I have been asked to tell the police who was driving my car but I don’t know; what do I do?

This is a common scenario and something motoring solicitors get asked often.

Typically a car is shared by a husband and wife. The registered owner gets a notice of intended prosecution because the car was flashed by a speed camera.

The couple know it can only have been one of the 2 of them driving but cannot remember who was driving at that time. What can they do?

The law says that the registered owner must identify the driver. The police must send the Notice of Intended prosecution to the registered owner within 14 days. If they have done that then it is easier for the owner to remember who was driving. It is easier but the reality of life is that it is not always possible. Can you remember where you were at 9:47am 11 days ago? This is a source of frustration for lots of clients. Where husband and wife equally share the driving how are they to remember?

You can ask for a photo to see if it helps identify the driver but more often than not it does not help.

The case becomes even more difficult if for some reason the initial Notice of Intended Prosecution does not arrive. The police have posted it but it got lost. Now the couple may get a reminder, this might be some 6 weeks after the event. Now try and remember who was driving on that unremarkable trip 6 weeks ago.

The temptation is just to name one of you, pick a name, any name. The risk with that is that if you were wrong and if it was proved that you were wrong it could be said that you have perverted the course of justice.

The alternative is to do all that you can to co-operate with the police. Tell them that you cannot identify the driver, explain why. You will probably get a summons for failing to give the drivers details.

If you can show to the court that you have done all you can to find out who was driving but cannot then that is a defence. It is a matter for the court to decide whether they accept that you have done all you can so keep a not of enquiries you have made.

The courts are reluctant to find people not guilty in these sort of cases because it is easy for people to just make it up but a well prepared application properly presented can often be successful. You will need to show that you have made all reasonable enquiries.

I would advise that you contact a motoring solicitor as soon as possible once you have received the Notice of Intended Prosecution so that they can guide you through what needs to be done.

I have had my licence for less than 2 years and have been charged with no insurance, what can I do to avoid having my licence revoked?

This is one of the most common questions I get asked as a Motoring Solicitor - how can I avoid points on my licence if I am guilty?

Driving without insurance carries a minimum of 6 points so a new driver with less than 2 years experience will have their licence revoked if convicted.



There are no real defences to driving without insurance, unless you are driving your employers vehicle. Generally if you have no insurance you are guilty. The fact that you thought you had insurance is not a defence.

So how do we get around this? Whilst it's true you will almost certainly have to plead guilty there is a way to avoid penalty points. It doesn't apply in all situations but if it does it can make a huge difference to someones situation.

Even though you have pleaded guilty you can argue that there are special reasons not to impose penalty points.

Special reasons are not easy to win but with careful preparation they can avoid points on your licence. Special reasons have to relate to the offence, not the person. So the fact that you only drove a short distance may be a special reason, the fact that you will lose your job will never be special reasons. What might amount to special reasons? The list is never closed and can apply to any offence where penalty points or a disqualification are obligatory. I recently successfully argued that a client should not have points on her licence because although she did not have any insurance she had been misled into thinking she did have insurance. The court accepted this because she had been misled, if she had merely made an oversight and thought she had insurance that would not have been enough.

Other special reasons might be that you had driven a very short distance, that you drove because of an emergency or that your drinks had been spiked.

If you are successful in arguing that there are special reasons not to put penalty points on your licence then the court will simply mark your case as guilty but no points and normally impose no fine and no costs.

The list is never closed so if you think you may have a good reason to avoid penalty points on your licence contact a specialist motoring solicitor.

I received a summons, or notice of intended prosecution but I wasn't driving.

This is a common problem and is getting worse. Basically someone with the same make, model and colour car as you copy your number plate and fix it to their car and hey presto they can go through all the speed cameras they want and guess who gets the tickets? – You!

I spent this weekend helping a great family who have suffered with this.
The father of the family received a summons for speeding, he knew that he couldn't have gone through that light at that time because he knew where he was at that time and he wasn’t anywhere near the camera.

He had evidence from about 10 witnesses confirming where he was. He co-operated with the police from the start and sent all the details he could.

You would think that this would be enough, but no. He was pursued by the police to court. This despite various letters offering witness details, proof of purchases showing he was somewhere else and even a visit from the police to check his car against the photo taken from the speed camera.

