New Driver and 5 Intention to prosecute for speeding

[Rippedoff123]

Hi, just looking for advice
My son passed his driving test 5 months ago.
This morning he has received 5 police notices of intention to prosecute for speeding. He was picked up five times on same unmanned camera over course of one week. Doing 57, 43, 36, 40 & 39mph in the same 30mph zone.
Understandably he will have his license revoked as this will be over the 6pts in 2yrs.
However how does this all work as in theory he now has 15pts on his license so I am guessing he won’t simply be able to retake his theory/practical test again and get back on the road.
will he now have to attend court and will he likely be banned for a set period of time before he can reapply to take both teats?

[HandyAndy]

The 57mph offence alone will see him in court anyway as it is too fast for a fixed penalty. The guideline sentence for that is six points or a short ban. Since he will be liable to a "totting up" ban, six points is the overwhelming likelihood.

He should be offered a course for one of the remaining offences, though he may want to consider keeping that in hand for future use (a driver can only do one in three years). The remaining offences (three or four, depending on whether he accepts a course) qualify for a fixed penalty (£100 and three points). So the end result (assuming he does not take the course) will be 6 points for the 57mph offence and three for each of the other four offences, so eighteen in total.

This means his licence will be revoked under the "New Drivers'" Act but he will also face a "totting up" ban of a minimum of six months. He can avoid this if he can prove that he or others would face "Exceptional Hardship" if he is banned. I can provide more information on this if you want me to, though I imagine that success with such an argument may be difficult for someone who has only been driving for a few months.

The result of this will mean that he cannot apply for a new provisional licence until the ban is completed. When he has that licence he can apply to take both parts of the test again.

There is one thing that he must ensure: he must make sure that when he is eventually banned by the court that all offences have been dealt with either by means of a course, fixed penalty or by the court. The totting up disqualification resets his points tally to zero and he does not want to have a further offence still outstanding after having been banned.

He will need to keep a careful eye on the progress of these. Depending on the order they are dealt with and assuming he does not do the course, he should receive a "Single Justice Procedure Notice" (notifying him of court action) for the 57mph offence (which, by itself will see his licence revoked). He should receive fixed penalty offers for the others until he reaches nine points, though due to the closeness (in time) of the offences he may well received a fixed penalty offer after he has reached nine points. If he does he cannot accept it and if he does (by paying the £100) it will be returned and he will be receive a SJPN instead. It's difficult to say in what order everything will happen, but the fixed penalty offers should be received within a few weeks whereas the SJPN can (and very often do) take up to six months. But the point about making sure all offences have been dealt with by the time he is banned is important.

This is going to cost a pretty penny. He will have (as a minimum) three fixed penalties (£100 each) and two sentences under the normal sentencing guidelines from a court. The 57mph offence will see a fine of one weeks net income (assuming a guilty plea); the other two will see fines of a third of a week's net income (providing one of them is not the 43mph offence, in which case it will be two thirds). Each of the court fines will attract a surcharge of 40% and there will prosecution costs of around £90 (just the one lot if he encounters a kindly prosecutor). He must ensure he responds to the "Request for Driver's Details" which accompany each NIP within the 28 days allowed. Failure to do so will see him commit a more serious offence which carries six points on conviction and will make insurance (which needless to say, will be somewhat problematic at the end of all this) a virtual impossibility. He must also ensure, when accepting any fixed penalty offers, that he submits his driving licence details as well as paying e £100. He must do this even though he may have provided those details when responding to the requests for drivers details. If he fails to do so his £100 will be returned and the matter referred to court.

One last thing that springs to mind is that he should check his insurance policy to see whether he needs to notify his insurers immediately he receives an endorsement or not until renewal.

Let me know if I can help further.