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RobnOllie
Hi All

A tale of bureaucratic process, incompetence and possible discrimination leads me from a simple fixed penalty which I admitted to a court summons.

For sometime I have been the proud owner of a 3 year licence as I have had epilepsy in the past.

I April 2010 I got a letter saying I had been caught speeding. I signed it and sent it back - fair cop. In the meantime my current licence was due to expire on May 19th. So I sent that back with the paperwork to DVLA to get it renewed. I was aware I needed a valid licence to pay the FP.

As I have been free of any seizures for over 7 years, the DVLA sent a more detailed set of questions to my GP with a view to giving me a normal licence expiring when i am 70. My doctor claims not to have received the first lot and only to have received any comunication in August. I spoke to his office several times explaining the urgency. Finally I spoke to them at the beginning of September and was promised the paper work would be sent off.

On 20 Sept I received a letter from the DVLA saying they still had not paperwork fromt he doctor and were suspending the renewal. I was in the middle of preparations for a trip to the USA and assumed the letters had crossed in the post.

On my return from the USA I was hospitalised and finally got out on 11/10 to find a summons. I now face court, bigger fine, more points and potential disqualification as well as the inconvenience of a day off.

The fixed penatly office would not accept payment without my licence and even they finally accpeted they were sympathetic to my plight but their hands were tied and they had to proceed to court. (The defence of only following orders).

It is in mymind discrimination. While a rare set of events, blocking me from paying due to a medical licence being renewed is the same as saying anyone can pay the fine, it's on the first floor of that buolding, easily accessible. UNless you have a wheel chair, in which case, see you in court., I dunno. I just want someone to see sense. Money, time, effort being spent in court for something that should have been sorted out outside of court in the normal FP process. Jeez.
Logician
While your particular case is uniquely unfortunate, it is not uncommon for people to be unable to pay fixed penalties because their licence is unavailable for some reason, and the courts have guidance on how to approach such a situation.

When you receive the summons from the court, there will be the facility to plead guilty by post. Do so, and at the same time attach a letter outlining the circumstances in which you were unable to take up the offer of a fixed penalty, and refer to page 189 of the Magistrates Courts Sentencing Guidelines, para 3 which reads:

Approach to sentencing for offence for which penalty notice was available
3. When sentencing in cases in which a penalty notice was available:
• ...............
• where a penalty notice was not offered or taken up for reasons unconnected with the offence
itself, such as administrative difficulties, the starting point should be a fine equivalent to the
amount of the penalty and no order of costs should be imposed. The offender should not be
disadvantaged by the unavailability of the penalty notice in these circumstances. A list of offences
for which penalty notices are available, and the amount of the penalty, is set out in Annex B.

Ask that in the circumstances, the court deals with you in accordance with this paragraph.
RobnOllie
THanks for this, weight off my mind.

Should I plan to appear in court or trust the letter will be sufficient to get me a £60/3pt penalty?
If I do so by post, is there an appeal process if they do not follow these guidelines?

Thanks

R
johnjo42
I have always found that it pays to turn up in Court and explain to the bench what has happened
The Rookie
Your call, as Johnjo says turning up in person gives you a far better chance of being heard, however if its a major issue you have 2 options:-
1/ Do it in writing, explaining as you have above
2/ Plead guilty and request the case is transferred to your local court for sentancing so you can go in person.

Simo
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