His daughter called me last week in a panic, her father was very stressed about this, he was a proud man who had never been involved with the law before. He could not understand why they wouldn’t accept his and his witnesses word that he wasn’t the driver who went through the camera.

We spent Sunday going through the case and playing a game of spot the difference, armed with the photo from the camera and his car. We spotted 4 minor differences, a sticker in the back window, a slightly different colour bumper etc. We also got all the witnesses together and got his case fully prepared ready for trial the next day.
Despite all of the evidence we provided the police at court still didn’t accept it was a different car. Fortunately the court did and it was thrown out and the fees he had paid me were ordered to be repaid to him by the court forthwith.

The relief was visible, he had had 6 months of stress, at times questioning whether it wouldn't just be easier to pay the £60 fine but he was a man of principles and refused all offers of help to pay the speeding fine insisting that he was not going to admit something he hadn’t done.

He was lucky in many ways, he is a well known character and lots of people were able to confirm where he was. He had evidence of purchases and was determined not to give in.

But how do we avoid this happening to us? It is so easy for someone to copy our number plate and you may be faced with having to remember where you were 10 days earlier. The only thing that you can do is make your car distinctive, I’m not suggesting you ‘pimp your ride’ but something like a sticker in the back of the car and a dated photo or maybe something distinctive on the number plate.

The Government annuounced today that it is doubling the current fixed penalties for not wearing a seat belt and for having illegal number plates.

At the moment the penalty for both of these is a £30 fixed penalty fine, from today it will be £60.

The Home Office minister Alan Campbell said "This is not about taking money from motorists, it’s about doing all we can to keep the public safe on our roads."



Really? Do we believe them? No one would disagree that seatbelts are a vital safety feature but number plates? Illegal number plates include using plates with the wrong font, size or colour. Not being properly spaced can also amount to an illegal plate. I have never really understood how a number plate that is spaced in a different way to spell a word can hamper police investigation. After all if Gordon Brown had a number plate RE51GND we would all be able to remember it.

I think that the vast majority of personal plates are just a bit of fun, if they are spaced a little wrong so what? it makes it easier to remember, from celebrity chefs James Martin's 6hef to Gym owner Duncan Bannatynes F1TSO they are all more memorable.

What does annoy me is when people go to stupid lengths to try and make a word out of numbers such as one putting a 1 and 5 together, changing the 5 a little, lean it, push it up to the 1 and hey presto you have an R!!? Those sort of plates should be fined but lets not pretend it's a road safety issue call it what it is - 'stupidity tax'

If the government were genuinely concerned that this was a road safety issue why do they sell number plates that are clearly going to be miss spaced on their own DVLA site? They make money when you buy them and fine you when you miss space them. Not a bad little earner.

Essex police today confirmed that they are investigating claims that thousands of speeding tickets issued are in fact invalid.

The reason for this is that the correct procedure was not followed invalidating the speeding tickets.

This opens the door for the speeding fines to be overturned and the points removed from the licence. This has proved too late for some motorists. We were contacted by Andy who said "I went to court because I had 9 points on my licence, stupidly I did not get a motoring solicitor to represent me. The magistrates gave me 4 points and disqualified me from driving for 6 months. This meant I lost my job as a delivery driver, this has had a huge effect on my family. It's all very well taking the points off my licence and refunding me the fine but that won't get my job back"

Motoring Solicitors have confirmed that applications could be made for compensation for loss of employment arising from this.

Should the procedure prove to be defective, the police could face a flood of claims from motorists who were convicted by magistrates of speeding since March 2007.

It would not apply to those motorists who were dealt with by post and paid the fine on receiving a Notice of Intended Prosecution by the police. Drivers who went on speed awareness courses would also not be covered.

Donna Veasey, a force spokesman, added: “We are currently looking into whether there is an issue with the Section 20 notices we have served. It should be stressed, even if this does prove to be an issue, it would only affect a proportion of cases where the person went to magistrates’ court since March 2007.”

This comes on the back of 2 other errors we discovered this week relating to thousands of speeding tickets in Dorset and Lancashire.

If you have been affected by this and want to make an application to have the points removed from your licence, speeding fine refunded or compensation apply at info@motoringlawyersonline.com and we will investigate your matter and advise you whether you have a claim.