Speeding points

[bella20]

My boyfriend is due in court for accurring 12 points for speeding. If he gets a ban for more than 10 days he loses his job. If he keeps 12 points on his licence his company insurers wont insure him, as he has a company car, he works 80 miles away ans car is the only option to get to work, he is massively in debt due to his marriage ending so cannot afford to source his own car and insurance. Ban = no job, 12 points = can't get to work so no job. He has 3 points which their 3 years is up in May, he is due in court in Feb, do you think under these circumstances the judge could consider suspending the endorsement of the last 3 points until may when the others are due off? I know that it could well be a ban, but his company are preparing a letter to explain circumstances if he is banned. Also would an insurance company view a TT99 the same as 12 points and still not want to insure him?

[Buenchico]

The court can only fail to impose 3 points on your boyfriend's licence if there are 'special reasons' which relate to the speeding offence (not to the possible implications of any punishment). Unless your boyfriend is able to prove that he was, for example, rushing to visit his dying mother, it's unlikely that he'll be able to show 'special reasons' for speeding.

So the imposition of 3 penalty points seems to be inevitable. Then, because he'll have reached 12 points within a 3 year period, the court must decide whether to ban him from driving. The magistrates are obliged to impose a ban (of a minimum of 6 months) unless they consider that 'exceptional hardship' will result from such a ban. Magistrates are specifically advised that potential loss of employment does NOT, in itself, qualify as 'exceptional hardship'. There has to be something even more exceptional than that for it affect the decision of a court. (For example, a parent living in a rural area, with no buses or trains, might have to take their seriously ill child on a 300-mile round trip to Great Ormond Street Hospital once a week. The fact that a ban could cause serious problems for ANOTHER person, who is not guilty of any offence, is far more likely to influence a court than any potential problems that the defendant might face).

In reality your boyfriend should start looking for employment which doesn't require him to drive, and which he can get to by bus.

http://www.drivingban...n/avoiddrivingban.htm

Chris

[bella20]

I have come on here for advice not to be told what my boyfriend deserves, belive me i have no sympathy for him either, it was his fault and he should of kept to the limit, but now this effects me too it effects our future together we could become bankrupt after this. i know everyone says that 6 months is the minimum ban but after speaking to different people i know that there have been bans of 15 days and 28 days. Does anyone know the insurance company's view of a TT99 and 12 points on the licence?

[bella20]

Also he drives 80 miles to work each day in order to pay off the £40,000 worth of debt he has taken on when his marriage dissolved along with the mortgage!

[buildersmate]

Regarding your question about insurance, I'm afraid that only prospective insurers can answer that question. Insurance is about making risk assessments - people who are seen as a higher risk (of making a claim) are asked to pay more money, or the insurer simply refuses the take the risk at all by declining to cover the person.
He should try speaking to a broker who will have better ideas about insurance companies who specialise in accepting higher risk drivers - at a high premium, I'm afraid.

[maxi2]

Why not apply to the court for an adjournment of the case. If you can get the hearing put back to May then the problem goes away.

[bella20]

How do you go about ajourning the case and what reasons would you need.

[R1Geezer]

6 months is the minimum for totting up, the shorter bans are for individual offences. Any as Chris says in exceptionoal circumtances they will add the points but not give a ban, there was a a couple of years back where driver had 18 points and was still on the road. If he'll lose his job and then make 2 families dependant on the state, that could well pursuade the beak to not ban him. Good luck!

[danchip]

Bella,

my colleague was in exactly the same position as your bf he was sitting with 9 points on his license and got caught speeding again, when it went to court our boss sent in a statement saying that the ability to drive was an integral part of the job and if he lost his license then they would have to terminate his employment, because he had 3 points which were due to come off 2 months after the court case they allowed him to have 12 points on his license until the 3 became inactive meaning he avoided being banned.

He was told by a court usher afterwards that magistrates had been instructed to be more lenient in these sorts of cases due to the current state of the economy and they were to avoid making people lose their jobs.

he could risk it or get a solicitor involved, they always seem good at delaying cases

[hc4361]

Adjourning will not work at all. No matter when the case is heard it will the date of the offence that is relevant, not the date of the hearing. 9 points at time of offence will always be 9 points at the time of the offence.
Magistrates won't care about the recession. If your boyfriend loses his job, somebody else will be employed.

[cleggie]

sorry if it sounds heartless or cruel.but he chose to speed.now he has to suffer the penalties.
He could have killed or injured someone.
the law is there for a reason

[joko]

just out of curiosity, do they take into account the level of speeding?

i mean doing 60 in a 30 zone is far worse than doing 36 in a 30...is there any leniency for amounts that are possibly more a laspe in monitoring the speedo, than being a road menace