Failing to provide driver information ">Section 172 requests are sent to drivers following a road traffic offence.
If you do not complete and return the form you will be liable for 6 penalty points. S172(4) and s172(7)(b) RTA 1988 are the only two ways to defend this offence. To satisfy the court, you need to show that you used reasonable diligence to ascertain the drivers identity, or that you have never received the S172 information request.
No insurance
Your reasons for driving without valid car insurance are not taken into account when you are stopped. Without valid insurance cover, you are assumed to be guilty. If you plead guilty or are convicted, your licence will be endorsed with 6 – 8 points. It is quite common for a policy to be cancelled due to a missing payment, and for the driver to be unaware that they are not legally covered.
Only if you can demonstrate to the Court that you honestly and genuinely believed that you had insurance in place can you then use the Special Reasons Argument.
Speeding
Speeding convictions include 3 – 6 points, a discretionary ban (depending on the circumstances of the offence), a fine and court costs.
S89 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 contains the law on speeding offences.
Expert testimony is mandatory following recent case law if you want to successfully defend your speeding allegations.
Drink driving
The legal drink driving limit is 35mg in breath.
If convicted of a drink drive offence, you face a mandatory minimum driving ban of 12 months. There are three legitimate defences for drinking and driving. You can prove that you were not the driver of the vehicle, you can prove that you were not in a public place, or you can prove that you didn’t consume alcohol until after you had driven, rather than before.
If you took alcohol without realising then you may also have a defence, or if you drove only a short distance, or it was an emergency.
Drunk in charge of a vehicle
The prosecution must show you were over the legal drink driving limit and in charge of the vehicle. You have a defence if you can show you were not intending to drive until you were under the legal limit.
If the court finds you guilty then you will be given 10 penalty points on your licence and possibly a discretionary ban.
Mobile phone
To be found guilty of using a mobile phone whilst driving, you must be holding the phone and using it whilst driving. Use is often a grey area and Courts view it differently. A stop at traffic lights or a hold up is still classed as driving.
Driving without due care and attention
Your driving standards need to be proved to have fallen below those expected from a competent and careful driver in order for the court to find you guilty of driving without due care and attention. Motoring offences covered by driving without due care include things such as low speed car park bumps, scrapes and dings, as well as undertaking on a motorway.
For this offence, the police can offer you a Driver Improvement Course as an alternative to court.
Failing to stop/report an accident
You are required to stop and exchange details following an accident if property, a person or another vehicle has been damaged. In accordance with Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. If you are unable to provide your details at the time of the accident then you have up to 24 hours in which to report the accident to the police.
If found guilty you will receive 5 – 10 penalty points on your driving licence or a discretionary licence ban. It is possible to defend this allegation if you were not aware that you had caused damage and can demonstrate to the court that it would be reasonable for you not to know that you had been involved in an accident.
For the most serious examples of the offence, you can be given community service or a prison term.
Dangerous driving
Dangerous driving convictions require the prosecution to show that the standard of your driving fell far below the standard required. In addition, it should be obvious to a careful and competent driver that your driving was dangerous at the time of the offence. The courts take dangerous driving very seriously, and as such, the penalties are commensurate with their views. As such, if convicted you face a minimum 12 month driving ban, which automatically includes an extended re-test before you are allowed back on the road, as well as a possible custodial sentence if your case is deemed to deserve it.
No licence
Drivers often misunderstand this offence.
If you are driving in violation of the limitations on your licence, for example you are a learned driver, not properly displaying L plates then this would be an endorseable offence. Should you fail to return your licence to the DVLA when requested to do so, and they then suspend your driving entitlement, the offence is non-endorseable. No licence offences are often linked to ‘no insurance’ offences, where it is often suggested that having no licence means that your insurance is invalid. This is not the case.
Many Courts and police officers are unsure as to whether this offence carries penalty points or not. Make sure you have a specialist motoring solicitor on hand to guide them and you so you get the best outcome for your case.
If you are being prosecuted for a motoring offence and face having to defend yourself in court, the Driver Defence Service provide a free consultation for all motoring offences. As specialist motoring solicitors, road traffic law is their specialist field, and the only area of law that they deal with. This is what makes them respected experts in motoring law in the UK.
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