My friend has been hit with an £800 fine and a 6 month driving ban for failing to name the driver
Firstly, I realise what a prat he has been. He could have asked for help with this in the last 6 months but buried his head in the sand.
He was driving 36 in a 30 zone in early January. It was a company van and he left that job almost straight away and ended up getting paperwork in early February. For reasons I cannot give, he didn't respond to this and admits he got a couple of further letters over the next couple of months.
But he got a court letter yesterday banning him for 6 months and a £800 fine which seems over the top! He is adamant he never got a letter saying there was any hearing but has got this through now.
Does anyone have any advise? He had a clean license so the ban seems extremely harsh, I accept ignoring it was absolutely ridicilous but this seems OTT. He is obviously accepting the fine. He has had a rough time so I did say I would help in anyway I can.
I know a bit about Law to be honest but this isn't my area in any way. Cheers in advance.
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Then u said he was driving 36 in a 30 zone.
So if he was driving why did he need to name someone else.
Or am I just being thick
Probably worded it wrong because he should have named the driver as himself, but he's not disputing the fact he was driving.
It seems to me that the punishment for driving with no licence / being banned /no insurance / no tax is a further ban and a fine of about £200.
So it seems to me that's is far cheaper to steal a car whilst never having passed a test/being disqualified, no tax or insurance as you're fine is less than the insurance premium.
In this case, he had no excuse for not supplying the information. Just couldn't face the fine and then forgot about it I guess.
youyour friend needs to know is here. https://ashfords.co.uk/news-and-events/general/what-is-failing-to-provide-driver-informationThe crucial bit is the "strict liability offence" thing. A conviction can still happen even if one does not receive the request for information. (See section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 for an explanation).
The max penalty seems to be six points and £1,000. So I assume he's got done for the offence as well as the failure to respond. With the penalty being near to the upper end, I assume the Mags took umbrage re your friend dissing the Court by not responding.
He was a silly boy and needs to suck it up.
I respectfully suggest that your friend learns his lesson and isn't as foolish again.
But then clearly states he only has 6 points.
The insurance quotes for a fictional tt99 here are more than eye-watering. £9.5k for an ancient fiesta suggests they didn't want the business!
He was going through a lot of shit which is a partial excuse, but I can't disagree he deserves consequences for being stupid.
Edited to add: This guy is highly regarded for motoring stuff. counsel.direct/
Why did you bury your head in the sand ?!?
Many mistakes in my life but burying my head is not one of them. My shit last year taught me to fight everything head on and I wouldn't let something like this happened.
Not everybody the same though and people make mistakes, I certainly am not holding it against him.