Dear All
I was driving my friends commercial van which only allows passengers to be seated at the front as the back is for goods. 3 adults can be seated. It's a Toyota Hiace van 'S' Reg.
In the passenger seats where 2 adults can be seated, I had my wife (adult) and my boy (13) and my infant girl (3) seated since the seats are spacious all 3 were sitting comfortably on the seats and restrained by seat belts.
I was stopped by the Police and booked for having too many people in the vehicle and was issued a fixed penalty notice (FPN) of £60 with 3 penalty points, albeit I pleaded with him to just issue a non-endorsable offence. The FPN was marked with an offence code: 0533 and offence description: unsuitable and dangerous use of a vehicle.
However, upon research I couldn’t locate the offence code, as it doesn’t appear to exist. Also, the description attracts a different code: CU20
Therefore, I far as I understand, the code and description don’t correlate.
I produced my documents within the 7 days at my local Police station and 2 officers advised me on 2 different occasions that there appeared to be a discrepancy and that I ought to contest the charge and go to court on these grounds.
I don’t know what to do? I really really don’t want the points. I have also found out that the Police can send people on courses to avoid penalty points, they just pay the course fee, which is the same as the FPN. Will I be able to ask for this? I suffer from OCD (Pure-O Manifestation) and the pain of getting penalty points is constantly playing on my mind and I am suffering so much; I simply cannot let it go.
Please help...... :-(