Free Traffic Legal Advice

Evening all,

Caught doing 51 in a 30 in February, Flowers hill, Bristol. Acknowledged being driver of the vehicle then radio silence until today (Oct 30th) when I received a letter saying they are revoking my license due to 6 points before 2 years of driving. No option to appeal the points before they were awarded? I feel as though I've missed a step. Can I appeal this? I need my car for my job as I commute from far. I can speak well for myself and happy to speak in court.

Any support appreciated regarding appeals process or general advice and tips.

Thanks

Hugo

I think you've missed a step.

You should have received a "Single Justice Procedure Notice" informing you of a prosecution against you. If you didn't receive this or didn't respond to it the matter will have been heard in your absence. Six points is pretty much "nailed on" for 51 in a 30mph limit and as soon as the DVLA learns of those points it will revoke your licence. There is no appeal against that process. I take it you have received nothing from the court informing you of the outcome and ordering you to pay a fine and costs, etc.? Have you changed address since the date of the offence?

The way to deal with this is to perform a "Statutory Declaration" to have the conviction removed. There is a "sticky" at the top of this part of the forum describing the process.

That said, you will face the charge again and as I said, six points is pretty much a certainty. You can opt for a court appearance and ask the court to either award fewer than six points or instead impose a short disqualification (disqualifications do not trigger revocation. The court is unlikely to accede to that request because their guidelines suggest that six points is the appropriate penalty. To impose anything else would be doing so simply to circumvent the New Drivers' Act. But it's your only realistic option to try to avoid revocation.

I take it you are the Registered Keeper and that you received a Notice of Intended Prosecution within 14 days of the offence?

Depends what you mean by “win an appeal”?

are you certain you did not receive it? Or perhaps to put it another way, are you sure you had no idea that a prosecution had been taken against you?
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I was waiting on the letter but it never arrived to me. I had no idea a prosecution had been taken against me until the letter arrived. Thank you for explaining what I mean by "appealing". If pleading with the courts for less than 6 points in exchange for a fine/driving course is unlikely to work would you say it's worth the effort?

Question that the OP may not have thought of, and to which I don't know the answer myself:

If they do a Statutory Declaration, the penalty (points, etc.) will be removed pending the reinstatement of the charge. But what about the licence revocation? Does that stay in place? Will it eventually be reversed once the DVLA get updated? How long will that take and does the OP need to assume no full licence until then?

I believe the revocation must be reversed by the DVLA and the OP must assume he has no licence (or at least only a provisional if he applies for one) until then.

You make a good point because in the time it takes to see this all completed the OP can be making arrangements to re-take his test (although I know in some areas the waiting time for a test is significant).

Before he can even book his driving test, the OP will have to take and pass the theory test.

Any representation that fewer than six points should be given, or a ban imposed, to avoid revocation flies in the face of guidelines given to the court, so is unlikely to succeed.