I was recently pulled over by an unmarked car for doing 97 in a 70 (dual carriageway) and completely accept my guilt.
Now received the paperwork and I intend to return, pleading guilty, along with my driving licence and a suitably contrite letter. I am not planning on attending the court date as I have no wish to take up one extra minute of the courts time in dealing with my case. Is this approach generally ok, or is it always recommended to attend in person?
Full Version: 97 in 70 - Pleading Guilty
Not knowing your current points situation and dependant on where in the UK the court is situated by pleading guilty by letter (regardless of good the letter itself is) to the speed alleged you expose yourself to what can best be described as a "conveyor-belt" sentence. Bear in mind that the bulk of courts will be dealing with what could be a considerable sized batch of speeding cases at one time the vast majority of which will involve guilty pleas by letter. It is very easy for individual cases to be lost amongst the background.
If you wanted to minimise your sentence - perhaps because you are getting close to 12 points or just want to avoid a short-term ban - I would always recommend a personal appearance and a personally presented apology/mitigation. This isn't always practical but given that at 97 you may well find yourself exposed to 4-6 points or a 7-28 day ban you may need/wish to rethink. The inevitable fine will be somewhere between 75-125% of your "relevant weekly income" (weekly equivalent of salary/wage minus tax and NI).
Courts do like pronouncing upon a "live" defendant but more importantly a personal appearance ensures that you have the opportunity of influencing the sentence in a way that a letter, irrespective or how grovelling or apologetic it might be, can never quite do. The personally presented mitigation can be prepared well in advanced (and necessarily honed if required) and then read through to the court. As you might gather a quick, "I'm very sorry I was caught. It won't happen again" is unlikely to cut the mustard in terms of truly mitigating matters as opposed to aggravating them.
If you wanted to minimise your sentence - perhaps because you are getting close to 12 points or just want to avoid a short-term ban - I would always recommend a personal appearance and a personally presented apology/mitigation. This isn't always practical but given that at 97 you may well find yourself exposed to 4-6 points or a 7-28 day ban you may need/wish to rethink. The inevitable fine will be somewhere between 75-125% of your "relevant weekly income" (weekly equivalent of salary/wage minus tax and NI).
Courts do like pronouncing upon a "live" defendant but more importantly a personal appearance ensures that you have the opportunity of influencing the sentence in a way that a letter, irrespective or how grovelling or apologetic it might be, can never quite do. The personally presented mitigation can be prepared well in advanced (and necessarily honed if required) and then read through to the court. As you might gather a quick, "I'm very sorry I was caught. It won't happen again" is unlikely to cut the mustard in terms of truly mitigating matters as opposed to aggravating them.
Thanks HO87, I should have added that my licence should be able to cope with the inevitable hefty points about to be dished out. As I see it, it's coming my way regardless and taking the required time out to attend court will only compound my misery. From my research thus far, the difference in mitigation from me making a personal appearance to pleading guilty by post does not appear to me to be worthwhile in my case as a lengthy ban would appear unlikely.
No harm in pleading guilty by post with mitigation.
Since you haven't been issued with an FPN, guilty by post does no harm, as they will either accept it or summons you to court, in which case you have no other choice; and the possibility of a ban would be likely.
However, if you had explained your case in more detail, it may have been possible to bargain the case down to an FPN by means of a newtons trial, given that you are only marginally above the threshold of being offered a fixed penalty.
If the unmarked police car only had 1 police officer, an argument for a lesser speed would have been strengthened in your favour.
Since you haven't been issued with an FPN, guilty by post does no harm, as they will either accept it or summons you to court, in which case you have no other choice; and the possibility of a ban would be likely.
However, if you had explained your case in more detail, it may have been possible to bargain the case down to an FPN by means of a newtons trial, given that you are only marginally above the threshold of being offered a fixed penalty.
If the unmarked police car only had 1 police officer, an argument for a lesser speed would have been strengthened in your favour.
QUOTE (Mayhem007 @ Mon, 25 Jul 2011 - 22:02) 
No harm in pleading guilty by post with mitigation.
Since you haven't been issued with an FPN, guilty by post does no harm, as they will either accept it or summons you to court, in which case you have no other choice; and the possibility of a ban would be likely.
However, if you had explained your case in more detail, it may have been possible to bargain the case down to an FPN by means of a newtons trial, given that you are only marginally above the threshold of being offered a fixed penalty.
If the unmarked police car only had 1 police officer, an argument for a lesser speed would have been strengthened in your favour.
Since you haven't been issued with an FPN, guilty by post does no harm, as they will either accept it or summons you to court, in which case you have no other choice; and the possibility of a ban would be likely.
However, if you had explained your case in more detail, it may have been possible to bargain the case down to an FPN by means of a newtons trial, given that you are only marginally above the threshold of being offered a fixed penalty.
If the unmarked police car only had 1 police officer, an argument for a lesser speed would have been strengthened in your favour.
That sounds unlikely to be honest, the OP would have had to argue the speed down to the FPN level, then argue that he should receive the same penalty as an FPN as he did not receive an FPN for reasons unconnected with the offence, whereas in fact he did not receive an FPN because of the speed measured.
Have been carefully drafting letter - how should one address this?
e.g. Dear sirs / Yours Faithfully, etc?
e.g. Dear sirs / Yours Faithfully, etc?
A letter to be read out in court should be addressed "Your Worships".
Thanks Southpaw, noted.
And signed off...?
Just want to get as much right as possible here.
And signed off...?
Just want to get as much right as possible here.
Yours sincerely.
or better "Yours faithfully" since you do not know them and are not addressing them by name.
QUOTE (Logician @ Wed, 27 Jul 2011 - 22:17)
or better "Yours faithfully" since you do not know them and are not addressing them by name.
True - I suppose it's like "Dear Sir".
I could not find my original post about my case but having originally made a guilty plea by post along with a mitigation letter, I was notified my attendance was required as Court was considering a ban.
Case heard this morning and result for anyone alse facing similar charge was 6pts plus £560 fine.
Dual carriageway Slochd section of the A9, clear conditions and (according to the police officers at least) heavy traffic.
Take care people
Case heard this morning and result for anyone alse facing similar charge was 6pts plus £560 fine.
Dual carriageway Slochd section of the A9, clear conditions and (according to the police officers at least) heavy traffic.
Take care people
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