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Motoring offences
are prosecuted within the Criminal Law procedures. For most offences
this means the Magistrates Court. Serious offences, for instance Death
by Dangerous Driving are commenced in a Magistrates Court but will be
finally dealt with in the Crown court. This is to allow for greater
penalties to be applied.
You should be aware
that even if you accept a fixed penalty for speeding, ie £60.00
fine and 3 penalty points, the offence will be registered in a Magistrates
Court where the offence took place. You will have a criminal record.
Once you accumulate
12 penalty points on your licence the Magistrates have to consider disqualifying
you from driving. This is known as ‘totting up’.The minimum
period of disqualification is 6 months.
To many people
this would mean the loss of their job, especially if they have to hold
a valid driving licence as part of their contract of employment. The
law allows a person to put forward a case of ‘Excessive Hardship’,
in these circumstances. If accepted by the court this usually means
no disqualification at all or in some cases a much shorter period than
the mandatory 6 months.
The court will
still endorse the licence with penalty points and a fine and prosecution
costs will be imposed too.
Once a ‘hardship
argument’ has been used and accepted, the ‘same’ argument
cannot be used again within 3 years of the date of that court hearing.
If you are unfortunate
enough to be in this position in Scotland, then the law is slightly
different and you will need advice from a Scottish lawyer.
If you are disqualified
for a period exceeding 56 days then if you are in a similar position
within 3 years a longer minimum period applies.
Penalty points
count for reckoning under the ‘totting up’ system for 3 years
from the date of the offence. They remain on your driving licence for
4 years.
If you have 9 points
on your licence at the time of the offence but, by the time you get
to court all or any of them have expired, the court will take into account
the 9 points. You could find yourself where none of the points on your
licence count on the day you go to court, yet still face a totting up
situation and therefore disqualification on the day.
The minimum number
of points which a court can award is 3. Depending on the actual offence
there will be a range of points depending on the facts of the case.
Things taken into account when deciding how many points to apply include
the weather, volume of traffic, type of road and whether you were involved
in an accident or not.
For instance speeding
has a range of 3 to 6 points. Careless driving 3 to 9, and no insurance
6 to 8.
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