Avoiding a Driving Disqualification
HOW TO AVOID A DRIVING DISQUALIFICATION
Whether a driving disqualification can be avoided depends upon the type of disqualification that is available to the Court. This in turn will depend upon the type of offence committed of the driving record of the motorist.
A driving ban under the totting up procedure can be avoided by successfully raising an exceptional hardship allegation. You can read more about these arguments here. [link]
Driving bans can arise in two other sets of circumstances. They may be mandatory or discretionary.
AVOIDING A MANDATORY DRIVING DISQUALIFICATION
A motorist may be convicted of an offence that carries a mandatory driving ban. In these cases a court can only avoid imposing the driving disqualification if it can be persuaded that special reasons exist to justify the avoidance of the driving ban.
A special reason not to disqualify must satisfy four criteria:
- A special reason cannot be a defence to the charge
- It must be a mitigating factor in relation to the offence
- The special reason needs to be directly related to the commission of the offence. A special reason cannot, therefore, be linked to the motorist’s personal circumstances
- It must be a matter which the Court should properly take into consideration when considering sentence for the driving offence
Examples of special reasons which have been successfully argued by our team of expert motoring lawyers have included:
- shortness of distance driven
- laced drinks
- driving due to an emergency
- duress or necessity
AVOIDING A DISCRETIONARY DRIVING DISQUALIFICATION
For some offences, whether a driving ban is imposed will be a decision for the court to make dependent upon all of the circumstances of the case including personal mitigation. There is also a discretion as to how long any disqualification should last.
In the main, success in avoiding a driving ban will depend significantly on whether any aggravating factors can be addressed through mitigation. This will be considered in combination with any mitigating factors that can properly be advanced in relation to either the offence or the offender. This will include the previous driving record of the motorist.
As a result, you can appreciate that you may be greatly assisted by instructing a specialist road traffic lawyer who is able to decide the best way to make representations to the court. This will involve an exercise of their expert judgement and the use of their powers of persuasion to steer the court in the motorist’s favour.
The Court can take it into account a variety of different considerations in the exercise of its discretion. The key to a successful mitigation is to be able to identify the most compelling points by way of mitigation and tailoring them to the specific facts of the offence and the circumstances of a motorist.
This is an exercise for an experienced, technically sound and shrewd motoring lawyer. The skills and experience of our lawyers place them in the best position to use these skills for the benefit of our clients.
If you instruct VHS Fletchers, one of our experienced lawyers will assess the facts of your case and advise you on the prospects of successfully fighting any disqualification. We will put together the argument against imposing a driving ban and advise on the supporting documentation that will need to be produced to support the argument.
Perhaps most importantly of all we will represent you in court with a view to keeping you on the road or keeping any driving ban down to the absolute minimum.
We will always be realistic with the advice that we give you, but if we are hopeful that there is an argument to keep you driving then we will pursue it to the fullest extent on your behalf.
We will always investigate the circumstances of your case and see whether legal aid is available for your free representation in your motoring law case before the Magistrates’ Court. You can read more about the legal aid scheme here.
If you are not eligible than we will provide representation in your road traffic case for a fixed fee. This will allow you to know about and budget for the cost of your legal fees. You can read about these fees here.
You can find your nearest office here. Alternatively please contact us using the form below.
