Newly Qualified Driver Avoids Driving Ban

Kinloch Lawyers Client Fails to Provide Details Within 24 Hours

Kinloch Lawyers On the 17th April 2024, our Mr Jenkins represented a client in the Justice of the Peace Court at Glasgow. The client was charged with a contravention of section 170(3) and (4) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Failure to Provide Details

This charge relates to a person who is involved in a road traffic collision and fails to either provide their details at the locus or report the incident to the Police within twenty four hours of the incident.

A conviction for a charge under section 170 of the Act can result in the Accused’s licence being endorsed with between five and ten penalty points, as well as a financial penalty.

Six Penalty Points is the Limit for New Drivers

People who have been driving for less than two years can lose their licence

In Scotland, a driver can be disqualified via “totting up” after incurring twelve penalty points on the licence. However, for newly qualified drivers, that is people who have been driving for less than two years, the limit is six penalty points.

In this case, our client was a newly qualified driver and faced a real prospect of losing their licence.

This would have had a significant impact on our client’s personal life, childcare and employment.

Assessing The Options

At a pre-Trial consultation, our Mr Jenkins outlined the options available to our client.

The matter was captured on CCTV footage, and it was apparent that our client did not have a Defence to the charge.

Our Mr Jenkins explained that he could ask the Court to impose the minimum number of penalty points of five. This would result in the client keeping their licence.

Another option, should the Court decide to impose six or more penalty points, was to seek an Exceptional Hardship Proof. This is when you ask the Court not to endorse the Accused’s licence with penalty points, because it will result in exceptional hardship. This must be hardship to another, not simply to the Accused. In this case, it could have been argued that disqualification would have resulted in hardship to our client’s family, due to our client not being able to drive, and to our client’s employer who would be impacted by our client’s inability to drive to business meetings.

Mitigation

After tendering a plea of guilty on behalf of our client, our Mr Jenkins addressed the Court in his mitigation.

Our Mr Jenkins advised the Court of our client’s personal circumstances and the impact disqualification would have on them and others.

Our Mr Jenkins asked the Court to take this into consideration and impose the minimum number of penalty points, thus allowing our client to keep their licence.

What was Agreed

After hearing from our Mr Jenkins, the Court was persuaded to impose five penalty points.

The Justice in Court stated that they would have imposed more penalty points, if not for the mitigation put forward by our Mr Jenkins.

So, after a number of stressful months, our client walked away from Court with their licence.

Client Delighted with Court Case Outcome

Our client was delighted with the outcome and expressed their gratitude to our Mr Jenkins and to Kinloch Lawyers.

Kinloch Lawyers have a proud history of representing clients charged with Road Traffic Offences and continue to hold an impressive success rate with clients across Scotland.