getting summons

H

henry1

Member
Just got a summons in the post for driving with no insurance, my fault it came due while I was at sea and thought the broker had renewed it as he had in the past.
Anyway no defence for that just plead guilty by post with mitigating circumstances or attend court in person, looking on the internet there are two points of view-
1. if you plead guilty by post you save the court some time and this may be reflected in your fine/costs/points.
2. If you attend court pleading guilty you are showing you recognise the severity of the offence and can answer any questions from the magistrate.
court date is long way off in February and not in my local area court, as I have now retired it's no problem to attend. I have no points on my license and have never been to court before for any reason.
henry1
 
Henry sorry to hear about this... Option 2 without a doubt.

The Magistrates may give you the opportunity to to explain in your own words what happened. Not only that, but it gives the proceedings a human face, which may well result in a lesser fine.

Most fines are means tested, but decent people do make mistakes, and such events are not lost on the Magistrates.

Good luck :)
 
halifaxbantam said:
Henry sorry to hear about this... Option 2 without a doubt. The Magistrates may give you the opportunity to to explain in your own words what happened. Not only that, but it gives the proceedings a human face, which may well result in a lesser fine. Most fines are means tested, but decent people do make mistakes, and such events are not lost on the Magistrates. Good luck :)
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+1, the fine may be less but it still will mean 6 points :thumbsdown:
 
If it was me I'd accept my guilt, be grateful I hadn't had an accident while uninsured.
Go with option 1, accept the punishment and learn from my mistake.
 
Just hoping he might save some pennies on the fine that's all Grumps... it's worked before :D

By the way I cannot believe you didn't beat the 'Dog Botherers' today mate, ridiculous you didn't score.

We conceded in the 93 minute...cannot buy a win at home :cry:
 
halifaxbantam said:
Just hoping he might save some pennies on the fine that's all Grumps... it's worked before :D

By the way I cannot believe you didn't beat the 'Dog Botherers' today mate, ridiculous you didn't score.

We conceded in the 93 minute...cannot buy a win at home :cry:
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We don't let many in Halifax but we couldn't score in a Brothel at the moment :cry:
 
halifaxbantam said:
That's not nice friend - Magistrates have got a job to do just like everyone else :D
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Very good.... :thumbsup:

I would attend court if I were you. I got done for speeding a while ago and didn't attend and pleaded guilty by post. I got hammered with 6 points and got a small fine as I had written to say that I had no money.

Can you demonstrate that your insurer has "auto renewed" on previous occasions? If so I would put the details in front of a magistrate and apologise profusely. Do not argue, just put your case forward as a decent guy and leave the decision to them.

People deliberately driving without insurance without any mitigating circumstances wind me up. This seems like an honest oversight on your part and I would hope that the magistrate would see it that way. Also, did your insurer send a renewal letter? Did they previously and have recently changed their policy and resorted to e-mail etc. All these factors can be used to demonstrate that you are a reasonable individual who was not reminded.

H.
 
Yes they did send a letter that I received when I got home from sea, when I come home there is a pile of mail after 3.5 months, one had what looked like a cover note in it dated to 2015 actually it is a renewal notice but laid out like a cover note, I had only been home after flying from Japan for a week when I was stopped, first couple of days after getting home quite jet lagged. I sort out the mail into urgent, to check and junk, the what I thought was a cover note went in the to check pile, my mistake should have checked immediately.
Next point this has happened a number of times either with a company direct or a broker they send a letter if you do not reply they renew usually at a rate higher than you would be able to get if you were able to look around but I was just happy that it was insured while I was away. I checked with the broker, I had paid last time in full so they could not take the money on my card, previous times I was paying monthly by direct debit and they just renewed it.
When I got new insurance and took it to the police station I took the renewal note that I thought was a cover note with me, the policewoman who took the details said she would have thought it was a cover note also and advised me to keep it in case I need to produce it as evidence.
My mistake for not checking before I took the car out.
henry1
 
I would attend court and just hold your hand up that your assumptions were not correct and that you would normally, knowingly drive a vehicle without insurance.

Maybe just explain the situation with previous renewals and how you have ended up without cover.
 
I think you need to head over to the knowledgeable folks at pepipoo.com and ask them.

