Court summons for my mum, yet she had no letter about the speeding!

[ddawes]

Hi all,

Following the excellent advice I read on this forum, which helped me when I needed it, I need help again, but for my mum!

Long story short: She was caught speeding, received no letter to confirm or deny it was her, so they have sent her the requisition for court.

She is fuming, as she was only sent the letter telling her about going to court, but nothing in between.

She has admitted the speeding (was the day my stepdad had come out of hospital for his heart attack), but could not take the points or go on the course, as she had no correspondence about that.

She has a free bit of advice from a lawyer who wanted to represent her, who said that because she has had speeding fines in the past and paid them straight away, the probability of her doing so again was high had she had the letter.

I was hoping if anyone had some more ideas she can present to the court, as the only thing she can say (which is completely true!) is that she didn't receive the letter.

I looked up some information about Royal Mail losses which she can mention.

I apologise if this is somewhere else on the forums, but I could not spot anything the same, if anyone knows of a thread like this I can pore through save people rewritting information, can you post the link to it please?

Again, thanks in advance to the great people on this forum who like to stick it to the big bullying companies, of which the DVLA is the worst I have ever come across,

Regards,

Dan

[mystery1]

Re: Court summons for my mum, yet she had no letter about the speeding!

To whom and when did she admit speeding ?

The law is explained http://www.crimeline.info/case/krish...c-prosecutions

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/...2011/3471.html

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/...2009/2924.html

If she admitted the speeding as soon as she knew about it then she has a good defence.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/172

(7)A requirement under subsection (2) may be made by written notice served by post; and where it is so made—
(a)it shall have effect as a requirement to give the information within the period of 28 days beginning with the day on which the notice is served, and
(b)the person on whom the notice is served shall not be guilty of an offence under this section if he shows either that he gave the information as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of that period or that it has not been reasonably practicable for him to give it.

The speeding itself is pretty much dead as it requires a valid s1 warning to have been served within 14 days.

I assume the summons has both s172 and speeding on it ? (aka dual charging) If so the easiest, although perhaps not the best, way to deal with it is to turn up early at the first hearing and negotiate with the prostitution that if they drop the s172 charge she'll take the speeding charge of 3 points.

It comes down to how brave she is and how believable her account is to a sceptical bench. The better her evidence is, the easier it is to win completely.


M1

[ddawes]

Re: Court summons for my mum, yet she had no letter about the speeding!

Hi Mystery1,

Thanks for your input. I'll ask her to whom she admitted the speeding, I am second guessing that when she first spoke to them (DVLA) after she received the summons.

The summons does have both parts, and she has already said she has no qualms about the 3 points for speeding, they have good photographic evidence she has seen. It is the second s172 bit she will fight about. She is not a woman to get pushed around, and has already said she'll appeal if they don't take what she has to say seriously!

The better her evidence is, the easier it is to win completely.

This is the hard bit, as she didn't get a letter and no way of proving that!

Thanks again, everything helps,

Dan

[mystery1]

Re: Court summons for my mum, yet she had no letter about the speeding!

Well if she wants to take the 3 points it's easy. Turn up on the first hearing date ask the usher to point out the prostitution and ask for a quiet word. "If you drop the s172 i'll plead guilty to speeding" 99/100 they'll agree. Don't admit speeding until you have agreement to drop the s172 or a sleekit prostitution worker might go for everything.

http://www.fixedfeelawyer.co.uk/ has a decent reputation if she wants to fight.

M1

[ddawes]

Re: Court summons for my mum, yet she had no letter about the speeding!

I'll let her know,

Thanks again!

Regards,

Dan