Driving BAN, letter not received

[Aleksandra_w]

My partner was stopped by the police on the motorway on March 13, 2025. They informed him that he was under arrest for driving while facing a ban issued by the court due to his failure to appear on March 3, 2025. He explained to the police that he was unaware of any ban, and while they seized the car at the time, it was recovered the following day. He was also informed that he would receive a letter regarding a new court case.
That letter has now arrived, and the court hearing is scheduled for this week.

My partner's situation raises some important considerations:

1. He did not receive the initial penalty charge letter.
2. He also did not receive the court case letter regarding the March 2025 hearing.

At the time of the March court case, he had already accumulated 6 points on his license, with 3 points set to expire just two weeks after that court date.

My partner plans to appear in court, explaining that he was driving without knowledge of the ban. What are his chances in this situation?

[EXC]

I'll ask HandyAndy and islandgirl if they could take a look. I suspect they'd want to know a lot more of the circumstances which led to March hearing, not least what offence he was facing. Also, does/did he live at the address that appears on his license and the letters?

[Aleksandra_w]

Thank you. He has resided at the same address until today, but he works away from Monday to Thursday. Nevertheless post was never received
The penalty in question was issued in April 2024, which was only discovered upon checking the website after being stopped by the police

He received two speeding tickets within a span of 10 days in April 2024. The first penalty was addressed and paid, while the second went unresolved due to not receiving the letter, resulting in a failure to appear in court.

The reson for 2 speeding tickets was very hard bereavement that affected him

[HandyAndy]

This is a serious matter. Driving whilst disqualified can result in a prison sentence of up to six months..

In order just to see points imposed on a driver's licence, at least one and usually two or three letters are usually sent. Only a court can impose a driving ban and once again a number of letters would be sent before the court hearing, firstly concerning the offence itself and then concerning the court process. Furthermore, he would not simply be banned on the first occasion that he did not attend court. He will be sent another letter telling him he faces disqualification and asking him to attend. That letter will also tell him he should assume he has been banned at that hearing and not drive after that date until he has found out the court's decision.

In short, quite a number of letters must have failed to arrive in order to get to the point where he would be disqualified, and they would continue to arrive after that date informing him that he has been disqualified and chasing him for payment of fines, etc. Has he received nothing along those lines since March 3rd?

I believe this is too serious (and seemingly too complex) for me to provide advice here. His defence, basically is that he did not receive quite a number of letters. If he uses that as his defence I believe he will be convicted..

I suggest he consults a solicitor who specialises in traffic matters if he intends to defend this. The solicitor will want to know far more than you have told us here, and will require a complete chronology of everything that has happened since before the first offence.

[Aleksandra_w]

Interesting enough, no letter have arrived.

He was clueless.

we will consult the solicitor

[PallasAthena]

Check both

(1) the address shown on the registration document of his car (the V5C) and

(2) the address shown on his driving licence

Do they BOTH show his correct current address (including the correct postcode)? Has he changed his address since April 2024?

Although letters do sometimes get lost in the post it is very unlikely that all the letters would have got lost. More often that is because the wrong address is on the DVLA database.

[Aleksandra_w]

His driving licence and v5c matching the address at the time of the offence.

Thats what we thought that perhps we shouldve received at least one letter.
Its very weird there was nothing.

[islandgirl]

The court will have evidence of the letters sent and the address used. Not receiving any of them will be a hard hill to climb and as Handyandy says I do not believe a conviction will be avoided with only this put before the court. Perhaps there are other issues which a solicitor can help with?