Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Speeding and other criminal offences => Topic started by: advancetweaker on February 02, 2025, 06:15:41 pm
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Thx alot for your detailed answer!
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If you are convicted in your absence without being aware of the court proceedings against you, and make a statutory declaration within 21 days of becoming aware of the proceedings, the court must quash the conviction and basically reset proceedings to the service of the SJPN (albeit that they will ask for a plea there and then rather than you having 21 days to enter it online). In reality it is all but impossible to get an appointment to make a statutory declaration within 21 days, but as long as you contact the court within the 21 days to make an appointment, that is usually good enough.
As you were stopped at the time of the offence, and [presumably] warned that you might be prosecuted there was no requirement for a NIP. There was also no legal requirement to issue a COFP but they did and that was received.
Beyond the NIP/warning stage, nothing being sent to the "wrong" address creates a defence to the no insurance offence. Before you advised the police of your change of address, arguably nothing was their fault (not that fault is relevant here). Subsequently, the police seem to have made a right horlicks of matters, but as mentioned above, that is of limited assistance.
Where the police making a horlicks of things potentially comes into play is if you do/did not make a statutory declaration within the 21 days. Outwith the 21 days the court have the discretion to quash the conviction if the consider that it was in the interests of justice to do so. If you simply could not be bothered, then they would be unlikely to find it in the interests of justice. If you have been proactive and the system has let you down, then it would seem harder to refuse.
The overarching principle is that the right to a fair trial requires that you have the opportunity to defend the charges, or otherwise have your say. Within the 21 days it matters not why you were not aware of the proceedings - whether you simply didn't bother to read your post or whether the police sent it to an entirely random address. Beyond the 21 days, everything matters - the court have the discretion in the interests of justice, rather than being bound by law.
Off the top of my head, £660 is the standard fine for the offence, based on a Relevant Weekly Income of £440, and no discount as there was no guilty plea. On top of this there would generally be a 40% surcharge and ~£95 prosecution costs.
On conviction, the court is required to endorse your licence with 6-8 points or ban you outright. Absent any aggravating factors, I would have expected 6 points.
If the case is re-opened (quashed and re-started), you should be entitled to a 1/3 discount if you plead guilty at the earliest opportunity, and you could ask the court to consider sentencing you at the fixed penalty level - as you were unable to accept a fixed penalty for reasons unconnected with the offence. Whether the court will decline on the basis that it's you own fault for not reading the form properly might depend on how much sympathy they feel for you having been given the run-around by the system.
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-24 May 2024 caught by police driving uninsured
-1 week later received letter of fixed penalty of £300 and 6 points, paid £300 but did not know need to provide licence details and did not send the return slip back to police
-Moved house 2 weeks later, already updated licence and V5 to new address within 1 month
-22 Nov 2024 received an email notifying refund of £300, few days later called the police talked to an admin officer, I told her my new address, she said new address already noted in the computer system, and asked me to wait for another correspondence to be sent to new address
-No endorsement on my licence at this point yet
-Until beginning of Jan 2025 still nothing sent to new address. Called police again and asked about the progress, another admin officer said a SJPN was already sent to old address in the beginning of Nov 2024, and was able to tell new address already noted in the computer system in the end of Nov 2024, but didn't know whether anything was sent out to new address, and asked me to enquire the court
-That means prosecution already took place within 6 months from the offence date
-No endorsement on my licence at this point yet
-Called the court, another admin officer told me the case was under investigation by court, and he also able to see from computer system new address already updated, he asked me to send an email to cjs.cto@westyorkshire.police.uk about my updated address. So I sent email twice on 7 and 14 Jan 2025
-28 Jan 2025 I just found out on DVLA website I was already convicted on 16 Jan 2025, and have 8 points and £660 fine, but still nothing was sent to new address. Called the court again. Another admin officer said she immediately sent an email to the responsible unit (don't know what exactly is that) , but just told me to wait for further correspondence to be sent to new address, I can do nothing other than that
So what's my appropriate next move? I expect there's little chance to get the conviction withdrawn (although this would be the best result I want). But the thing is, obviously both the police and court failed to send anything to my new address, I know I need to do something to someone in order to let myself able to respond and pay the fine and put an end to the matter. Otherwise probably some bailiffs will come after me. From what I know one thing I can do is to file a statutory declaration to request to reopen the case, but not sure whether this is the best option, as there's a possibility the final punishment might even be higher. Any suggestions for me? Many thanks for taking time to read and give me suggestions!