Two Charges Of 100mph in a 70mph – Driver Avoids Totting Up Ban
In Mansfield Magistrates’ Court this week, Maggie Renshaw was delighted to avoid a 6 month disqualification via the ‘totting up’ of points as a result of her two speeding offences, which were both in the third (most serious) category, so potentially each carrying 6 penalty points.
When she first approached us, Maggie told her case worker, Tracy Johnson, that she had been caught by speed cameras twice on the same day – firstly on her way to a family member’s wedding, and then again on her way back home.
Her two speeding offences were very similar – both just over 100mph in a 70mph limit.
Maggie told us that she could not explain why she had been speeding, but that she would be more mindful of her speed in the future. Luckily for her, there had been fewer aggravating factors than in some cases, for example she had been alone in her car, the traffic conditions were good and the weather was dry with good visibility on the road in question.
Maggie’s case worker made her aware that, although she held a clean driving licence at the time of the two speeding offences, if the court awarded 6 points for each speeding offence she would automatically fall to be disqualified for a period of 6 months unless she could conduct a successful Exceptional Hardship application.
Once she had instructed us to act for her, her case worker liaised closely with Maggie to bring together a fully prepared case for the court hearing. The preparation was detailed and took into account the work that Maggie did as Managing Director of an insurance company based in London. It also focused on the fact that Maggie’s partner was not a confident driver, so could not act as driver for her during a disqualification period.
However, once Steve Williams met with Maggie at court and they discussed her case, Steve decided to try and persuade the court to award points for one of the speeding offences and a short disqualification for the other, in order to try and avoid a ‘totting up’ situation. The fact that Maggie had maintained a clean driving licence up to this point meant that 6 points could be endorsed onto her licence without jeopardising her ability to drive.
The magistrates listened to Steve’s mitigation and went along with his suggestion. For the first speeding offence, they disqualified Maggie from driving for 14 days. For the second speeding offence, they imposed 6 points.
Maggie was understandably delighted with this outcome. She told Steve she can work around a short disqualification and then continue with her life as normal. She thanked everyone at the Forrest Williams office for supporting her through this stressful process, and for taking into account her personal circumstances when working out how best to represent her interests in the court room.
If you need help for a motoring offence, call our specialist team now on 01623 397200.
