5 Speeding tickets

[hollyhotlips]

I have been issued 5 speeding tickets at the same location over 3 days doing between 34mph to 39 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Can I get them all heard at the same time in court to save time and court costs.   

 

I know it will take me over the 12 points but I have mitigating circumstances as I suffer with Septic Arthritis and I can't walk long distances and have to attend hospital appointments for treatment I live on my own so I don't have anyone to drive me or help me .

 

My age is 68 I only use my car for shopping, hospital appointments and visiting the cemetery. 

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

I expect people will be along to advise during the weekend. I can't comment on motoring stuff unfortunately, including mitigating circumstances, but we have members who can. They should be along over the weekend.

 

Best, HB

[dx100uk]

well i wouldn't use that as an excuse as you would endanger yourself in possibly confessing you are not fit to drive a car if you are saying your condition is the route cause of why you habitually sped in the same area several times.

 

be very careful here 

[honeybee13]

dx, do you mean you would or you wouldn't use arthritis as an excuse please?

 

HB

[dx100uk]

yes my N'T key is sticky.....

[hollyhotlips]

 am not saying my Septic Arthritis is the reason for my speeding. 

My Septic Arthritis is why I need my driving licence to travel to the hospital and shopping. 

 

I need to know if I can get the 5 speeding tickets heard on the same court day to limit the cost and time,  I am pleading guilty to the charges of speeding

 

[honeybee13]

You need someone like @Man in the middle. We're a website of volunteers so not everybody knows all of the answers but hopefully people will turn up soon.

 

 

 

[hollyhotlips]

Many thanks for your help

[Man in the middle]

First of all, are you sure you have a ticket for doing 34mph? That would be most unusual as the guidelines issued by the National Police Chiefs’ Council suggest action is not taken below 35mph. All police forces in England & Wales usually comply with those guidelines. It doesn’t particularly matter. If you have five tickets you have five tickets. It’s just that I have heard a number of reports of drivers seeing action below 35mph but have never seen a substantiated case. So it’s only for my own interest.

 

The first of your offences should qualify for the offer of a speed awareness course (provided the offences were not in Scotland and you have not done one for an offence which occurred in the last three years). But you may not choose to take that (see below). For the next three you should be offered a fixed penalty (£100 and three points). After that it gets messy. With nine points you will not be offered a FP (or if you are you cannot accept it). Your matter will be dealt with in court and you will face a “totting up” ban of six months. In order to avoid a ban you will have to argue that “exceptional hardship” will follow for you or others if you are banned. Of course everybody can expect to suffer some hardship if they are disqualified. The clue is in the name – the hardship has to be exceptional. That is over and above that which most drivers might suffer.

 

From your brief description of your condition it seems you may have the making of a successful EH argument. It would certainly help your case if you could get some medical evidence of the difficulties you face if you are not able to drive. If you’re going to argue EH (and these are not “mitigating circumstances” – that is something different) you may find it beneficial to decline the offer of a course. If you’re going to face a ban for twelve points you might as well face a ban for fifteen and going to fifteen would leave you a course “in hand” in case of any future offences. If your EH argument is successful you will leave the court with 12 or 15 points; any further offence will see you face a totting up ban again and you cannot use an EH argument using the same reasons within three years.

 

First things first – you need to respond to the requests for drivers details that you have (failure to do so sees you commit a separate more serious offence). I would see what you are offered. The first decision will be whether to accept a course or not as I have explained above. Only when you have accepted three FPs need you worry about having any remaining charges heard together.

 

Let me know if I can help further.

[hollyhotlips]

 

 

I know it will take me over the 12 points but I have mitigating circumstances as I suffer with Septic Arthritis and I can't walk long distances and have to attend hospital appointments for treatment I live on my own so I don't have anyone to drive me or help me .  I can get medical records and evidence from the hospital that I suffer with Septic Arthritis and I can show pictures from the hospital when I had my last attack.  

 

My age is 68 I only use my car for shopping, hospital appointments and visiting the cemetery. 

 

They originally sent me 6 speeding tickets but when I checked them 2 of the tickets were at the same time same speed and same date but 2 different notice numbers .  When I contacted the safety camera unit and explained this they immediately cancelled one of the tickets so that took it back to 5.  Should they have cancelled the 2 tickets as we do not know which one was the correct one.  They put a new camera up on the road with no white lines so I didn't see the camera as it was very high up and there were no white lines on the road but when I went back to check there were some small silver dots on the road. 

 

Many thanks for your helpful advice as its very much appreciated  

[Man in the middle]

No you don't have mitigating circumstances. They are matters which lessen the seriousness of an offence or offences. You haven't mentioned anything that suggests that. As I explained, if you are banned you might successfully argue that you will suffer "exceptional hardship". That is where your medical evidence will be of benefit. But first things first - have you responded to all five requests for driver's details?

[hollyhotlips]

Yes I have replied to all 5 cases. They have now sent me 3 single justice procedure notices and I am waiting for the other 2 to arrive. The form is asking if I’m pleading guilty or not and asking for my statement of means. 

[Man in the middle]

Have they not made you any Fixed Penalty Offers?

[hollyhotlips]

No they have not 

[Manxman in exile]

And they haven't offered a speed awareness course either?  (Have you done one in the last three years or is this in Scotland?)

 

And is one of the notices for 34 in a 30?  As Man in the Middle says, that ought to be below the level at which they take action.

 

(And sorry - I don't want to appear preachy - but...  there don't have to be any warnings or signs or lines on the road to advise you of the presence of speed cameras.  If you get away with an exceptional hardship argument you will need to stick to speed limits in future - whether you know there are cameras there or not.  NB Don't know if this applies to you, but most 30 mph limits are restricted roads with a system of streetlighting and don't even need speed limit signs - you are assumed to know this from the Highway Code).

Edited November 28, 2020 by Manxman in exile

[Man in the middle]

It might be worth contacting the issuing office to ask why you have not been offered fixed penalties for any of these as all of them would normally qualify. That aside, you need to wait for the remining SJPNs to arrive and write to court to ensure they are all heard at once. This is really important because if you do make a successful EH argument and a later offence raises its head you cannot make the same argument again.

[hollyhotlips]

Thank you so much for all your help.  I will contact the ticket office tomorrow and let you know there response 

[honeybee13]

Please let us know how you get on, holly.

 

HB

[Impossible2021]

Please take note: I got 2 tickets for 32  miles in a 30 zone on different days.  The police said its their policy to ticket anything over 30!!  
I had to pay £100 for one and do the course as well.  Even as a disabled driver there was no give on the tickets.

Please stop saying that it has to be 35+ it really does not.
West Midlands police in Nuneaton so definitely dont go 1 mile over in that area.