Notice of Proposed Driving Disqualificaton Options

[DarkTrace]

Hi all - was after some informal/friendly advice:

Facts:
Caught speeding on 6th June 2021 (65 in a 30 - country road, Blythburgh, Suffolk)
Clean licence - driving for 24 years - no points ever received
I pleaded guilty (I accept I have been careless)

Today (2nd October 2021) I received a notice of proposed driving disqualification. The letter is dated 30th September 2021.
In the letter it states "You have until 25th September to register a reply indicating:

a) I will provide no further information - (do not drive after 25/09/2021) - court decision to follow
b) I'd like to request a court hearing to state my case (there probably isn't a case but it would delay a decision allowing me to drive somewhere in half term)

"If you do not reply to this notice you should not drive after 25/09/2021".

I'm a little stumped. It is seemingly impossible for me to have responded to a letter dated and sent after the reply by date. If anyone has experienced the same it would be great to hear how you approached the situation. (Can I carry on driving?)

I know there's no crystal ball but I wonder what people's predictions on my outcome might be if:
a) I do nothing (don't respond)
b) I attend court (I'm assuming I have to visit the letter issuing court, rather than somewhere local?)

Many thanks,
Andy

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[cp8759]

When you ask for the case to be transferred to your local court, just tell them the dates that you'll be away.

[notmeatloaf]

There is little to no chance the case will be transferred and a date set before the end of October. But as has been said, if you let the court know your holiday dates (and any quarantine dates if you haven't been vaccinated) courts are good at avoiding those dates.

[DarkTrace]

Hi,

My court hearing is tomorrow. I’ll update this thread when I find out my punishment for anyone else in future who might find it useful.

Case summary: 65 in a 30 (no excuse. The road is a country lane but even then it would still be in excess of national speed limit)
No points ever in 25yrs.

Would be interested to hear any guesses between now and tomorrow as to what that fate might be.

Thanks,
Andy

This post has been edited by DarkTrace: Thu, 18 Nov 2021 - 20:18

[The Rookie]

28 days disqualification is my bet.

[DarkTrace]

A fun mo(u)rning in court.

Ninety days plus £660 fine.

Seems to be the full whack 😬

[southpaw82]

I was going to go for 56 but… ouch.

[NewJudge]

From my post #13:

They will probably consider your speed to be "grossly in excess of the speed limit" and may well be justified in imposing a ban of longer than 56 days.

What I think needs to be borne in mind is that 65 in a 30 is (arithmetically speaking) the equivalent of >150mph in a 70 limit. There is no reason to directly compare the two in that manner because each has its own different reasons for being exceptionally serious. However I can see where the Bench is coming from when bearing in mind the old (pre-2017) guidelines which only covered speeds up to 60mph, where a 56 day ban was seen as the normal maximum. Probably at the very top end of what you should have expected.

Remember you must apply for a new licence when (or just before) your ban is up.

[The Rookie]

The issue is that being over 56 days you will have to reapply for your licence and DVLA is currently on about a 2 month backlog.

[cp8759]

The issue is that being over 56 days you will have to reapply for your licence and DVLA is currently on about a 2 month backlog.

But section 88 is available.

[Gerfc1]

The issue is that being over 56 days you will have to reapply for your licence and DVLA is currently on about a 2 month backlog.

I wonder if the OP could check here for the date of backlog.

Then send in D1 form just before 56 days from the date of disqualification ends.


I.E. OP was banned on 19th November 2021 for 90 days. His disqualification ends on 16th February 2022.

He can apply for driving licence on 21st December 2021.
Date DVLA is currently proceeding application dated 9th September 2021 (10 weeks backlog)

OP should send D1 form on 12th October 2021 in time for disqualification to end.


There is no harm for OP to reapply using D1 form by now. Just my thought.

[DarkTrace]

This is all new information to me and I am very grateful, thank you. I’ll submit it now and see what happens!

It struck me on Friday that no credit was given for a previous clean license (unless the punishment could have been worse). Nothing can change the outcome of course but I wonder what rationale was used.

[The Rookie]

Although a clean licence is in the mitigating factors in the guidance it's rarely used as there is also a penalty for a dirty one (it's illogical to have both if you think about it).

In addition the guidance refers to 'first time offenders' but obviously not having been caught and not having previously offended are different!

[Hooli744]

Just a random thought that's occurred to me chaps, not exactly for this case but it fits the current discussion.

If your licence is revoked & re-issued would that wipe any points you had off?

[NeverMind]

Just a random thought that's occurred to me chaps, not exactly for this case but it fits the current discussion.

If your licence is revoked & re-issued would that wipe any points you had off?

Neither this case, nor the current discussion, has anything to do with revocation.

[The Rookie]

If your licence is revoked & re-issued would that wipe any points you had off?

Off topic, but to answer, no (obviously not if you think about it). Points are a penalty on the driver, non licence holders can also be sentenced with points.

[Gerfc1]

Just a random thought that's occurred to me chaps, not exactly for this case but it fits the current discussion.

If your licence is revoked & re-issued would that wipe any points you had off?

Wiping any points off is only applicable under totting up procedure where you get 12 points or more and then get banned under totting up procedure.
Then the points are wiped off but the ban under totting up stays on the licence for 4 years, insurance would have to be informed of this.

[NewJudge]

Then the points are wiped off but the ban under totting up stays on the licence for 4 years...

And so do the endorsements for the offences that led to the totting up ban (for four years from the date of each individual offence). Most insurers want to know about offences that were committed in the previous five years.

This post has been edited by NewJudge: Mon, 22 Nov 2021 - 11:52

[Hooli744]

Cheers chaps.

It was just the discussion on re-applying for licences got me wondering, I thought the answer would be no but thanks for confirming.