Motoring Offence Information

Solicitors who deal with general criminal law often aren’t fully familiar with the perfect legal arguments that can be put forward on your behalf if you have been accused of any of the driving offences below;

Fail to nominate driver

s.172 information requests are sent to registered keepers of vehicles following a driving offence.

Not completing the request carries six penalty points.

Section172(4) and Section172(7)(b) RTA 1988 are the only 2 ways to defend this road traffic offence.

Reasonable diligence needs to be shown to have been carried out to identify who was driving the vehicle at the time of the offence, or, you need to establish that you didn’t receive the S172 driver information request.

Insurance Related Driving Offences

If you are stopped by the police while driving without motor insurance, your reasons for doing so are not considered relevant and you will be considered at fault for the offence.

If convicted of driving with no car insurance, your driving licence will be endorsed with six to eight penalty points.

Insurance policies in this instance have often been cancelled by the provider without the driver’s knowledge.

You can use a special reasons argument if you can show that you honestly believed that you had proper car insurance in place.

Speeding Offences

Speeding carries a driving ban, 3 to 6 points and a fine as well as court costs.

Without providing expert testimony in your defence it is becoming increasingly complicated to contest speeding offence allegations.

Drink Drive Motoring Offences

35mg is the maximum permitted alcohol breath reading for drinking & driving in the UK. If found guilty, the minimum driving licence disqualification for drinking and driving is 12 months.

The three main ways to successfully defend a drink drive allegation are either, that you had the alcohol after driving, you were not driving, or that you were not in a public place.

In some instances, if you drove only for a very limited distance, or it was an emergency, or if you can demonstrate that you unknowingly consumed alcohol then you can also avoid a drink driving ban.

Drunk in charge of a vehicle

In order for the prosecution to get a conviction for drunk in charge of a vehicle, they will need to demonstrate that you were above the legal drinking and driving limit and that you were in charge of the vehicle.

A frequently used possible defence for drunk in charge of a vehicle is to prove to the court that you didn’t intend to drive and were not planning to do so until you were below the drinking and driving limit again.

If convicted of the offence, you will be given 10 points as well as a possible driving ban.

Mobile Phone Motoring Offences

The mobile phone have to be held while being used in order for an offence to be committed.

Emma Patterson of Patterson Law said, “Magistrates often view this driving offence differently and fail to apply the law correctly in many instances.”

A temporary stop in a traffic jam or at lights can still be classed as driving.

Due Care & Attention Motoring Offences

The prosecution need to prove beyond reasonable doubt the standard of your driving fell below that of a competent and careful driver.

Undertaking on a motorway and many car park scrapes are covered by driving without due care.

Many drivers receive an offer from the police to attend a Driving Improvement Course rather than having to attend court and facing prosecution for the offence.

Failing to Stop Offences

S 170 Road Traffic Act states that if damage is caused to property, another vehicle or to a person then you are under a legal duty to stop and offer your details.

From the time of your accident you have twenty four hours to report it at a police station if you were unable to exchange at the scene of the accident.

With either a discretionary driving ban or 5 to 10 driving licence penalty points this is a serious offence.

One legal defence is that you weren’t aware that you’d had an accident and caused damage. If you can demonstrate to the Court that it would be reasonable not to know then you have a possible legal defence against the allegations.

Fail to Stop and Fail to Report are very serious road traffic offences and carry the risk of community service or even prison in the most serious cases.

Dangerous Driving Related Offences

Dangerous driving requires the standard of your driving to fall well below what is deemed to be standard. Also, it must be clear to a competent driver that the driving is dangerous.

Dangerous driving is a serious offence and as such, carries a minimum twelve month driving ban, a complete driving licence re-test before you can have your licence back and possibly a prison sentence.

Driving With No Licence

This offence causes confusion.

If you were stopped driving without having L plates on display, or having never passed a driving test, then these would be endorsable offences.

If the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency asked you to return your driving licence to them and they suspend your driving entitlement, the offence is non-endorsable.

Many people believe that ‘no licence’ means that your motor insurance is null and void, but that is incorrect.

Only UK driving law expert will be able to advise the Court with authority as to whether your specific road traffic offence carries driving licence penalty points or not. Many Courts are uncertain about this issue with no licence driving offences.