Hi all,
I am new here so please bare with me.
Basically I was caught speeding in September of last year by a lovely policeman with a "TELE TRAFFIC Laser device" ?, anyway rather foolishly I hadn't changed my V5 when I had moved home about 6 months previous to that.
Consequently I didn't receive any of the notices etc, and I was fined in my abscence, which was then passed onto my local Magistrates Court.
Eventually the person who lives at my old place forwarded on a letter with said a warrant for my arrest had been issued - etc etc!
So I went to my local Magisrates Court and signed a statutory declaration saying it was the first I had heard of it (and it was).
Now the original Magistrates Court have decided to start proceedings against me again, however apparently because it was such a long time ago the offence is now "failing to provide the name and address of a driver when requested"
Now I just don't know what to do, do I plead guilty to that offence, or do I plead not guilty and ask them to push it back to a speeding offence? (which apparently they can do)
Now I am not asking for legal advice, but I wonder if any of you have ever been in this situation before? Does anyone know what the maximum fine/sentence is for the offence I have been charged with?
All this because I didn't change my V5 (which I honestly just forgot about) :-(
Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
Stuart.
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Go to pepipoo NOW. Spend the morning reading
give the full details in the forums and see what the experts say.
pepipoo.com/NewForums2/index.php
The speeding may have timed out (6 months) but there are possibilities (actually quite good ones) depending on exactly what you have said / done. Dont give any more info to the courts / police untill you have been to pepipoo.
Mark
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Mark,
Thanks I have never heard of them before, I'll go check it out now!
Stuart.
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I would also advise speaking to a solicitor. Website are fine, but there's no guarantee their advice is accurate.
While there's no guarantee a solicitor will get it right, at least you know he's probably reasonably well-trained and practised.
V
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There are several specialist lawyers who use that site.
BTW I would have posted in 'Judical Process' rather than 'cases in progress'.
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Just checked out that site for the first ever time. Isn't it strange the lengths people will go to to try and overcome a conviction! Is it because they are such bad drivers that this next conviction will put them over the points limit and get them a ban?
If a murderer gets off on a technicality, everyone is up in arms about it. But they will try every trick in the book to overcome a speeding conviction and think its ok.
If you were speeding and get caught, take it on the chin.
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And if your a turkey vote for XMAS
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If you accept that you were speeding and having approached the Mags Clerks Office because of the non receipt of documents etc you can try an approach to them and the SCP to see if they would wear the fact that you would be willing to accept a Conditional Offer i.e. 60 note fine and 3 points. Point out then No Court time/expense then involved on their part. If so job done and ended.
Otherwise this seems to have happened.
Flash.
SCP send out NOIP and form to name driver in 14 days of the offence, in your name and old address as reg Keeper. NOIP served within law. Having had no responce in 28 days then they start court proceedings and summons issued and sent to old address. Still no reply so they get a bench warrant for your arrest.
You then become aware of matters and make Stat Declaration to Mags Clerk to the effect you were unaware of proceedings, which as a result have been cancelled. But, there is power for the authorities to reopen proceedings which they have done and have/will issued a summons for failing to name driver, an offence which has been committed, irrespective that you did not receive the papers due to a fault on your part.
If the authorites will not play ball as described in first para above then consider letting the course of justice take its course and on receipt of summons indicate to court that you will plead Guilty (thereby saving any extra expense in calling certain witnesses) but would wish to address the Court with certain mitigating facts, these being what you describe above. Turn up at Court on the appointed time and date and make you plea. Whilst you could do this by letter, personal appearance will have more weight.
When papers first issued and not returned an information would be laid and limitation on proceedings not kick in because of this fact. So any summons issued after 6 months from offence date will be valid.
Penalty will be three points on your Licence and a fine, the amount of which will be reflected in whether or not the Magistrates believe you.
Bear in mind that you have committed a further offences of (1)failing to notify DVLA of change of a address in relation to Reg Keeper of vehicle and(2) also your Driving Licence. This may well be commented upon at Court.
DVD
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"Bear in mind that you have committed a further offences of (1)failing to notify DVLA of change of a address in relation to Reg Keeper of vehicle and(2) also your Driving Licence. This may well be commented upon at Court. "
Not sure about this as I did change my driving licence.
This is the first car I have ever owned, so it just didn't occur to me to change the address when I moved on the V5. Whereas I have been a driver for years and so I naturally changed my driving licence.
I accept I did wrong, but when I spoke to the court to say "look i'll take the speeding fine" she said that wasn't possible, and that I had to go to court, but that they could change it there.
Can I ask what SCP is?
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SCP= s************ partnership, i.e. the branch of officialdom that is prosecuting you.
Best wishes.
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And before HJ's swear filter catches it, "s************ partnership" is s a f e t y c a m e r a partnership"
Should have remembered that one.....
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"If you were speeding and get caught, take it on the chin."
I'd like to make it clear that I am not trying to get off of the speeding offence. I simply don't understand what I am being charged with or what I can do.
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Just checked out that site for the first ever time. Isn't it strange the lengths people will go to to try and overcome a conviction!
Are you suggesting that the Courts should simply accept the allegation that an offence has been committed and issue a guilty verdict on that basis? ;-)
There has to be scrutiny of the evidence. As soon as you allow that, you allow people to query anything and everything. So long as the Court throws out the evidently silly queries, the alternative is worse.
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BTW I would have posted in 'Judical Process' rather than 'cases in progress'.
oops sorry!
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Stuart, sorry, I wasn't meaning your case, I was referring to some of the cases on the website.
Sorry for any misunderstanding.
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pepipoo is good. one of the case studies on there is me, when the police destroyed their video recording of my offence. had the officer not said that 0.x mph lower and I would have got a FPN, I wouldn't have asked for the tape for independant analysis.
The CPS pulled a fast one tho. Said in court it was to my credit that I had admitted the offence, as they otherwise had no evidence to prosecute me with, and that as I had, they would request no more than £60 and 3 points.
Had I known that in advance I wouldn't have turned up for court.
:-(
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I used pepipoo a few months ago with regard to my son's speeding offence - it's good, but the best advice came from DVD here!
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