4 speeding tickets and facing ban

[Man in the middle]

You need to prepare an "Exceptional Hardship" argument to put before the court. As I'm sure you know, you will get twelve points for these offences and that will see you face a "totting up" ban of six months. This can reduced to zero if you can show that "Exceptional Hardship" will follow for you or others if you are banned. Here's the Sentencing Council's guidance to Magistrates on the mater:

 

3. ‘Totting up’ disqualification – Sentencing (sentencingcouncil.org.uk) 

 

You will note that loss of employment by itself is not usually considered "exceptional."  However, the additional info you have provided can well tip the scales in your favour -  In particular your father's circumstances. Your employer suffering from having to "let you go" together with the effect that may have on your remaining colleagues is also a good angle. You need to prepare your argument and be ready for questions from either the Magistrates or the prosecutor. In particular you need to be prepared to show that alternatives to you driving are either not available or are impractical. Any proof you may have to support your arguments will help (e.g. letter from your father's doctor explaining his circumstances and his dependence on you for care; letter from your employer  explaining whether or not he could continue to employ you and the effects it would have on the business if you were banned or had to leave).

 

A final bit of advice is that if you are successful you will keep your licence but it will have the twelve points remaining on it. This means that any offence you commit before the three year anniversary of the first of your recent speeding offences will see you face a totting up ban again. You cannot use the same reason(s) to argue exceptional hardship again within that period. So you may care to keep some of your powder dry by restricting your latest argument to just one aspect (and I would suggest the care you need to provide to your father is your best chance of success). The choice is yours - the more you egg the pudding this time the greater the chance of success, but the less material you will have to use should you be unfortunate enough to face a ban again. On that topic, I note you have done a speed a awareness course 2.5 years ago. You will become eligible for another when the third anniversary of the date of that offence is passed. Courses are normally offered up to and including (Limit + 10% + 9mph).

 

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any further info.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Man in the middle

[Man in the middle]

The option of a short ban is a forlorn hope, I'm afraid. 

 

Although a ban can be imposed for any offence which attracts an endorsement and points, any one of your offences would normally only attract 3 points (in fact every one of them is within the range where a course would be offered). To ask the court to ban you for any or all of them would be asking the Magistrates to sentence you considerably outside their guidelines and there is no justification for them to do so. Furthermore, Magistrates have supplementary guidance which suggests that where they have an option of points or a ban and points would lead to a "totting up" disqualification, then points should be imposed.

 

Appointing a solicitor to represent you will cost you at least £300 and probably more. My view is that you would be wasting your money. I do not believe (s)he will be able to persuade the court to impose a short ban for any or all of the offences. In theory it is only necessary to succeed in persuading the court to impose a ban for one, leaving you with nine points for the other three, but there is simply no justification for the court to do so. You may want to consider representation to present your EH argument but if you are capable of speaking to the court that is all that's necessary. You can write down what you want the court to hear if you like and either read it out yourself or ask them to read it rather than speaking. But you should be prepared to answer questions. Some solicitors give a free 30m consultation where you may be able to get an opinion. But beware of those who promise you the Earth if you engage them. They get paid whatever the outcome.

 

If you want, post your EH proposals up here and I'll let you know what I think.

[Man in the middle]

Two quick and immediate points:

 

1. Do NOT get your employer to suggest you were exhausted. You shouldn't drive whilst exhausted and it aggravates the offences. But in any case, since you are pleading guilty to them it doesn't matter. The circumstances of each offence are not relevant when the court considers your EH argument. By that time you have been convicted of them and how or why they happened is not a consideration. 

 

2. Instead your employer's letter to the court should concentrate on the "Hardship" that others (e.g. the company or your colleagues) will suffer if you are banned. It should also cover why no alternatives are available to them (e.g. are your skills and knowledge scarce such that they cannot easily be replaced; can they not train somebody else quickly to do your job). That sounds harsh but your employer will be asking the court to accept that they will suffer hardship. Part of doing that is to demonstrate that no practical alternatives are available.

 

Remember, you will get three points for each offence whatever mitigation you offer for them - that is the minimum. So you don't need to concentrate on that. Concentrate on explaining the exceptional hardship that you or others will suffer.