Court Date

[c_brougham]

Feburary '04 i was caught speeding by a laser on the A1, i was caught twice in 8 minutes. Firstly at 86 secondly at 96. I have received a fixed penalty for the 86mph, however I was informed that i would receive a fixed penalty for the 96, two weeks later I was informed i would have to go to court, fair enough, hoowever it is now July and i have received no summons.

I was wondering if anyone knew how long they can keep me in suspense!!!!

My main concern is that if they wait till oct, when i need to go back to uni, and they give me a ban, i can't get to uni, whereas if i recieve a ban now it is not sooo bad.

Anyone have any idea of how long they can keep you waiting?

[xylophone]

If they don't issue a summons within 6 months of the offence, you're in the clear

[Tom_Audi_77``]

I had an unfortunate scenario on Feb 10th and didn't receive a summons until 3rd week of June with a court date July 5th.

It is true that proceedings must be started within 6 months...but if you read the Road Traffic Act it states that this is 6 months from the prosecutor signing a certificate to say they have received the evidence...not from the date of the offence.

In my case this was two months after the offence...sorry for the bad news and unfortunately you have no way to make the wheels turn faster.

On the up side...I did once receive a summons to appear in court a long way from home...due to the speed I had the option not to be present which I took...I never heard anymore about it and to this day don't know why...maybe court couldn't hear the case that day or something...don't count on it but things sometimes work in your favour...good luck

[Dwight VanDriver]

xylophone said:

If they don't issue a summons within 6 months of the offence, you're in the clear

Strictly not true.

S127 Magistrates Courts Act 1980 states unless otherwise expressly provided under an enactment then
Mags Court shall not hear/try a information unless it was laid within 6 months from the time when the offence was committed.

For speeding, information has to be laid within 6 months of offence and providing this has been done then summons/case can heard beyond this date.

For some more serious RT Offences information has to be laid within 6 months of the offence coming to the notice and to a maximum of 3 years.

DVD

>> Edited by Dwight VanDriver on Thursday 8th July 07:28

[voyds9]

At court would it be worth arguing that the two offences were actually one continuous offence for which you have already paid the fine and taken the points?

[gone]

voyds9 said:

At court would it be worth arguing that the two offences were actually one continuous offence for which you have already paid the fine and taken the points?

Sadly, No!

[fish]

So if I break into someones house and steal their TV leave and go back 8mins later to steal the video, I'll get done for two offences will I......

.....No I'll probebly get a holiday or a £2 fine with suspended sentence. However if I drive above the speed limit down to london and go through 4 cameras in 8mins I'm buggered.

Laws odd isn't it I always thought it was there to protect me, a bit like the NHS which I thought was to keep mw well and they've refused to do an op because they don't want the waiting lists to increase, so they just refuse to put me on it. Great isn't it.

[gone]

Drive from London to Bristol down the M4 at 95mph all the way regardless of what or who is recording you and only expect to be dealt with for 1 offence?
After all it is continuous

You would be lucky

[jesusbuiltmycar]

gone said:

voyds9 said: At court would it be worth arguing that the two offences were actually one continuous offence for which you have already paid the fine and taken the points? Sadly, No!

That is utterly disgraceful. By that reasoning surely a scrote that steals something from a shop should be done for multiple offences..... 1 charge of theft for every closed circuit TV footage and 1 charge for every other witness that comes formward

[miniman]

gone said:

Drive from London to Bristol down the M4 at 95mph all the way regardless of what or who is recording you and only expect to be dealt with for 1 offence? After all it is continuous You would be lucky

Perhaps it's just urban myth, but I'm sure some guy got off 3 out of 4 offences when he was snapped speeding into the roadworks at Avonmouth on the M5 a few years ago. There were something like 4 cameras in 2 miles and he argued "one offence" and got away with it?


>> Edited by miniman on Thursday 8th July 09:59

[stone]

gone said:

Drive from London to Bristol down the M4 at 95mph all the way regardless of what or who is recording you and only expect to be dealt with for 1 offence? After all it is continuous You would be lucky

I appreciate all the way from London to Bristol could not be seen as one offence but surely twice in eight minutes on the same stretch of road IS one offence and should be seen as one offence in court!

>> Edited by stone on Thursday 8th July 10:21

[arthurdent]

Hi C

no one has suggested this yet so I thought I would - have you tried posting your question on pepipoo?
www.pepipoo.com/NewForums2/viewforum.php?f=5

As I understand it, there is a time limit of 6 months from the date of offense to lay information with the court. There may then be another delay due to the court dragging their feet.

arthurdent

[c_brougham]

Thanx all for your replies.

I just hope that it waits out two more months then hopefully i'm in the clear and they decided not to go through with it.

[gone]

jesusbuiltmycar said:

That is utterly disgraceful. By that reasoning surely a scrote that steals something from a shop should be done for multiple offences..... 1 charge of theft for every closed circuit TV footage and 1 charge for every other witness that comes formward

Thats what normally happens.
Well most of the time unless there are large numbers of offences when said scrote is then charged with two or three specimen charges of theft and the other 300 are taken into consideration (TIC)

Unfortunately TIC's are not available to motorists for speeding offences