FINAL UPDATE - Court/SD/outcome
First thing I did on arrival at Bath magistrates was ask to speak to the prosecutor. This was granted and he immediately said he was happy to drop the s.172's and that this was normal and basically a given. He was pretty jovial and upbeat about it and seemed a decent bloke. So far, so good. I spoke to him a bit about my circumstances and he was less confident about me evading a ban but stressed this was at the magistrates discretion (which I knew obviously, but wanted to gauge the temperature). I gave him a brief written summary of the circumstances and he took it to the LA (who I was not allowed to speak with having asked).
Once in the court room, I then got quite a grilling from the LA. I was a bit confused as the prosecutor never spoke or participated, and it seemed that the LA was doubling as a prosecutor of sorts and going in quite aggressively on me for reasons I didn't really understand. Despite having the background details to hand from my written summary, and despite me explaining clearly the point at which I became aware of proceedings against me, she seemed to insist that I did in fact know about them. The facts are; I became aware of the proceedings (but not their outcome or implications) on the 28th Feb whilst abroad in India by email with the central ticket office in the midst of enquiring about a separate matter (as I've documented on the other forum). My understanding was I had 21 days in which to contact the magistrates from the moment I found out about proceedings (28th Feb), and I did so on the 17th March by phone. On that call, I was informed I'd actually been disqualified 10 days earlier (7th March). Unless I'd misunderstood something, I'm not sure what I'd done wrong here but this seemed to be a sticking point (though never explained) and the LA/prosecutor (I'm genuinely a bit confused about her role here) kept looking puzzled when I mentioned that I'd contacted the magistrates within 21 days of learning about the court cases, as though the 21 days thing was not a thing. If I'm wrong I'm wrong of course. She challenged my on why I hadn't called the magistrates on the 28th Feb. I explained I was volunteering in India. She shot back "do they not have internet in India?". Again, to my understanding I had 21 days to contact the magistrates, so wanted to get home first, try and research and get the lay of the land and then phone them. I explained this and once again it was met with contorted and skeptical facial expressions. She asked me how much of my disqualification I served ("all of it - 6 months"), she then asked if I drove during it (why??) and I told her "no". Technically that's not actually true - I had driven a few times between the disqualification coming into effect (7th March) and my learning that I was disqualified (17th March), but from the second I learned I'd been DQF'd from driving, I did not get behind the wheel of my van once (luckily I was parked in the business park where I work and it was perfectly fine to leave the car there for the time being until I'd come up with a solution for it).
We then got into a little bit about the re-totting should my SD request be accepted and 6 more points be endorsed onto licence. Here I reiterated what was in my written statement (that she had to hand), explaining how fundamentally I had 4 offences each worth 3 points, but that I'd already severed the ban given we were going to set aside the s.172 convictions and that it was only the chronology of events that saw me facing another ban. Once again the LA/prosecutor/angry lady seemed to scoff at this idea. At this point I'd lost confidence in the process completely and it seemed the person addressing me had little interest in really familiarising themselves with the details or considering what might be 'just'. I'd spent months with this hanging over me, getting advice on here (and being annoying as hell in the process!), preparing statements to aid the court and formulating in my mind what I was going to say over and over again - not to mention the worry about being disqualified again etc - but the level of care and attention coming back the other way was almost zero (with the exception of the prosecutor who was fair and kind throughout). The magistrates themselves barely spoke - don't even think I got a "good morning" and I was required to stand in a dock behind perspex panels Hannibal Lecter-style throughout (which differed from where I was placed back in July).
The magistrates and the LA then took a brief break to deliberate on whether I would be allowed to perform the SD. During the interlude I spoke briefly with the prosecutor. He talked me through what they were doing and I asked if I could withdraw at this point. He wasn't 100% sure but said I'd have to inform the magistrates when they came back in if that's what I wished to do. He also told me that they'd had a case sort of similar to mine and that the defendant was given a shortened 3-month ban having already served 6 previously. I doubt his case was exactly like mine but I was taking no chances on a ban. I was confident in my position that I should not be disqualified again and confident that my argument/reasoning was sound, but I was not at all confident that this would be recognised by the decision makers and had decided to hit the eject button.
The magistrates & LA returned and immediately informed me that I was not permitted to perform an SD (so hit the eject button before I could myself). There seemed to be some confusion as to whether I knew about the proceedings against me (as mentioned). I'd love to explain what that confusion was but I simply don't know - I found the process to be a shambles to be honest. The magistrates expressed that they felt the FtF convictions were correct (I never disputed this so didn't really understand the point being made) and informed me of my option to appeal if I disagreed with the outcome today (I do disagree, but have no desire for this to run any longer).
And that was that. I remain where I am: 6 points still on my licence, MS90 codes to declare to insurers and two lots of hefty fines coming my way for each s.172 conviction. I feel pretty aggrieved that this is what I'm left with and that it's taken so long to arrive at exactly where I was when my disqualification ended four months ago. It's also pretty galling that having contacted the magistrates regarding an SD in mid-March, that I've had to wait this long to get a chance to perform the SD only to not be allowed to do it, and to quite probably receive an additional ban even if I did through what simply seemed like a lack of proper consideration or understanding for what might be reasonable or just. I'm sure there are circumstances & cases for which the current court system functions and works pretty well. What I can say from my two appearances at Bath magistrates in the last 6 months is that it seems wholly unfit for purpose on a number of levels. I've no experiences of court to draw upon prior to the last 6 months so maybe things used to be better but I've been left very disappointed in virtually all aspects of the experience on both occasions now. It's essentially a sausage factory with minimal scope to deal with matters that require a little more care. The meat & bones of my own case could have easily been thrashed out with a brief, informal 5-minute conversation with all involved before anything began and I'm sure that's the case for a great many other cases.
Lastly would just like to say a massive thanks to everyone who contributed their knowledge and thoughts both here and the old forum - it was very much appreciated.