Hi there. My wife has been driving for just under 2 years (passed 31st March '22). She is currently pregnant and had been signed off from work due to hyperemesis gravidarum, which causes her to be constantly nauseous and vomit frequently. Last week she took our son swimming, but couldn't find a parking space. She drove down a road, turned around at the roundabout, and came back up it, to try and find a new space. All while feeling extremely sick. Yesterday we received two letters from the police, one clocking her at 42mph at 10.12am, and another letter clocking her at 43mph at 10.13am. It appears that she mistook the road for a 40mph speed limit rather than 30, and was caught driving down it one way, before getting caught the other way after turning around at the roundabout. She is obviously very distressed about this, and extremely worried about losing her licence, which I believe is a possibility given that she has been driving for less than two years. This would put us in a very difficult situation with two young children and a third on the way.
I wanted to ask advice for the best course of action here. She is obviously in the wrong, and mistaking the speed limit of a road is no excuse, but is there any recourse here due to medical grounds of her feeling very sick due to her hyperemesis gravidarum diagnosis? We have a doctor's note confirming this. She is more than happy to pay the fine(s) and take the points, or take a speed awareness course is that is applicable. It just seems incredibly harsh for her to potentially lose her licence due to this set of circumstances.
We have 28 days to send back the initial letters asking to confirm who was driving the car. Is it best to send the first one back initially, and wait a little longer to send the second, or send them both back? Is there a way we can explain our circumstances to somebody in the hope for leniency? What can we expect to most likely happen?
Many thanks in advance.