Apparently (don't quote me on this), but to be disqualified/banned you have to be in court, by going for option 1 you might somewhat delay this this and perhaps even avoid it.

//Edit - I didn't want the above to be all doom and gloom. I don't think a ban is likely, but a fine and points are most likely on the cards. A letter of mitigation could be submitted to the court for option 1. Again, I think you need to head to pepipoo as there's certain circumstances where being suited and booted is the better option.
 
bjd said:
I think you need to head over to the knowledgeable folks at pepipoo.com and ask them.

Apparently (don't quote me on this), but to be disqualified/banned you have to be in court, by going for option 1 you might somewhat delay this this and perhaps even avoid it.
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Absolute nonsense! If you are to be banned for an offence and choose not plead by post all that will happen is you will be contacted and given a date to appear at court where the punishment for the offence will be handed down. By not turning up to court when you know or think you may be banned you just delay they process and the knock on effect can be a bigger/longer ban and or fine because the court might not look up on you favourably, especially if the offence punishment was an automatic ban.

I understand you may have been mislead by information on another site but if it was that simple people would be doing that for all sorts of offences right, left and centre.

I don't believe that the OP will be banned but it's a much better option to appear at court, plead your case, be smart and polite and hope for the best.

If you really feel that you want to fight the case, then you involve a lawyer who specialises in Road Traffic Law and have them advise and fight your case if they believe you have one. Forums are great, but when it comes to the fine lines of the law, the people who deal in it day in and day out are best placed to advise.
 
Angie4m said:
bjd said:
I think you need to head over to the knowledgeable folks at pepipoo.com and ask them.

Apparently (don't quote me on this), but to be disqualified/banned you have to be in court, by going for option 1 you might somewhat delay this this and perhaps even avoid it.
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Absolute nonsense! If you are to be banned for an offence and choose not plead by post all that will happen is you will be contacted and given a date to appear at court where the punishment for the offence will be handed down. By not turning up to court when you know or think you may be banned you just delay they process and the knock on effect can be a bigger/longer ban and or fine because the court might not look up on you favourably, especially if the offence punishment was an automatic ban.

I understand you may have been mislead by information on another site but if it was that simple people would be doing that for all sorts of offences right, left and centre.

I don't believe that the OP will be banned but it's a much better option to appear at court, plead your case, be smart and polite and hope for the best.

If you really feel that you want to fight the case, then you involve a lawyer who specialises in Road Traffic Law and have them advise and fight your case if they believe you have one. Forums are great, but when it comes to the fine lines of the law, the people who deal in it day in and day out are best placed to advise.
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Um, I was simply mentioning the use of pepipoo for advice around whether the OP should plead guilty by post or actually turn up (as it's made up of police officers, lawyers, etc). Please re-read what I said.. if you plead guilty by post, my understanding is, that you cannot be banned as a ban has to be served when you are present in court. I'm happy to be corrected on this as I'm not an expert.

"The Court cannot disqualify a driver who pleads guilty by post and if the postal option does not appear on your Summons, you should assume that the Court is considering imposing a driving ban." (source: http://www.driving-law.co.uk/terms/summons.asp).

So, I think the question is whether, the OP turns up in court or pleads guilty by post with a letter of mitigation ...
 
My experience, and its a long time ago, when I was caught speeding at 99.71 in a 60 was I pleaded guilty by post because it was a long way from where I lived. However, I seem to recall the Clerk of the Court ringing me and telling me that I had to appear in person as I was to be disqualified. As it happens, I got off with points and a fine, so it was worth going along after all.

But as I say, that was some years ago and I recognise things change.
 
I would attend so you can explain the circumstances etc, much better face to face and all that. It will probably be done and dusted in 30 seconds anyways.

Tim.
 
This is related to the incident you had back in June right? The one about getting stopped by police for no insurance...?
If so it's taken a hell of a long time to issue you a summons.....?
 
That's right, it's taken 5 months, I always felt that I would get a summons as it is serious.
Just feel stupid that I did not check when I got home, thinking I only had a 3 month window to find a house I rushed into house hunting but in the end did the sensible thing and retired, just as well as finally just exchanged on Friday so it's also taken 5 months to get a new house.
henry1
 
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