJPN) the SJ will sentence you to that in your absence (you cannot attend a SJ hearing). Only if a ban is considered by the SJ (unlikely)will it be transferred to a full court hearing. The SJ will not ban you in your absence.

 

I'm not too clear why you would prefer a ban but if one is considered it will not be 56 days. Seven to fourteen is more likely. If you want to argue for that you must go to court but there is no guarantee that the court will accede to your request as the choice is not yours.

 

I have limited internet access until Monday and if you have any questions I may not see them until then.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2019 by Man in the middle

[Man in the middle]

Quite honestly when speeding matters are dealt with in court the sentences are fairly prescriptive. Very rarely does mitigation materially influence the court's decision. Any solicitor who charges you £800 and says that they can save you money is taking you for a ride.

 

Having said that, many drivers offer what they believe is mitigation when it in fact aggravates the offence. I would not attempt to get the court to treat you more leniently by telling them you drove home following a long day at work and after having been up for 14 hours.Their view will be that if you believed you were over tired you should not have driven at all. Best to keep it to "out of character (as borne out by my clean licence)...momentary lapse of concentration" etc. Whilst letters of support from your employer will not do you any harm (provided they don't mention "long day at work, may have been tired, etc.) they are unlikely to have much affect.

 

The guideline fine for the offence (with a guilty plea) is  one week's net income. You will also pay a "Victim Surcharge" of 10% of the fine (Min £30, Max £170) and £85 prosecution costs. You need to calculate your net income as best you can. So long as it looks reasonable it is unlikely to be queried. The maximum fine for speeding on a motorway is £2,500. That is the maximum without a guilty plea meaning that if your net weekly income exceeds that then that is the most you can be fined before your one third discount (for your guilty plea) is applied. So the most you can be fined if your weekly income is £2,500 or more is £1,667.

 

As far as a ban or points goes, as I said earlier the normal disposal for such a speed is six points. You can suggest that the court imposes a short ban instead but do not mention that this is your preference so that you have some leeway in case of future offences are committed! But it is entirely a matter for the court.

Edited June 28, 2019 by Man in the middle

[Man in the middle]

I must say that does seem an unusually long adjournment to a normal traffic court. One thing I would make certain of is that your Guilty plea has been recorded correctly. Not many people ask for a court appearance when they are pleading guilty. Your plea may have been recorded incorrectly and the matter listed for trial. When you do that you could explore the possibility of your case being re-listed for the Single Justice Procedure. I doubt they will accede to your request but if you don’t ask you don’t get.

 

That said, if your Guilty plea has been accepted and they will not agree to a reversion to the SJ process, you are where you are and there’s no point in getting stressed about it. As I said earlier, your attendance at court is unlikely to make any material difference to the outcome and I believe that will be six points. There are no aggravating features which would make a ban more likely but if it is considered it will be for no more than, perhaps 14 days. One thing you may like to learn is that if you are awarded points, they last (for “totting up” purposes) for three years from the date of the offence. So whenever your case is finally concluded they become inactive on 31^st January 2022. However, this is what worries me (and is certainly what would worry the Magistrates if you mentioned it which is why I strongly advised against it):

 

Quote

“I prefer the ban because i could do even with a 30 day ban. i will use the train etc.. 6 points on the license sounds just more worrying for me because I do drive a fair bit to various hospitals as and when needed, so , not because I am reckless, but sometimes the drive is long , as far as 100 mils each way, and with long hours , despite me having rest at the service stations, occasionally , as in this time, I may not take notice of the speed limits especially at night, and may accidentally go over the limit”

 

The very idea of the points system is to give drivers a chance to modify their driving before they are taken off the road, Whatever your lifestyle or work arrangements you have an obligation to stick to the speed limits and what you think is “mitigation” should you transgress is actually aggravation. If you are driving following long hours and your concentration is wavering you should really consider whether you should be driving at all in those circumstances. To repeat my earlier advice, do not under any circumstances mention this in court as mitigation.

 

I understand your frustration with temporary speed limits but, again, you are getting unnecessarily stressed about something over which you have no control. You don’t know what lies ahead when a lower speed limit is introduced and even if it is nothing it makes no difference. Other drivers harassing you to go faster is not uncommon and something you must learn to live with. If you are awarded six points, another offence in this category of seriousness will see you facing a ban of six months. You need to consider that when you have other driver’s harassing you. I believe you can get stickers which say “On 9 points, please pass”. One of those might encourage other drivers to cut you a bit of slack.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Man in the middle

[Man in the middle]

Thanks for the feedback. A couple of comments:

 

1. Before Magistrates arrive at court they have no idea what sort of offences they will be dealing with or who they will be dealing with.  They are given a list of defendants and the charges against them on arrival and that's it. Their Legal Advisor (the person sitting in front of them and facing the court) runs through that list before the court begins, but only to point out anything unusual or anything in particular they need to know. In a traffic court there is not usually anything to tell them. They have no papers given to them about any of their cases (except occasionally when dealing with trials or probation reports) until the case is called on. They rely on being provided with any papers they need by either the prosecutor or their Legal Advisor..

 

2. Your fine is based on your weekly net income and no account of expenditure is normally taken. It is asked for so that, should the defendant ask to pay in instalments, some idea of how much per week or month he can realistically afford can be gained. Actually, your fine was not harsh. On the contrary you were treated rather leniently. The guideline fine for 76 in a 50 is one and a half week's net income. £6,200 pcm is £1,430 pw. So your fine should have been £2,145. Your guilty plea would knock it back to £1,430 - one week's net income, as I mentioned in an earlier post. In addition to that you would pay £143 in the form of a "Victim Surcharge" and £85 towards prosecution costs - so £1,658 in total. Had you pleaded Not Guilty and been found guilty at trial (a near certainty from what I remember you told us) not only would you have lost the discount on your fine but you would also have paid £620 prosecution costs. A conviction following a trial should have cost you £2,145 (Fine) + £170 (VS) + £620 (Costs) which equals £2,935 (the maximum Victim Surcharge for offences committed before 28/6/19 is £170).

 

Other than that I'm not surprised they asked why you would prefer a ban instead of points and even less surprised that they chose points over a ban. I doubt your presence made any difference at all (which, again, I suggested earlier that it probably would not). Sentencing for speeding is very prescriptive and there is rarely any mitigation or other factors surrounding the offence or the offender which would significantly influence the outcome. Speeding becomes a very expensive business when cases come to court, especially for those on high incomes and very often a "view" is taken by the Magistrates that the calculated fine is a "bit steep". That's probably why you were cut some slack.

 

One other point which will probably upset you more than help (but which I think it is important you are aware of). Had your recorded speed been just one mph lower you would almost certainly have been offered a fixed penalty (FP) of £100 and three points. FPs are normally offered up to 49mph in a 30 limit, 65 in a 40, 75 in a 50, 85 in a 60 and 95 in a 70.

 

Thanks again for the feedback.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Man in the middle

[Man in the middle]

54 minutes ago, Andy711351 said:

I was thinking of appealing the fine aspect of the sentence...

 

I wouldn't do that if I were you !!!!