Motoring Advice Blog

Case Study: Driver Caught Speeding At 110mph in 70mph Avoids Ban

The relief that Anya Holmes experienced immediately after her hearing at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court was not for herself. Anya had been at pains to explain to her case handler at Forrest Williams that she was most concerned about the effect a disqualification would have on her young daughter, who was very ill and needed ongoing, regular medical attention.

Anya did not dispute that she had been speeding on the date in question but explained that she was conscious of running late for work, knowing the company she was temporarily employed by had a harsh late arrival policy.

Her recorded speed of 110mph in a 70mph zone was at the very top of the third (most serious) category, so punishable by way of a fine and either a short disqualification of 7-56 days or 6 penalty points.

Although Anya was proud of her clean driving licence, she realised that to accept the court’s preferred penalty of a disqualification would mean that she would struggle to take her daughter to hospital at short notice, as and when needed. (Her daughter’s illness meant regular and often unpredictable visits to both the GP surgery and the local hospital.)

During the hearing, Anya’s barrister mitigated forcefully on her behalf, detailing the severe medical problems her daughter had encountered so far in her young life, including a cardiac arrest followed by a medically-induced coma which resulted in a brain injury.

Whilst the magistrates could not condone speeding, they were minded to award 6 points and a financial penalty instead of a disqualification, due to the impact the latter would have on her daughter.

Anya told us that she had learned a valuable lesson, and that she will be mindful of her speed in future. She was grateful to the court for taking her personal circumstances into consideration and told Forrest Williams that she would not have been able to speak up for herself in the way her barrister did during the hearing. Anya felt that her instruction had been money well spent, as she achieved her preferred outcome and felt fully supported throughout the period leading up to – and including – her court hearing.

If you have been charged with speeding, call our expert team on 01623 397200 for a free review of your case.

Kira Donaghue was expecting to be disqualified for up to 56 days at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court this week, and had travelled to her hearing by public transport, in readiness for this ban (which she knew would take immediate effect).

Kira had been charged with a speeding offence – 56 mph in a 30 mph zone – but she had an unusual explanation when she first contacted Forrest Williams for help. It was not something we had heard before, but we listened carefully and quickly realised that Kira was not simply trying to excuse her unlawful behaviour, as people might expect.

Shortly before the speeding offence took place, Kira told us that she had been given a new company car, which was an Audi. Prior to this she had been driving a much older Ford.

Whilst Kira accepted that there would be a period of adjustment from one car to the other, she soon became concerned about the speedometer display in the new Audi. Due to its design, it was very difficult to accurately read what speed she was travelling at.

After the speeding offence, Kira – who had maintained a clean driving licence for over 25 years – started to do some research online. She was shocked to discover that other drivers had also been having problems with the speedometer display of the new Audi, and that the design problem had been acknowledged by the manufacturers.

After some investigation, Kira discovered how to set a digital speedometer on the dashboard, which was much easier to read whilst driving.

Following the advice and support of her case handler, Kira came to court with documentary evidence of the Audi’s speedometer problem.

She was represented at the hearing by an experienced motoring law barrister, who advanced mitigation and ensured that each magistrate had a copy of the paperwork to refer to.

It was clear that Kira had the sympathy and understanding of the bench, from the comments that were made.

The magistrates were minded to sentence Kira by way of a fine and 6 penalty points, which means she can continue to drive as before without disruption to her work and other commitments.

Kira told Forrest Williams she was delighted with this outcome, as she had been dreading a disqualification of almost 3 months’ duration.

She told her case handler that she had felt fully supported throughout the period of preparing her case for court, and thanked Forrest Williams and her barrister for their hard work, which had led to this much-appreciated result.   

If you have been charged with speeding or any other motoring offence, contact Forrest Williams now to get the experts on your side.  Call us now on 01623 397200.