Speeding penalty points

Anyone taken some points on behalf of someone else?

A mate of mine is being asked by his wife to take some points as she has 9 on her licence (she was caught doing 58 in a 50 on a motorway). This mate isn’t happy about doing it as its obviously a crime, plus his insurance will go up and there is no reason why he would have been where the offence occured, plus if the photo is checked they will see it is a woman and not a man driving.

However he can see that it will help his missus out as she needs her car to work.

Hob Nob?

Yeah, why not turn a traffic offence into perverting the course of justice? They’re both potentially in the cack if they get slammed with that.

it as its obviously a crime

if the photo is checked they will see it is a woman and not a man driving

Yes please Cougar 🙂

Bushwacked – Member
she needs her car to drive.

Durr!

Not at all. Presuming you meant “she needs her car for work” she should have thought of that well before now.

she needs her car to drive

but doesn’t need it enough to take care when she already has 9 points on her licence.

My 2p;

1) Can’t believe she’d ask him, tbh.

2) I’d say no, it’s just morally wrong.

3) 1 and 2 clearly don’t apply if she’s a government minister.

Bushwacked – I’d direct your mate and his wife towards the pepipoo forums. He’s not going to get any sympathy on here.

If she needs her car for work (ie, she’d lose her job without it) then she’s got a case for “unnecessary hardship” which would mean a bigger fine rather than a ban.

If her livelyhood doesn’t depend on it then she doesn’t “need” a car at all, what she needs is banning so that she can learn to either slow down or be more observant. It’s easy to get caught out once, but if you’re speeding and paying so little attention that you repeatedly can’t see great big yellow boxes at the side of the road, you shouldn’t be speeding.

</2p>

LOng story but basically she started a new job back 2 years ago and was given quite a powerful company car that she wasn’t used to (previous car Skoda Fabia). Within 3 months she’d got 9 points all for driving just over slightly over the limit (one was doing 44 in a 40). Learnt her lesson and has been driving very cautiously since.

Apparently this latest one was where the motorway goes from a 70 down to a 50 and she was caught doing 58 by a camera. I wonder if its worth contesting it.

Yeah, she needs her car for work, works in the health industry advising Oncology departments and travels a fair bit (well 20k miles a year)

Well if I was in that situation, I reckon I’d not discuss it with my mates – or if I did, I’d ask them not to post it on a public internet forum. So much easier for the police when they have some evidence.

If it was on a motorway was it an average speed check one through roadworks then?

Well if I was in that situation, I reckon I’d not discuss it with my mates – or if I did, I’d ask them not to post it on a public internet forum. So much easier for the police when they have some evidence.

I’m not sure a transcript from an internet forum talking about someones mates wife would be permitted as evidence.

Apparently this latest one was where the motorway goes from a 70 down to a 50 and she was caught doing 58 by a camera. I wonder if its worth contesting it.

Contesting it on what basis? If she thought it was still a 70, how come she was only doing 58?

I’d also advise not using the “new powerful car” line in court – unlikely to get any more sympathy for it there than on here.

Learnt her lesson and has been driving very cautiously managed to avoid getting caught since.

FTFY

I take it this replacement car was equiped with a speedometer?

I’m not sure a transcript from an internet forum talking about someones mates other half would be permitted as evidence.

It might be a good basis to interview some people though, and see how far they’re prepared to lie.

She needs her employer to state on record that they’d have to sack her if she lost her licence. She’d more than likely escape a ban in that case.

doesn’t that motorbike/professional northerner/barge builder bloke have about 30 points on his licence or something?

http://road.cc/content/news/44102-courts-let-nearly-half-motorists-who-accrue-12-or-more-penalty-points-continue

Whatever the whys and wherefores you have now implicated yourself in perverting the course of justice.

I have every sympathy with people who get caught as a one-off – I suspect many from here have been there – me included and it was a wake-up call to sort myself out and pay a bit more attention to what was around me rather than what time I was going to arrive at my destination.

9 points is more than likely three offences for the OP’s friend’s wife – she really ought to be paying more attention. Maybe it’s best if she’s off the road for a bit, eh?

Kettles on Cougar…don’t mind if I do.

I would not take the points, she has a responsibility to drive carefully – we all muck up at times, but heading for 12 points is a reflection of her poor / fast driving IMO. She needs to MTHFU and take that responsibility, not blame a car that is ‘too fast’; or decide after the fact that she ‘needs’ a licence more than to be somewhere a few mins early; or put hubby in a position he should not need to be in. etc.

I’ve driven all sorts from 60 horsepower Superminis to 300 brake barges.

Getting nicked once for “I didn’t twig I was speeding” is just about understandable, three times isn’t.

I suspect she’s best off going up before the beak with a good lawyer and pleading poverty if she gets banned.

LOL @ ‘it was a fast car’ excuse.

Maybe she’s really really fat, and has a heavy right foot?

You won’t get much love here I would imagine – remember everyone becomes perfect themselves when behind a keyboard 😉

Regarding getting someone to take the hit for you – sounds risky though in practise I have no idea if a human eye ever passes over these cases. However, I would imagine she would not be the only looser if she lost her job through being banned, he would be pretty hard done my too in terms of houshold income so he would be taking the hit for the team. Not sure I would go down that road though.

My two thoughts:-

1. Never understood why exceptional circumstances were made for those needing a car for work (or mother’s avoiding prison sentences come to that). We all know “the rules” when we do wrong – if you have more to loose you should take that into account when making your decisions. I would have thought the reasoning behind the 12 points to a ban is that it is proof of poor driving & you are no less poor just because you “need” your car more.

