TOTTING UP DRIVING DISQUALIFICATION
We can provide you with a lawyer for legal representation on totting up disqualification driving offences. If you face legal proceedings in a Magistrates Court for a totting up driving disqualification and want one of our specialist solicitors to act as your lawyer then please get in touch.
We can provide you with a lawyer who is a specialist in totting up driving offences and can give you advice and assistance and representation at any court, often at short notice.
Our specialist lawyer will make contact with you and provide a first class service to you. We will take your full instructions and if you wish provide you with advice only or representation in court if you so wish.
A person will fall foul of the totting up provisions if they attain twelve or more penalty points within a three year period. Before the change to the laws on motoring this usually meant four speeding offences of three points. However, now such offences can attract up to six points, a person can attain twelve points by committing only two offences. With police enforcement and the number of cameras covering our roads increasing daily, more and more motorists are finding themselves at risk of a lengthy driving disqualification.
When a person does reach twelve points they will be required to attend Court. This is because the Court is obliged to disqualify the person in question from driving for a minimum period of six months unless reasons of exceptional hardship apply to the case in question. This period can be increased to a minimum of twelve months or two years if the person in question has relevant previous driving disqualifications. However, the Court can disqualify for the offence before the Court if it is sufficiently serious which would mean that the person would not then reach twelve points. An example of how this works is given below.
Example
Motorist A has nine points on his driving licence for three speeding offences committed within the last twelve months. He is due in Court for speeding having been stopped on a motorway at 110 mph. His solicitor argues that the Court should look firstly at the offence before the Court. Speeding at such a speed would normally attract consideration of a short driving disqualification. His solicitor argues that A should be disqualified for the offence. The Court agrees and disqualifies A for 28 days. He receives his licence back at the end of this period showing nine points and the disqualification. This may be a far more favourable outcome for who may not have been confident that his personal circumstances would have allowed him to argue exceptional hardship. This would have applied had the Court not disqualified him and imposed a number of penalty points taking him over the twelve point threshold.
Arguing exceptional hardship will involve the person in question giving evidence on oath to the Court. It may also involve calling additional evidence from an employer or financial information to support the argument. We would always suggest being legally represented at such a hearing. This will ensure that your case is put in the best possible light and will give you give the best possible chance of retaining your driving licence.
The key issue to such cases is what amounts to exceptional hardship. We would recommend that you seek legal advice upon whether your own circumstances may amount to exceptional hardship being able to be argued before a Court. This will need to be established on the balance of probabilities i.e. so that the Court is satisfied that exceptional hardship is more likely to occur than not. Exceptional hardship may be hardship to the individual in question or to a third party or parties.
Loss of employment may amount to exceptional hardship but this is not a foregone conclusion. For example, a taxi driver who is single and lives with his parents will not suffer from exceptional hardship if he loses his licence and therefore his job. He may live in a community where jobs not involving driving are common so regaining employment should not prove difficult. If however his parents were financially dependant upon him to assist them then exceptional hardship both to him and to others may be established. Again, if the same person lived in a rural community not served by public transport it could be argued that there would be exceptional hardship because of his inability to find alternative employment. From this example, it is clear to see that this area of the law is far from straightforward. Any person involved in such a case must be prepared to back up their arguments fully and be prepared to address issues such as alternative employment, can the job be carried out without a car etc.
If exceptional hardship is successfully argued then the Court will announce its findings and will record these in the court register. This will prevent a person from using the same facts again to establish exceptional hardship at any future hearing within the next three years. Similarly, if a person comes before the Court to argue exceptional hardship for the second time, the Court will contact the previous Court to obtain a copy of its decision so as to ensure that the same facts are not put before the Court again. Exceptional hardship, if established, will lead to no disqualification at all or to a shorter period of disqualification such as one or two months. However, such shorter disqualifications are rare as Courts are reluctant to impose a short disqualification that will give the person in question a clean driving licence again at the end of the period of disqualification.
We have in the past argued exceptional hardship on the basis of loss of employment, inability to care for a sick relative, employees being affected by the inability of the owner of the Company to drive and meets clients and therefore generate business and many other cases. We have also successfully argued that exceptional hardship applies to the case in question despite exceptional hardship being argued previously before a different Court. We can only reiterate that, if you stand to lose your licence in this way, seek legal advice urgently and give yourself the best possible chance of retaining your driving licence.
For the best possible legal advice and representation please contact us. We will ensure that your case is represented in the best possible way thus assuring you the most favourable outcome. Call us now to speak to one of our specialist lawyers.
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