What not to do...

You may have heard about the totting up period in relation to disqualification. The Totting Up procedure requires a court to impose a 6 month minimum period of disqualification of your driving licence if you accumulate 12 penalty points on your licence within a three-year period.

There is a possibility that you could avoid such a ban but you will require expert legal advice and assistance prior to attending court.

Do – Get in touch with our highly experienced Road Traffic Defence Lawyers as soon as possible. We can make submissions to the court on your behalf and can request a further court hearing called an exceptional hardship proof.

Don’t – Assume that 12 points on your licence automatically means a disqualification, there could be mitigating circumstances that could help your case!

An exceptional hardship proof is a hearing where evidence is presented to the court that there are mitigating circumstances amounting to an exceptional level of hardship, which you will experience if the court were to impose a period of disqualification.

The court has the option not to proceed to disqualify you from driving if it deems that exceptional hardship has been proved at the end of the hearing.

This option is not available in all cases as there are certain legal rules which govern exceptional hardship. Our expert team can advise you throughout the entire process of the legal tests, which have to be met in order to succeed, as well as any information about you which may be required to present to the court.

Do – It’s important to get in touch with our Road Traffic Defence Lawyers as soon as you can to ensure that the damage to your driving licence is minimised.

Don’t – Be withholding about discussing your situation with us. If it’s advised that you proceed with an exceptional hardship proof, we will need some supporting evidence and information. Our expert team can advise you throughout the entire process, as well as any information about you which may be required to present in court.

Even the most careful drivers can fall foul of the vast range of construction and use offences. You may incur penalty points, which can increase your insurance premium and often contribute to a Totting Up disqualification.

Common examples of such charges are bald or defective tyres, illegally tinted windows or illegal lighting. We will represent you with confidence, experience and expertise.

If you believe you have been treated unfairly or had no way of knowing that you were committing a construction and use offence,

Do – Make sure you contact us for free, initial, specialist legal advice without delay if you have been issued with a fixed penalty notice for a construction and use offence,

Don’t – Do not just accept that fixed penalty notice – fight it.

If you have received a letter headed “Notice of Intended Prosecution” (NIP) from the police, contact us immediately to discuss your options.

It is important that you act quickly and understand exactly what you must do as the failure to act or the failure to provide the correct information is often more serious than the initial alleged offence.

Our expert Road Traffic defence team are on hand to guide you through the process and ensure that you are armed with the knowledge you require; call us now for a free consultation.

A NIP is a document that is served on the registered keeper of a vehicle, or a driver identified by the registered keeper, where it is believed the vehicle has been involved in a Road Traffic Offence. The letter requires the recipient under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to identify the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence.

It is essential that the recipient responds to this request normally within a 28-day period by either confirming that he or she was the driver or stating the details of who they believe was driving the vehicle at the time. It is important to note that confirming you were the driver at the time is nothing more than that and is not an admission or acceptance that you have committed any offence.

The penalties for this offence are severe with the following options available to the court:

• Disqualification from driving
• 5-10 penalty points

There may however be occasions when it is difficult to ascertain who was driving the vehicle, particularly if many people use the vehicle.

If you respond in a way that does not positively identify a driver, you could be charged for failing to identify a driver.

It is a defence if you can demonstrate to the court that you carried out due diligence.  However this is a complex defence to present.

If you receive a NIP we would always recommend that you contact us immediately for free initial advice on this matter. Our team of specialist Road Traffic Defence Lawyers can help.

Do – Be particularly careful of these in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as you can be prosecuted in your absence and find you have 6 points on your licence without knowing anything about it. Even if this has happened to you, Road Traffic Defence can do something about it.

Don’t – Put off getting in touch with us if you have received a NIP. This is a time-sensitive matter and the sooner you reach out to us the less stressful the appeal process will be.