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darreng1983
My understanding was that you get upto six points and/or upto 56 days disq?

I rang a solicitor after receiving an NIP, see previous posts, and he said I would be likely to be banned for 6 - 12 months..

Is this right?
Bob_Sprocket
I'd find a better solicitor. What he has told you is the worse case scenario. You need to find someone who, if they can't get you off, is confident that they can mitigate the penalty down. If you have previous convictions this will be more difficult.

I know several people who have gone 34 plus MPH over the speed limit (two at 44 over and very recent *NB) and have been fined £550 - £600 + costs + 6 points with no ban. In each case they plead guilty and had good mitigation including essentail use of a car for work or business. No guarantees but a good solicitor should be able to help you present your mitigation in such a way that you don't get banned.

Good luck

Bob


NB. One was on a 60 MPH single carriage way and the other on the M1
mladen5
I think what some solicitors might be doing is exagerating what the penalty might be so that when they represent you it makes it look as if it was a job well done. icon_twisted.gif

I think you would probably get banned for 2-4 weeks for a first offence. Perhaps less with good mitigation. And a fine which very much depends on how much you earn. and whether they give you points along with your ban is very much up to how the mag's feel.
darreng1983
I had a totting up disq 2 and a half years ago and then a inconciderate driving 4 pnts earlier this year....

Does this mean they could ban me for more than the 56 days as stated in the guidlines?
unclebloodyfester
I was stopped doing 105.5 on the M1 northbound on easter sunday.

Got 6 points, £220 fine, £35 costs and no ban at Ilkeston Magistrates Court. Prior to the court, i had been informed by the usher that a 28 day disqualification was being considered, the magistrates also reinforced at the start of the proceedings that they were considering this, after reading my letter they delivered the above judgement. They said and i quote," young man we appreciate the honesty you have shown and as you are pleading guilty the fine reflects this." I can only assume my letter tugged at the right strings on the day.

I pleaded guilty, looked humble, went to court and came away happy and with a new commitment to not speeding helped in no small part by the 9 points now sitting on my license.

Magistrates seem to be a bit of a hit and miss thing, i suspect the key thing is proving before you even appear in court that you have learned your lesson.

I post the letter i took to court with me, i had faxed it into the Usher two days before the court date so he had ample time to pass it around.

I still don't know whether the letter helped, or it was the fact i managed ( just once in my life) to appear suitably humble and apologetic and appealed to the magistrates on the day.

If you've got a license with more black marks than a pedigree dalmation then you're going to need to get a very well written statement of mitigation and some way of making them believe that this time really is the last time you will be up before a court on a motoring charge.

Best of luck!

Patrick

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Original mitigation posted below

The weather was clear and sunny and traffic was very light on the motorway on easter Sunday 2004. I had left Milton Keynes around 7.30 am with the intention of getting back to Hull around 11:00 am. I had a cold that weekend and also suffer from hayfever, as a result of this I can suffer from bouts of sneezing where I can sneeze at least twenty times in quick succession, when this happens my limbs lock in position for the duration of the sneezing fit and free themselves as soon as I stop sneezing. If I notice this coming in time I do try and pull over to the inside lane and reduce my speed, or pull over and stop. When I stopped sneezing and checked my rear view mirror I noticed the police car approaching me at speed from some distance back, by this time I was in the middle of overtaking a small group of cars, my speed at this point was about 90 to 95 mph, at this time due to the sneezing I wasn’t sure if the approaching police car was flashing his lights for me to move out of the way or whether it was me that he wanted. Due to the sneezing I am unable to say exactly what my speed had been whilst the officer had been following me. I accelerated to get past the last car I was overtaking to move out of the way as there was no gap to pull into on either lane one or two without cutting someone else up. As I pulled over into lane two and eased off the accelerator the police car followed me into lane two and I noticed the offer indicate that I should pull over which I did as soon as it was safe to do so. When he asked me if I was aware of what speed I had been doing I said that I thought about 90 mph which I had increased when he came up behind me with the blue lights and headlights flashing, he informed me that he had actually clocked me at an average of 105.5 over 2.4 miles and told me that unfortunately at that speed the matter would have to be dealt with by the Magistrates Court. I was shocked after being pulled over and at the time made no comment other than to agree that I had been traveling in excess of the posted limit which the witness statement doesn’t show. It also fails to show that I identified myself, this is in fact incorrect as I had all my documents with me including insurance certificate and v5. I showed the officer my photocard license which he said was sufficient and sent me on my way.

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Second letter which undid some of the (deliberate) damage that the first letter might have done my case. I haven't posted it here as it's 2200 words of sheer diatribe.

I would like to take this opportunity to update you on my situation regarding my driving license and my diabetes before I come to court on Thursday the 8th of July. I hope that this letter can allow the proceedings to proceed with minimum fuss as I am aware that your time is precious, my time is not and was not the issue. There are some things that have changed relating to my diabetes that I felt I needed to make you aware of before going to court. If you’ll allow me to take up just five more minutes of your time I think I can express myself clearly and succinctly. I have had time to think and time to plan and I have come to the stark realisation that regardless of whether you ban me or not and irrespective of the length of that ban that I needed to prepare for what the magistrates guidelines on the cps wegsite tell me are the absolute worst case scenario regarding driving bans. For the sake of my health and to allow me to afford to pay the fine as soon as possible, I have voluntarily taken my car off the road and it now sits locked up in a garage 12 miles from Hull where it will sit until the first week in September regardless of what transpires in court on Thursday. There are two very clear and honest reasons for me taking what my friends consider to be a drastic step.
Firstly, to ensure I am fit enough to be able to use a bike safely to get to work I needed to remove the car from convenient use, the bike has been brought out of the shed and for the last two weeks I have used this means to get to and from work irrespective of the wind and weather conditions. I am now in a position where I can cycle to work and back without fear of collapsing with a hypo or other diabetes related complication. This may sound melodramatic, but any change in my daily routine that involves physical exercise has to be factored into my diet and medication. I am aware of what I said in my original letter but I understand after a lot of thought that this really is my problem. Because of where I work in hull, public transport is not an option and with my feet and circulation issues there was no way I could walk there and back, cycling was the only safe alternative to the car.
Secondly, I wanted to be in a position to come to court on Thursday and be able to pay at least part of the large fine I am expecting, the only way that I could achieve that was to cut down on the one thing that costs me the largest part of my salary each month. By putting the car out of easy reach and altering the insurance and declaring the car as “off road” to the insurer I have effectively banned myself so that no matter what happens in court I will not get the car back on the road for at least two months, I wanted to teach myself as much of a lesson as possible, this way I will truly appreciate my license and the convenience of my car no matter what happens. Please, please, please do not see this as any attempt to try and evade justice as it’s not. I hope to be able to offer between two hundred and three hundred pounds on the day, whether this is sufficient or not is not up to me but that is going to be the best I can do in the time I’ve had to prepare for this. I know you are under no obligation to accept this, but I wanted to show willing and offer as much as I could afford at once.
There is ultimately no excuse for speed no matter what the mitigating circumstances are. I was speeding and for that I know I have to accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate. I only hope that you understand and can appreciate from my medical and financial perspective why I have seen fit to take what some might consider extreme measures given that I have not yet attended court to receive my punishment. I have been brought up to put my hand up when guilty and to accept humbly whatever punishment is given. Once again, all I can do is apologise for my conduct and moment of stupidity and assure you with all sincerity that I will not be appearing before any court ever again for any speed related driving offence. My license means far too much to me, even after only two weeks without my car I can honestly say I truly appreciate the value of what I have lost, whether legally enforced on your part or voluntarily revoked on mine.
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