2. Those 50mph reduced speed motorway zones – arn’t we in general so much better behaved through those than we used to be? I’d have more respect/understanding though if I could always see the points of them. They make perfect sense when there are workmen in the area or we are driving in temporary lanes that are not marked properly or narrow but I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been through areas where all the cones are stacked up on the side of the road and the workmen and machinery are nowhere to be seen.

I would join the no sympathy gang; I accept the “she’ll maybe loose her job so beg the judge not to ban her” argument – but actually that is the whole point of 12 points adding up to a ban – it is a major incentive to follow the law. The article posted above suggests that it works more often than I would expect. I have only ever heard it being used successfully where it not only impacts YOU but other people. E.g. a small company owner gets banned and the whole company is in jeopardy.

Having said all that the onus is on the registered keeper and the driver(s) involved to explain who was driving. It seems very unlikely that you would get caught “lying” and even more unlikely that they could prove it was anything other than a genuine error.

1. Never understood why exceptional circumstances were made for those needing a car for work (or mother’s avoiding prison sentences come to that).

It’s called ‘exceptional hardship.’ You’re receiving a sentence which is largely fixed based on guidelines and past case histories. If you’ve got two people who commit the same crime but for whom the punishments would be unfairly disparate, that is taken into account. So if a driving ban would result directly in a loss of employment, that is viewed as unfair (as it would effectively be extra punishment) and they’d consider sentencing a larger fine instead of disqualification in that case.

I would suggest that, whatever course of action the OP and his wife take, she gets herself booked in pronto for some driving lessons. She’s evidently a pretty inattentive driver and I’d hope would take some instruction to become a safer road user.

Or next time it could be a child’s face….

It seems very unlikely that you would get caught “lying” and even more unlikely that they could prove it was anything other than a genuine error.

You don’t think they might be a tad suspicious at a company car being driven by the partner of somebody with 9 points? Sounds like it was a forwards facing camera, so easy to check, and “genuine error” doesn’t tend to wash in a case of PTCOJ.

It’s called ‘exceptional hardship.’ You’re receiving a sentence which is largely fixed based on guidelines and past case histories. If you’ve got two people who commit the same crime but for whom the punishments would be unfairly disparate, that is taken into account. So if a driving ban would result directly in a loss of employment, that is viewed as unfair (as it would effectively be extra punishment) and they’d consider sentencing a larger fine instead of disqualification in that case.

I understand how it works, but don’t agree with the principle.

She’s on her own on this one as far as I’m concerned. If use of a car was so important to her then a bit more care and attention was probably required.

I wouldn’t be entirely unsympathetic; I’d get down to Evans and buy her a nice commuting bike…

I got 3 points once, knew it was coming as soon as I saw the gatso, didn’t complain about it as I’d done the crime. Took it on the chin and learnt from it.
Now have had a clean licence since the points expired last year.

Is your mate certain the driver can’t be identified from the piture? Have they actually seen the picture? Can it be proved he was somewhere else i.e. at work rather than driving the car when the offence was comitted?

I understand how it works, but don’t agree with the principle.

Sorry, you said…

Never understood why exceptional circumstances were made

… not that you didn’t agree with it. Fortunately, you don’t have to.

Would you agree that ‘ability to pay’ should be taken into account when issuing fines?

I’ll tell you who I feel sorry for in this instance, Bushwacked. The answers above are as predicatble and sanctimonious as always.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall in some of your lives:

Missus (love of your life, mother of your children, etc):
“I’ve been incredibly stupid and been done for speeding yet again. I think I’m going to lose my license, and with it my job, and therefore also the house.”

STW Massive:
“Oh dear oh dear, what a silly woman. I’m off out on my SS 29er round somethere that isn’t a trailcentre. Make sure you’ve packed your bags by the time I’m back.

STW Massive:
“Oh dear oh dear, what a silly woman. I’m off out on my SS 29er round somethere that isn’t a trailcentre. Make sure you’ve packed your bags by the time I’m back.

Genuine laugh out loud. Very good.

By the way, I know someone who did this and it went wrong. They wrote back to him and said unless your wife is 6’2″ with short hair and a beard, you may want to double check who was driving your vehicle that day (with a few threats abour perverting etc). They didn’t turn up with a Tactical Aid Unit and put him in solitary for ten years.

If you’ve got two people who commit the same crime but for whom the punishments would be unfairly disparate, that is taken into account.

Do they take into account the fact that if you’re driving your own car your insurance might jump considerably, whereas if your company provides the insurance you’re not paying the premium?

I presume the company has to declare on the insurance that a driver has 12 points? Wonder if they could refuse to insure irrespective of whether a person kept their licence with 12 points?

I’ll tell you who I feel sorry for in this instance, Bushwacked. The answers above are as predicatble and sanctimonious as always.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall in some of your lives:

Missus (love of your life, mother of your children, etc):
“I’ve been incredibly stupid and been done for speeding yet again. I think I’m going to lose my license, and with it my job, and therefore also the house.”

STW Massive:
“Oh dear oh dear, what a silly woman. I’m off out on my SS 29er round somethere that isn’t a trailcentre. Make sure you’ve packed your bags by the time I’m back.

+1 🙂

I’ll tell you who I feel sorry for in this instance, Bushwacked. The answers above are as predicatble and sanctimonious as always.

Oh sorry. What I meant to write was:
Go for it – I’m sure they’ll never notice. I understand how easy it is to get caught for speeding 4 times, especially when you’ve got a car which goes a bit fast.

one was doing 44 in a 40

No it wasn’t!

you only get a fixed penalty in a 40 for 46 or over.

I’d take them for my wife if we were in the same situation. Its no biggie.