Free Traffic Legal Advice

You need to start by giving much more detail...

What notices exactly did you receive, and when ? What responses to these notices did you make, how and when ?

What was the speed alleged and the limit ?

Location ( cameras are not 50m apart) ?

The court didn't revoke your licence - DVLA did that automatically when you were awarded 6 points. You have to either get penalty that reduced or set aside.

As it stands you have no valid licence - there is no simple fix to that. You may have an option to appeal to a higher court against the sentence ( if it doesn't fall within the sentencing guidelines - very unlikely), or to ask the magistrates court to rehear the case, but without much more info you aren't going to get good advice.



Realistically, being outside the UK isn't going to help.

I did as I was leaving get an email from the insurer and stupidly presumed it was my policy documents and didn't open the email to check.

What did their email say ?

To have any defence you will need the company to confirm that you were in fact insured at the time you were driving.

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on the balance of probabilities, I have may have been more likely to have been driving the vehicle at the time of the offence,

Then she cannot negotiate the "deal" (to plead guilty to speeding if the other charge is dropped). That is only available to her if she was driving.

This was the first advice you were given - if she wrote something along the lines of "I can't really be sure who was driving, it may well have been my husband, but I will plead guilty to speeding if the s172 charge is dropped" ( or words to that effect), then there was no realistic chance of the deal being accepted and she really has no option but to defend the s172 in court.

That is why knowing exactly what was written is so important.

Do I now say I was driving to make this go away as its a less serious offence

That would be a very stupid thing to do .....and would potentially involve a jail sentence. In the circumstances, do you think they would believe you ?

It is your responsibility to ensure anyone driving your vehicle is insured to do so - you say "they" (we assume the police) asked for proof she was in the country, have they actually asked anything about her insurance cover ( yet) ?

It won't be a fixed penalty ...too fast for that.

It will be referred to the court process - they will consider a short disqualification (7-56 days) OR 6 points.

Usual advice is not to try and justify or make excuses for that sort of speed - a simple apology and "lesson learnt" is the best way to go.

I was advised by one solicitor that my options would be to Plead not guilty and check the evidence which carries no guarantees, although case can be won if the evidence is incorrect.

I was advised there may be practical problems when prosecuting lower priority cases with Evidence often missing/incomplete and many cases resolved before court.

Let's hope you weren't charged for that advice.

They have provided you with a copy of the evidence on which the prosecution will rely - i.e. that your speed was measured with an approved device, you were speeding at 96 in a 70 limit and that you have admitted being the driver. What else do you think there is to be missing ?

The case has already been submitted into the court system (you mention it has been referred to the SJPN). 

If all the evidence ‘checks out’, consider offering a guilty plea to a lower speed (e.g. 90mph) ( apparently this depends upon the prosecutor in court and whether they’re willing to accept the reduced speed, but in his experience, most are, as it brings the case to an end quickly and with minimum cost/effort and is then more likely the magistrates will impose a conditional discharge (due to the lower speed).

Arguing for a lower speed (known as a "Newton hearing") is a possible option where there is some doubt about the actual speed because of the method of capture - usually where it has been measured by a police vehicle following over a distance and there is room for some error. An approved device on the motorway is presumed to be accurate - unless you have evidence that it wasn't.

You are really overthinking this. It really is a very minor offence, a conviction in a criminal court yes, but not one anyone is ever going to have any issue with.

Only "knowingly or intentionally" naming the wrong driver would be an offence - the pragmatic approach in this sort of situation, is usually to name the mostly likely driver.

The case has now been progressed to court and trials aren't carried out on paper submissions so your wife will have to attend and answer the charge. If she can convince the court that she did use "reasonable diligence" and could not identify the driver then she should be acquitted - but courts are very sceptical and will expect a very detailed account of what she did to try - and why it failed.

We do sometimes hear of examples of courts being sympathetic to a registered keeper in this position and finding them not guilty, but she needs to understand that it is a risk and the costs for losing will be significant.