court date for speeding and FtF - Can I transfer case to local court

[Man in the middle]

Definitely Fixed Penalty territory (up to 49mph in a 30 limit).

In fact, had you been able to respond to the request for driver's details you would have almost certainly been offered a Speed Awareness Course (provided you have not done one for an offence that occured in the three years prior to this one and that it was not in Scotland).

 

They are normally offered up to 42mph.

 

Unfortunately the court cannot deal with the matter by way of a course. 

[hopey7]

I did a course two years ago but I will try the fixed penalty. Like you said, if you don't ask, you don't get. 

 

Thanks MITM                         

[hopey7]

***************UPDATE***************

 

Hi everyone,

 

I went to court today where the magistrates agreed to set aside the previous judgement and reopen the case.

 

Now, I don't know if this is good news or bad, but they decided to cancel the charge of speeding and only reopen the charge of FtF. I was asked how I intended to PLEAD on the charge and I said I will be pleading NOT GUILTY, before a hearing date was set for 6 week's time. But without the speeding charge, it appears that I have lost my 'bargaining chip'.

 

What do you guys think?

[Man in the middle]

Without being there it's difficult to say why they did what they did.

 

It could be that the speeding charge was discontinued beforehand anyway (you were never convicted of it). All is not entirely lost.

 

You can still ask for the deal when you go to court for your next hearing. 

 

Defendants often arrive at court facing only the FtF charge. It just takes a little bit of effort from a kindly prosecutor (who fancies a quick speeding conviction instead of a trial for FtF!) to see it through.

 

Be nice and polite - "please, thank you, that's very kind", etc.

I know of one driver who failed to secure the deal.

When making his request he was, shall we say, less than polite to the prosecutor "demanding his rights to a fair trial" and all that.

He got his fair trial (for FtF) and was convicted.

 

In case that fails, what exactly were the circumstances that led you to fail to provide the driver's details?

 

I know you said you only got a reminder 7 days before the deadline and that you delayed responding in order to check out the limit.

 

Did you respond too late or not at all?

You need to decide whether you are going to defend the charge if your request for the deal fails.

 

The downside of doing so is that it is a notoriously difficult charge to successfully defend (if it was easy everybody would simply pitch up and say "Didn't get the notice, guv").

 

As well as that the cost of failure will be high.

You will lose your discount on your fine (so you will pay 1.5 week's income instead of 1 week's).

But the crippler is the prosecution costs.

 

The standard rate for a trial is £620 (as opposed to £85 for a guilty plea).

You may be asked for a little less than that but you should be prepared for that at worst.

[hopey7]

Man in the middle, thank you for that response.

 

Looking back, of course I had no good reason for not responding to the reminder.

I thought though that I might get more time to respond after I emailed to say that I didn't receive the initial NIP.

 

I am a chauffeur and I was doing a contract away from home at the time (which was why I got this charge 95 miles from home).

 

I returned home after the time on the reminder (7 days I think), had lapsed but I thought the NIP would be re-issued.

But instead of a re-issue of NIP, I received a summons.

 

By the way, my wife checks my mails when I am working away from home otherwise I wouldn't even have known about the reminder until after the time had elapsed.

 

On 27/09/2019 at 15:57, Man in the middle said:

Without being there it's difficult to say why they did what they did.

 

It could be that the speeding charge was discontinued beforehand anyway (you were never convicted of it). All is not entirely lost.

 

They were actually having the discussion in court and I was tempted to get involved and ask for the whole case to be re-opened but I thought it might be impolite.

[hopey7]

The hearing for my re-opened case is on 11 Nov.

I am abroad and was due back on 31 Oct.

 

Due to a change in circumstances, I had to postpone my return to 14 Nov, three days too late for my court date.

 

I have contacted the court via email (with copies of my return ticket showing the old date and the rebooked date) to explain and ask for a short adjournment. But they said No, that I knew the date of hearing before I travelled so they wouldn’t adjourn.

 

Shall I just send a plea of ‘guilty’ now with my statement of means to at least benefit from the discount on my fine?

Do I have any options?