Free Traffic Legal Advice

The good news is that it should be fairly straightforward to sort out (although it will require attendance at court).

You will swear a Statutory Declaration to the court after receiving the appropriate warnings from the Clerk about the need to be truthful.  That will mean that the convictions and penalties are removed and things start again as if you had not been convicted.

The speeding offence will then be put to you again, for which you will plead guilty.

The Prosecutor will then offer no evidence for the s172 offence, effectively withdrawing it.

The court will then fine you for the speeding offence, order that your licence be endorsed and make an order for the collection of the fine.

Job done.

As has already been stated, EH is something that is ultimately for the Bench to consider but to give you some idea of what may be considered relevant:

Loss of job - no chance, in fact this is specifically mentioned in the guidance.

Being in considerable debt that only your job will allow you to service - simply irrelevant.

Your Mother-in-law being cared for by your Wife - possibly but you would need a very convincing argument as to why your wife can't attend her mother without you driving her.

Your teenage Granddaughter being a national level Athlete, an activity which she would have to stop if you were unable to drive her - potentially your strongest argument but is it really the case?  Is there no other way she can get there?  Public transport, taxi, friend, anything at all?

Your ability to obtain future employment - again, irrelevant.

I could imagine a sympathetic Bench wanting to prevent your law-breaking to adversely affect your Granddaughter but you would have to demonstrate that she really would be affected in the way that you describe.

Finally, don't forget that you don't go to court and simply state your case.  You will be cross-examined in detail (under oath) by an experienced CPS advocate.  This will include any evidence you wish to produce to the court to support what you are saying.  Make sure that any claim you make can be backed-up by hard evidence.

But the Road Traffic Act does not mention "public places" for the purposes of requiring a licence:

87. Drivers of motor vehicles to have driving licences.

(1)It is an offence for a person to drive on a road a motor vehicle of any class otherwise than in accordance with a licence authorising him to drive a motor vehicle of that class.

You are correct of course but I was trying to avoid the 'but it isn't a road' response.

As I am sure you are aware, the word 'road' has been widely interpreted by the courts to be any place to which the public has access.

That has then ben tested for what the term 'public' means (does it have to be available to absolutely anybody or just one particular group for example) and for what the term 'access' means (does it include where they have to pay for example).

A Tesco car park is well outside any of these subtleties.

....but I suspect that you already know all of that.

Without commenting on your case which you have described or the actions you have taken so far, addressing your specific questions:

My Questions for the Forum:

- After pleading "Not Guilty" via the SJP online portal, what is the usual procedure and timeframe for receiving a court date for the first hearing? Should I be proactively contacting the court to confirm they've received my plea?

You will receive a postal requisition to attend court in order that the matter can be case-managed (formally enter your plea, set a trial date, order a timetable for service of evidence and so on).

- What is the correct procedure and timing for requesting the disclosure of the video evidence (QDC/1 and QDC/2) from the CPS? This seems critical to my entire defence.

Evidence which the prosecution will rely on will  be disclosed in compliance with the timetable set by the Court at the case management hearing (often referred to as an NGAP court).

- How strong is the challenge against the alleged LTI 20/20 speed reading? How can I best argue in court that this was likely an administrative error and that the evidence is just the officer's opinion of my speed?

The officer will be called as a witness (whom you or your solicitor can cross-examine), you have not told us what your reasoning is for your view that this matter "was likely an administrative error and that the evidence is just the officer's opinion of my speed" so no idea.

- Given that the "due care" charge is currently my word against the officer's, what is the best strategy for preparing my defence before I get to see the video evidence?

You don't need to do anything at present but I would think very carefully about your interpretation of events compared to that of the officer. Do you really think that you have a defence given that you can be pretty certain that the court will be able to see for itself what actually happened?

- What are the likely penalties if I am found guilty of one or both offences?

Careless driving will attract a fine (which can be wide-ranging in amount depending on the severity of the offence but from what you say probably something like Band B to C fine or 100-150% of your relevant weekly income).  You will also receive points on your licence of between 3 ad 9 points or a disqualification if the matter is considered to be serious enough.  From what you say, the most likely is probably at the lower end of this range, perhaps 3-6 points - but of course nobody on here saw what happened so we can't really know.

- Is there any realistic way to avoid a license revocation if I do end up with 6 or more points?

No, this is an automatic administrative matter handled by the DVLA.

Thank you in advance for any guidance you can offer.

I believe you're incorrect. Touching a device in a cradle is *not* in itself an offence.

You can find a reasonably good explanation here written in accessible language.

Is it likely that the police will still have the footage from 8 months ago ?

Yes, if it was kept at the time then 8 months from alleged offence to trial is nothing.

That would only show the location of the tracking device, not the car, nor the OP!

True but to suggest that the OP arranged in advance for somebody else to take his phone to the cinema and back, then use pre-purchased tickets in his name just to create an alibi so that he could go and pick up a speeding offence far from home, would hardly wash if it came to court.

The reason you have been asked to clarify what you mean by 'appeal' is that people often use this word without really understanding what it means.

Yes, now that you have a criminal conviction you can appeal to the Crown Court but from what you say that may not be the best way to proceed.  It may be something which is better handled by first making an application for the case to be re-opened in the Magistrate's Court.

It is therefore important that you set out exactly what you have done.