9 points and caught speeding by a mobile speed camera

[earthange]

Hi a friend of mine on the date of the offence had nine points on her licence. (all for low speeding offences) (had it happened two weeks later she would have had six points).
she was caught by a hand held speed gun. the person was hiding in the bushes and flashed her doing 43 in a 30 zone.
She admits it obviously because speed cameras dont lie.
the only thing is she was leaving a 30 mile zone and could see the 40 zone sign so had obviously increased her speed too soon. the speed camera was just before the 40 sign!

she is due to go to court next week - technically she only has 6 points on her licence at the moment until they hand out their points.
what is likely to happen?
she desperately needs her licence due to the job she does and it will affect others round her.

I don't agree with speeding, but feel that this is 'entrapment.' the police would know people would be raising their speed in this area as they would be approaching a 40 zone, which is not near schools , built up etc and within a couple of hundred metres would then turn into a 60mph zone.

Thanks -she is worried sick and is expecting a ban

Is there anything she can do?

[naz_nomad]

Yeah, slow down ... and look into buying a bicycle

[earthange]

thanks naz_nomad that was helpful

[steve2010]

no ,nothing.why do you think the police do it there,so as to catch people like your friend,its likely she will be banned for 6 months,unless she can prove losing her licence will incur genuine hardship.

[naz_nomad]

Thanks ..helpfula dvice I know , but for your friend, sadly too late

[jake-the-peg]

Entrapment is where the police induce somebody to break the law and then try to prosecute them.

Hiding in bushes does not encourage people to speed. So there's no element of entrapment. Had an unmarked police car been driving really close behind her or pretending to try to want to race - that might be entrapment.

Absoluteley everybody claims that they shouldn't be disqualified because they need their job for work. So much so that courts are told to disregard this claim - In a few very rare cases it does work still though. The best chance of avoiding a ban normally comes if you can prove that somebody (other than your family) will suffer - typically if you do charity work that you will not be able to do if you receive a ban but it has to be convincing.

The guidance is that it has to be exceptional hardship - no account may be given for non-exceptional hardship.

I also think that as her last offence was so recent the court is unlikely to be very sympathetic.

I take it that all the endorsements were in the last 3 years?

[earthange]

i take on board what you are saying about entrapment and obviously i got that wrong!
as far as i am aware the points have all been within the past three years. she currently has 6 oustanding points as of early December. i guess therefore they backdate the points from the date of the offence and not the court hearing?

[JudgeJ]

Yes quite right. As far as the �totting up� rules go it is the dates of the offences which count. The dates of the hearings are irrelevant.

Although the law provides for a mandatory disqualification (for a minimum of six months) for �totting�, the Court does have the discretion to hear a plea of exceptional hardship.

To be successful the defendant must prove to the court that a disqualification would cause exceptional hardship to him and /or others. There are no hard and fast rules. Each case is heard on its merits and the decision is entirely at the discretion of the magistrates. However, as a guideline, the usual �loss of job and income� does not normally succeed as it is by no means exceptional. In fact most Benches consider that somebody who is dependant upon driving to earn a living should be even more careful than somebody who does not.