What happens when taken to court
Discussion
Sorry for the rather DUMB question here, but I was wondering what happens in this case (doesnt affect me and I am not hiding anything either). But with the recent conviction of John Thompson of drink driving, I got thinking.
If you are up for say drink driving or a serious speeding offence - which you are pretty much "banged to rights" for. Do you get to drive in the meantime? Obviously you are not convicted yet so I guess that they cant stop you, but are you prevented from driving before your court apperance? Then if (when) you are convicted you have to make your own way home....
Just wondering what happens....
Cheers,
Paul
If you are up for say drink driving or a serious speeding offence - which you are pretty much "banged to rights" for. Do you get to drive in the meantime? Obviously you are not convicted yet so I guess that they cant stop you, but are you prevented from driving before your court apperance? Then if (when) you are convicted you have to make your own way home....
Just wondering what happens....
Cheers,
Paul
If the "crime" is really bad they bring the court date forward. eg get caught speeding at 90 and wait two months, get caught at 150 wait a week or two.
This I understand is not intended to act as an incentive to go faster if above the speed limit in the first place.
All this kind of fits into the innocent until a Policeman says you are guilty ethos....
This I understand is not intended to act as an incentive to go faster if above the speed limit in the first place.
All this kind of fits into the innocent until a Policeman says you are guilty ethos....
Thats what I thought - but as you point out, if you get busted and you know that you are getting a ban then whats stopping you from doing some more motoring offences anyway.... say get done for drunk driving and you will get at least a 12 month ban, why not do more drink driving (hoping not to get caught) or even some habitual speeding..
In the case of John Thompson he got a 3 year ban.... might as well do 100 everywhere then cos by the time he gets his license back then the points will be off anyway....
Is it me or does this sound a little daft?
Cheers,
Paul
In the case of John Thompson he got a 3 year ban.... might as well do 100 everywhere then cos by the time he gets his license back then the points will be off anyway....
Is it me or does this sound a little daft?
Cheers,
Paul
quote:
If the "crime" is really bad they bring the court date forward. eg get caught speeding at 90 and wait two months, get caught at 150 wait a week or two.
This may well be how it works. The boyfriend of an ex employee of mine totalled his Max Power mobile by smashing it into a parked car at an estimated 80mph while over the drink drive limit. Somehow the little scrote survived the accident unscathed. The police took a rather dim view as it was in a 30mph residential area. They had him in court the next day! He still only got a 12 month ban and a tiny fine though.
One of the main problems with the system as it currently stands is if you don't care they let you get away with murder.
It seems that the joy riding fraternity get away with no insurance, speeding, dangerous driving etc as they have nothing to loose - they don't have a license to loose. It is not until they get jailed (for a few months) that they get inconvenienced and even then they tend to come out with better car theft skills than they went in with.
If you measure this against the real life effect of banning a 'normal' person who will actually abide by the ban it does kind of make us easy targets.
P.S. My whole issue with this is there is no distinction between going faster than the speed limit and going faster than the speed limit inappropriately - they used to warn you if you were driving safely and sensibly but just happended to be going over the speed limit - now they just take your picture and send you a fine...
It seems that the joy riding fraternity get away with no insurance, speeding, dangerous driving etc as they have nothing to loose - they don't have a license to loose. It is not until they get jailed (for a few months) that they get inconvenienced and even then they tend to come out with better car theft skills than they went in with.
If you measure this against the real life effect of banning a 'normal' person who will actually abide by the ban it does kind of make us easy targets.
P.S. My whole issue with this is there is no distinction between going faster than the speed limit and going faster than the speed limit inappropriately - they used to warn you if you were driving safely and sensibly but just happended to be going over the speed limit - now they just take your picture and send you a fine...
If you're reported on summons you can drive up until your court appearance and, if banned you'll have to get a taxi home.
If in the meantime you run up a load of speeding tickets you just end up paying loads in fines, and of course if you rack up more than twelve whilst you are waiting to go to court you'll have another court appearance. They can then do two things, add to your ban for taking the piss, or give you another ban to run concurrently with the existing one.
If you're arrested for a driving offence and charged, you can, if the custody Sergeant thinks it appropriate be given a bail condition not sit in the front seat of any motor car.
We often do this to twoccers. If you ever see a car with two lads in it, one in the back and the other driving, now you know why
.
If in the meantime you run up a load of speeding tickets you just end up paying loads in fines, and of course if you rack up more than twelve whilst you are waiting to go to court you'll have another court appearance. They can then do two things, add to your ban for taking the piss, or give you another ban to run concurrently with the existing one.
