Motoring Offences
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Motoring Lawyers
For the court to refrain from imposing a disqualification, a strong and cogent argument needs to be presented to the satisfaction of the Court. Therefore, a combination of effective advocacy and supporting evidence goes a long way in satisfying the court that the hardship is exceptional.
Motoring offence barristers at St Pauls have an exemplary record of success when it comes to reaching the desired result in these cases. Our services are offered through instruction from solicitors or can be obtained directly.
Totting Up Provisions
It is becoming increasingly prevalent that motorists are at risk of losing their driving licence as a result of the totting up procedure. This occurs when a driver reaches 12 penalty points within a three-year period. Speeding, of course, being the most common.
Once an individual becomes liable for disqualification under the totting up provisions they could be disqualified for any period at the courts discretion. However, this discretion is limited by the fixing of minimum periods. If there has been no previous disqualification then the minimum period is 6 months. This is standard for nearly all courts.
Avoiding a Ban Due to Exceptional Hardship
Losing your driving licence can have fairly catastrophic consequences. The disqualification is not meant to be easy, however where an individual can show the court that any period of disqualification would cause exceptional hardship, then the court has a discretion not to disqualify at all. The key word being exceptional.
Losing your employment, for example as a taxi driver, is often not enough. There would usually have to be an additional feature of the case to make the hardship exceptional. It is for the individual to satisfy the court on the balance of probability.
Importantly, it is well established that “hardship” is not confined to the hardship that will be caused to the offender; hardship can be caused to persons other than the defendant who are wholly innocent and will suffer if the offender is disqualified (Cornwall v Coke [1976] Crim LR 519).
Avoiding a Ban Due to Special Reasons
In certain circumstances a court has discretion not to disqualify for an offence carrying obligatory disqualification, or to refrain from endorsing a driving licence with penalty points. These reasons are commonly referred to as special reasons.
The exercise of the discretion not to disqualify or endorse should only be exercised by the court in clear and compelling circumstances. Each case will always be fact dependent. To amount to a special reason a matter must:
- Be a mitigating or extenuating circumstance;
- Not amount to a defence in law;
- Be directly connected with the commission of the offence;
- Be one which the court ought properly to take into consideration when imposing sentence.
A distinction has to be drawn between circumstances that relate to the offender and those that relate to the offence. It is this latter category that is relevant to a special reasons submission.
The following are examples of circumstances that relate to the offence which are capable of amounting to special reasons:
- Drink-driving – the fact the offender only drove for a short distance and in circumstances where he would have been unlikely to come into contact with other road users;
- Drink-driving – spiked drink;
- Speeding – emergency;
- Insurance/Speeding – offender genuinely believed had insurance or misled by others.
If you would like to discuss the possibility of instructing one of our team, please contact the clerking team on 0844 2722322.
