Have i been wrongly convicted? UT50

[budget01]

A few years ago i drove my sisters car (she was on holiday) and someone went into me. I had no licence and no insurance, and my sister didnt know anything about it as i got her car repaired. Being naive i thought that, that was the end of it, because it was obvisouly the other cars fault.
After a month or so..
To cut a long story short, the police asked my sister if she had given me permission to drive and she said no (fearing it might hurt her licence/insurance)

I got charged for, UT50 Aggrevated taking of a vehicle and given 60 hours community service. and a one year ban

ive read about, and met people who have done far worse than me (like stealing a car from a house and crashing it into someone else. while being drunk - he got 80hours community service and the option to have his 2 year ban halved if he went on a drink driver course).

Ive always had the question, that maybe i was punished too harshley and if so is there anything i can do about it? my sister would say that she gave me permission, as she didnt know id get convicted to such a high degree...

I know it was a silly thing for me to do, driving with out a full licence or insurance, but ive learnt my mistake, and these days people are doing the same and just getting off with a caution.

Can anyone advise??
thanks

[Whickerman]

If your sister had've agreed that she gave permission she would then be charged as you are uninsured.

Take your punishment and get over it. If you'd hit someone you would have no insurance to allow them get their car repaired. Similarly, if you'd hurt or killed someone, what recompense could you provide to them or their family?

Crying about other people getting lesser sentences will get you no-where

[bednobs]

Are you really serious? If this happened a couple of years ago then your ban is over and your community service is done. What do you want to happen? To turn back time and give you your 60 hours back?
Plus your sister would be perjuring herself by saying she gave you permission when she didn't! So in summary, you did something really stupid and illegal, and now you want your sister to do something really stupid and illegal in order for nothing to be changed

[froggequene]

If you had learnt your lesson, you wouldn't be asking this question - don't try & guilttrip your sister into doing something which could get you both into even more trouble. You feel aggrieved because you got caught & feel others got lesser sentences for greater offences, if you hadn't got caught would you have done it again?

[Mamjet]

My god what an awful person! Will you ever shut up about this! You committed a crime! If you still dont get it, maybe you should have been locked up. you'd understand then hopefully.
idiot.

[New Judge]

To avoid getting too emotional, any appeal against conviction or sentence handed down from a magistrates' court must be lodged within 21 days.

[budget01]

id like to set the point straight,
i didnt steal her car
im not crying about people getting lesser sentances, the question asked is : Have i been wrongly convicted?

im not asking my sister to do anything she doesnt want to! she would have said she gave me permisson and taken the punishment if she knew id get done for stealing her car!

i was just wondering if anyone had views on the matter, but looks like some of u are just passing time and have nothing better to do than sit there and call people "idiots" and the others cant read the question right!!!


obivously i know that what i did was wrong and ive paid my price for it havent i? so why is so much arrogance on this site????

Newjudge thanks for informative comment.

[Mamjet]

Christ. how long does it take you to think! You commit a crime years ago and suddenly now you think "DUH! maybe I was wrongly convicted! Life is so unfair!!".

You were convicted. End of story.

[kempie]

You have not been convicted of stealing the car - the UT50 is in relation to taking the car without permission of the keeper. 'Taking' is used specifically so that theft need not be proved. The offence is aggravated, or made worse, due to your lack of licence and insurance.

Have you been wrongly convicted? - No, based on your account of events.

Have you received a harsh sentence? - Perhaps yes compared to some; perhaps no compared to others.

[sue11]

My thoughts are that we all do stupid things at times, some worse than others (!) You are no different to the rest of us. It may be that some people have been punished less harshly than you but perhaps you have received the correct punishment and others have been treated incorrectly?
I always try to turn bad events into positive, you say that you may have been treated too harshly, but if you had received a lesser conviction, would you have learnt from it in the same way? Perhaps not and you may have driven uninsured again with worse consequences? So therefore perhaps it has been a good learning experience! Just a thought! Regardless of this I really think you should put this behind you and move on.
Best of luck, Sue.

[dinger128]

As kempie has said, you have not been wrongfully convicted. Although you had not stolen the vehicle (I'm assuming you were going to give the vehicle back to your sister), you have committed the offence of taking a vehicle without the owners permission (TWOC).

So to cut a long story short, no. You were not wrongfully convicted. You were charged and convicted of the correct offence.