If you're arrested for a driving offence and charged, you can, if the custody Sergeant thinks it appropriate be given a bail condition not sit in the front seat of any motor car.
We often do this to twoccers. If you ever see a car with two lads in it, one in the back and the other driving, now you know why
.
If the gravity of the offence necessitates, you can be taken into custody and appear in court first thing the next day. Court can at that stage impose interim disqualification if you plead guilty, or impose bail condition that you refrain from driving if you don't. In effect your licence is gone within 24 hours. Very common for DD round Xmas time.
If being sentenced for other offences and we know your licence is a goner, more emphasis placed of the circs, with a far heftier fine the result.
If being sentenced for other offences and we know your licence is a goner, more emphasis placed of the circs, with a far heftier fine the result.
However if you kill lots of people, you can walk around for years because it is a lot harder to catch a murderer than a criminal motorist.
And amazingly, even genuinely innocent people get held on remand while the crusty old judge pontificate their next 200 business lunches & company directorships.
And how a speeding biker can get a year inside for hurting no one, yet batter an old granny, and get 3 months?
One last dig: even though CPS dropped my case, why didn't they pay my loss of earnings? maybe if I hadn't got a job I wouldn't have minded. I am still waiting for the cheque for my expenses by the way.. when it arrives, it goes to the ABD.
rgds.
And amazingly, even genuinely innocent people get held on remand while the crusty old judge pontificate their next 200 business lunches & company directorships.
And how a speeding biker can get a year inside for hurting no one, yet batter an old granny, and get 3 months?
One last dig: even though CPS dropped my case, why didn't they pay my loss of earnings? maybe if I hadn't got a job I wouldn't have minded. I am still waiting for the cheque for my expenses by the way.. when it arrives, it goes to the ABD.
rgds.
quote:
However if you kill lots of people, you can walk around for years because it is a lot harder to catch a murderer than a criminal motorist.
And amazingly, even genuinely innocent people get held on remand while the crusty old judge pontificate their next 200 business lunches & company directorships.
And how a speeding biker can get a year inside for hurting no one, yet batter an old granny, and get 3 months?
One last dig: even though CPS dropped my case, why didn't they pay my loss of earnings? maybe if I hadn't got a job I wouldn't have minded. I am still waiting for the cheque for my expenses by the way.. when it arrives, it goes to the ABD.
rgds.
send em a bill give the 14 days to in writeing
or you will file a the count court keep copys
if they dont pay up in the 14days
file at the small claim court and let em pay for the cost from that as well.
I dont know the detail of the case you were fighting m8
by i think i would have kicked up quite a fuss over lost earnings posibly with a cival case .
I was in court a few weeks ago and, since my (speeding) case was delayed, had the pleasure of seeing (most of) two other cases.
The first involved a young single mother (whose man was waiting outside, so she wasn't that single) who had been driving without insurance and without a licence. She had not even passed her test but had been driving on a provisional. It seemed that she had sent it off to reflect her change of name by deed poll. Then it transpired that the change hadn't been effected because she "hadn't wanted to have too many points on it before taking [her] driving test"! She gave various cock-and-bull stories that didn't quite add up as to why she had not had an insurance certificate at the time and could not produce one now because she was selling the car.
The second involved a motorcyclist with 9 points already on his licence who had been stopped for 104mph and had also not been able to produce an insurance certificate, so was being charged with no insurance too.
As an aside, I can't believe that driving without insurance is only 6 points, while one can be banned for speeding safely.
Anyway, both of these cases made me feel like a very good boy indeed, given that I was "only" in for doing 106mph on an empty, dry stretch of motorway with perfect visibility in a car that can stop in four seconds from that speed (while giving my passenger a safe driving talk, believe it or not!) and had slowed to 80-85 mph when I approached two cars doing 75-80mph that I was ovetaking when I first saw the police car behind me.
So I was encouraged... I though "Great; I'll get to hear the no doubt miniscule penalties applied to these two far more serious criminals, and then the magistrates will find it hard to be harsh to innocent little me." But no... the first case was adjourned after the CPS suggested the defendant be sent to consult the duty solicitor - probably because of the inconsistencies. And the second case was adjourned while they tried to locate the paperwork. Sod's law.
So bang, in I went - two week ban and £300 fine. It could, of course, have been worse. But will I now be unable to get insurance on my car? Despite 14 entirely accident and claim free years? Guess I'll find out next month.
Incidentally, for those with court cases pending, if you're bright and reasonably articulate, I would recommend presenting your own case - I am certain that my brief did a worse job (skipping some details and making others up!) than I would have, plus presenting your own case gives you the opportunity to sound apologetic.
