Have you been flashed?
‹ Back to list 22 Jul 05
Speed cameras are now a fact of life throughout Britain’s roads.
However careful a driver you are it is very easy to lose concentration or to lose track of the limit that applies to an unfamiliar stretch of road and to see suddenly the flash of a speed camera recording you over the speed limit.
What does this mean?
The vehicle owner will receive a letter from the Speed Enforcement Centre requiring information as to the identity of the driver. If the owner fails to do so he is then liable to be prosecuted for an offence and will be liable to a fine of up to £1,000 and will have 3 penalty points endorsed on his licence.
There have been cases where the vehicle owner has been totally unable to identify the driver. He may avoid a conviction but Magistrates are understandably very cautious about accepting evidence that a driver cannot be identified.
Where the owner knows the driver and completes the documentation the speed recorded by the camera is the key factor. If it is not significantly over the actual limit the driver will be given the opportunity to pay a fixed penalty ticket of £60. He must pay within 28 days and produce his driving licence which then has 3 penalty points recorded on it.
If the speed is excessive then the probability is that the driver will not be given the opportunity of a fixed penalty ticket but will receive a summons to attend at the Magistrates Court. If the driver then pleads guilty to the offence, the Magistrates Court will then consider a level of fine up to a maximum of £1,000.
The level of penalty points that apply to the offence is between 3 and 6 points. The higher the speed the higher the amount of penalty points imposed.
The Magistrates can instead consider imposing a short period of disqualification from driving. As a rule of thumb possible disqualification arises if the speed is more than 30 mph over the limit and a disqualification in these sort of cases is usually between 14 days and 2 months depending on the actual level of speed.
It is, therefore, clearly better to go for the fixed penalty if the option is given to you.
What are the effects of the penalty points imposed on your licence? The law says that if you receive 12 penalty points in a period of 3 years through endorsements ("totting up") then you must be disqualified from driving for a period of at least 6 months unless the Courts find it would cause you exceptional hardship if you are disqualified.
Do not fall into the trap of assuming that you will be able to persuade the Magistrates that it will cause you exceptional hardship. Even if there are job implications they may not exercise leniency and use their discretion not to disqualify.
It is much more serious if you then find yourself before a Court again within that 3 year period. Even if the Magistrates have exercised discretion not to disqualify you once their powers to avoid disqualification on a second occasion are very limited indeed and disqualification is almost inevitable.
If you are 30 mph over the limit, although it may sound strange, sometimes a short disqualification can do you a favour. If your speed was such that the Magistrates are considering a short disqualification then the alternative would probably be 6 points on your licence. You may be better off becoming chauffeur driven for two or three weeks through a short disqualification rather than carry 6 points for a high speeding offence on your licence and run the risk of acquiring extra points in the next 3 years to make you liable to totting up. If you are disqualified then you would not receive penalty points.
If, having been disqualified under the totting up provision in the last three years you then find yourself before the Courts again for totting up you will be subject to disqualification for a minimum period of 12 months rather than the 6 months which applies on the first occasion.
There is one other rule about endorsements which is not known to a lot of people. If within 2 years of passing your test you find yourself having 6 points endorsed on your licence then the DVLA at Swansea must revoke your licence. You are not disqualified from driving but you go back to being a provisional licence holder and then have to take your test again including the written part of the test.
Finally I should add that not all motoring offences carry endorsement. The most common ones which carry endorsement are speeding offences, failing to observe traffic signs (e.g. going through a red traffic light), driving without insurance, careless driving or defective tyre and brake offences.
Straightforward parking offences e.g. parking on double yellow lines, or offences of not wearing a seat belt, do not carry endorsement.
PAUL CAMMISS — Managing Partner
