little advise please

[lostandconfused]

hi all, am after a bit of advise as i've done something a bit stupid.

a few months ago i got pulled over for speeding, which is fair enough as i was going over the limit, i got a producer to take my details down to the local police station. here comes the stupid part, i completly forgot about it until about a month later when i found it in the car, at the time i did have a lot going on.

anyway i got a letter on saturday saying that i had been convicted of it and i had to attend an ajournment this thursday. i phoned up the magistrates court as i thought i would have recieved something in writing before being convicted which they said they had sent out ( i hadnt recieved it)

anyway the letter says that they are looking at a ban on driving and a warrent issued for my arrest if i dont attend. i have 3 points on my licence at the moment and i have all the paper work to prove that i did have insurance, mot etc at the time, i was going to go down the CAB but there was a massive queue outside and i have to go to work soon.

does anyone know if they will ban me and if so how long am i looking at?

thanks

[Russ]

This happened to a mate of mine a few months ago. The only way you'd be looking at a ban there would be if you had no valid insurance at the time of the incident.

You're more likely looking at a fine rather than anything else as failing to produce, whilst not the most serious of offenses, is still against the law.

[lostandconfused]

thanks for the reply, was a bit worried. i have all the paper work to prove i did have insurance. would it matter that they have already convicted me in my absence?

[bopdude]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

thanks for the reply, was a bit worried. i have all the paper work to prove i did have insurance. would it matter that they have already convicted me in my absence?

A similar thing happened to me, I had a knock on the door one day, it was a bailiff, to cut a long story down a bit, he had come to serve papers, apparently I'd been caught on camera speeding 3 years ago, I never received paperwork, it went to court and the fined me and gave me 3 points in my absence, anyway, I went to court, signed an affidavits ( spelling ) to the fact and that was that, they knocked off the points and no fine was due. The only thing is you had paperwork but forgot, go and plead your case, it won't be that bad

[Russ]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

thanks for the reply, was a bit worried. i have all the paper work to prove i did have insurance. would it matter that they have already convicted me in my absence?

Don't take this as gospel but not producing documents is one of those offences which you don't need to attend court for IIRC. They have means of checking whether or not you have a valid licence (ditto for MOT if you've got one of those computerised jobbies) but insurance is a different matter - the database the police use will only tell if you HAVE got insurance and not if you haven't, if that makes sense. In essence there are legitimate possibilities as to why you might not show up on the insurance database (for example if you've just bought a car within the last half an hour, called your insurance company to make all the neccessary changes but you get pulled over anyway) so they will give you the chance to state your case.

Go along to the court, they're there just as much in your favour as they are against. You'll probably get a stern telling off from the beak but if you're lucky that might be all you get.

[lostandconfused]

thanks all, its lifted a weight off my mind, had visions of spending the rest of my life behind bars with my new special freind, big bubba

[bopdude]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

thanks all, its lifted a weight off my mind, had visions of spending the rest of my life behind bars with my new special freind, big bubba

Nah, as Russ says, they're as much on your side as against it, go plead your case, just tell them the facts and that your head was in bits, slap on the wrists, next case...........hopefully

[Action Jackson]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

thanks all, its lifted a weight off my mind, had visions of spending the rest of my life behind bars with my new special freind, big bubba

Clearly you haven't heard. Bubba was killed last week in a bizarre prison shower incident involving a deodorant tin and a tub of marmite.

A vote was cast and now Big Beefy is everyone's special friend.

Big Beefy was very tearful and thanked his parents and the 10 women he strangled for making it all possible.

[lostandconfused]

just a quick update, 5 points and a £250 fine, thanks all for the advise

[nffc]

Isn't that a ban though? Or have you been driving more than 3 years...

[lostandconfused]

yep had my licence for almost 5 years so got upto 12

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

yep had my licence for almost 5 years so got upto 12

You do know that isn't a challenge right?

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by nffc

Isn't that a ban though? Or have you been driving more than 3 years...

The new drivers act covers the first 2 years of holding a licence, and getting 6 points will result in the licence being revoked.

[lostandconfused]

i almost asked do points make prizes? when it was announced but i managed to hold my tongue. she looked like she was having a bad day, didnt want to push my luck

[Xaccers]

Someone I knew at the AA was driving in the US and got pulled over.
Unsure what he did wrong, he was suprised to recieve a citation for good driving as he hadn't over taken a parked school bus.
He asked what it was used for, could it be used to negate bad driving?
The officer gave him a look like he'd asked something really stupid.
When he showed the officer his driving license, he said "Oh I can see you're a good driver, you've even been endorsed"