I can also recommend getting across to France before European driving licence points transferability starts - I recently drove the length of France twice and saw no police on the motorways; nor were there the rumoured speed checks at the tolls, which were a hell of a long way apart! In addition, motorway lane discipline there is much better than here - why doesn't the UK Govt. invest a small amount in TV lane discipline education adverts in order to have traffic, and hence the economy, run more smoothly?
The first involved a young single mother (whose man was waiting outside, so she wasn't that single) who had been driving without insurance and without a licence. She had not even passed her test but had been driving on a provisional. It seemed that she had sent it off to reflect her change of name by deed poll. Then it transpired that the change hadn't been effected because she "hadn't wanted to have too many points on it before taking [her] driving test"! She gave various cock-and-bull stories that didn't quite add up as to why she had not had an insurance certificate at the time and could not produce one now because she was selling the car.
The second involved a motorcyclist with 9 points already on his licence who had been stopped for 104mph and had also not been able to produce an insurance certificate, so was being charged with no insurance too.
As an aside, I can't believe that driving without insurance is only 6 points, while one can be banned for speeding safely.
Anyway, both of these cases made me feel like a very good boy indeed, given that I was "only" in for doing 106mph on an empty, dry stretch of motorway with perfect visibility in a car that can stop in four seconds from that speed (while giving my passenger a safe driving talk, believe it or not!) and had slowed to 80-85 mph when I approached two cars doing 75-80mph that I was ovetaking when I first saw the police car behind me.
So I was encouraged... I though "Great; I'll get to hear the no doubt miniscule penalties applied to these two far more serious criminals, and then the magistrates will find it hard to be harsh to innocent little me." But no... the first case was adjourned after the CPS suggested the defendant be sent to consult the duty solicitor - probably because of the inconsistencies. And the second case was adjourned while they tried to locate the paperwork. Sod's law.
So bang, in I went - two week ban and £300 fine. It could, of course, have been worse. But will I now be unable to get insurance on my car? Despite 14 entirely accident and claim free years? Guess I'll find out next month.
Incidentally, for those with court cases pending, if you're bright and reasonably articulate, I would recommend presenting your own case - I am certain that my brief did a worse job (skipping some details and making others up!) than I would have, plus presenting your own case gives you the opportunity to sound apologetic.
I can also recommend getting across to France before European driving licence points transferability starts - I recently drove the length of France twice and saw no police on the motorways; nor were there the rumoured speed checks at the tolls, which were a hell of a long way apart! In addition, motorway lane discipline there is much better than here - why doesn't the UK Govt. invest a small amount in TV lane discipline education adverts in order to have traffic, and hence the economy, run more smoothly?
I got exactly the same punishment for 103mph on my 175mph bike on a clear motorway (M25 sunday morning). Had 3 points already. Some insurers refuse to quote but loads do and the ban makes no difference to their premiums.
Although - I tried to hire a transit van three months after the "offence" and they wouldn't let me, like I am going to get 103 out of their
transit!
The three points was for 75-80 mph for 100 yards on a 70mph dual carriage way, advice from a good solicitor at the time was plead guilty - he spoke to a friend (an ex clerk of the courts) who said "If the magistrate needs protection from the nastier elements he deals with he relys on the police, bear this in mind when you try to say the police were wrong when it is their word against yours", there is no point trying...
For daring to suggest they were the £40 fine went up to £120!!!!!
Although - I tried to hire a transit van three months after the "offence" and they wouldn't let me, like I am going to get 103 out of their
transit! The three points was for 75-80 mph for 100 yards on a 70mph dual carriage way, advice from a good solicitor at the time was plead guilty - he spoke to a friend (an ex clerk of the courts) who said "If the magistrate needs protection from the nastier elements he deals with he relys on the police, bear this in mind when you try to say the police were wrong when it is their word against yours", there is no point trying...
For daring to suggest they were the £40 fine went up to £120!!!!!
quote:
So bang, in I went - two week ban and £300 fine. It could, of course, have been worse. But will I now be unable to get insurance on my car? Despite 14 entirely accident and claim free years? Guess I'll find out next month.
i got a 2 week ban (no points) for 105 on a dual carriageway - insurance went up by about 20% (first offence in 7 years). no problems getting quotes either.
quote:
Although - I tried to hire a transit van three months after the "offence" and they wouldn't let me, like I am going to get 103 out of their
Funnily enough I just managed to get 103 out of a LWB Ford Transit last weekend
(See my post on: www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?p=5&f=13&t=15480&h=0 ) The speedo in it went up to 150, but that seemed a little optimistic.
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