12pts in a week - driving ban

So know someone whose 80 year old grandma has to go on a speed course for doing 23 in a 20. I think there has to be some proportionality. There are crazy boy racers doing 60 in 30s who seem to evade getting caught. I sympathise OP and it must be very stressful.

Sorry, what is EH?

She's hardly 'persistant' if she has never had a speeding ticket in 30 years of driving, until this past week! 🙄

Did this not used to be called driving without due care and attention, or am I too old and not au fait with modern language.
Have had my licence for 50 years this year.
OH got done last year for speeding in a really stupid place that he certainly should have known about. If I were to defend him, which I am not, he is usually "driving/flying" Airbusses that go considerably faster, but no excuse for speeding on the road!
Sorry OP, but you were not paying attention.

@Jarofgoodness - I live in Dorset but went to my niece’s wedding near Skipton in North Yorkshire, a place I’d never been to before.

After arriving home I soon received a speeding ticket for doing 35mph in a 30 limit.

I was very careful to follow Waze on my SatNav but I do remember there was a spot where the signal ‘dropped’ and I think this was probably where there was a camera shortly after the speed reduced from 40mph to 30mph. I also recall that as it was the Summertime a lot of roadsigns were obscured by tree foliage.

Dorset doesn’t have speed awareness courses of its own but I was able to do one online with a guy holding a course (from his bedroom in Birmingham….with his unmade bed in the background!) Most of the other participants seemed to be middle aged women for some reason.

Just a mile from our house there is a road off the bypass which is a main route to a holiday park; it was always 40mph for the first mile and just after a small retail park it dropped down to 30mph.

However, a new housing estate is going up opposite the retail park and the whole length of the road changed to 30mph….there were police parked in a side road pulling over drivers who were unaware of the new changes. It was still stating 40mph on Waze and Google Maps for the first 3 to 4 weeks after the changes and on my car SatNav, but I don’t know if anyone was able to make a successful challenge? (The new 30mph signs are quite small too).

It might be worth trying to find out if the speed limit had been reduced shortly before you were issued with all of your speeding fines?

I think most of its automated so I doubt anyone would notice that you had sped so many times.

No help to you now OP but at the entrance to each new road /leaving or joining a roundabout there’ll be a large speed sign and on 40mph and 20mph roads always repeaters. Also most 20mph roads have it painted on the road.

In 2013 I got caught going about 35 in a 30 twice on the same day on same road and thought it was 40.

Two speeding fines letter arrived I emailed and I asked them to treat it as one offense and this would therefore enable me to do the speed awareness course which would be beneficial considering I clearly needed to brush up on the rules and regulations and how to tell it’s 30 when not clearly signposted.

This was upheld, I had a letter back basically telling me off and I didn’t have to do anything else like go to court. I then went on the speed awareness course and didn’t get any points at all.
I had never been caught speeding before and haven’t since either.

Like you I am usually careful,
Hope this helps and you’re able to do similar.

Oh fair enough. Sorry.

Barrister here OP. Losing your job (if you can provide evidence of it) would likely count as EH (whatever the form says), and the magistrates would likely be very sympathetic to your situation. You would also need to evidence the impact that the job loss would have on your domestic situation etc, which shouldn't be too hard to do, particularly in the current economic climate.

I would suggest instructing a local direct access barrister directly - generally cheaper and easier. They will be able to help you on whether you have a defence to the substantive charges. Good luck.

I’m insured on my parents and my DH vehicles. If any of them asked me to take the rap for their speeding they’d be told in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t prepared to do it. Perverting the course of justice has no limitation of proceedings so it could come back to bite those involved at any time.

That's really luck op. Not sure if anyone has mentioned Nick Freeman also known as Mr Loophole?

@lindyloo57 -

Last year I was visiting my mother who lives in Coventry. I grew up there but left in 1987. The city centre has changed so much in the past few years, now with high rise student flats everywhere.

My elderly mother has no internet or smart phone and was very upset when her local bank branch closed and the only one left is in the city centre. I offered to give her a lift and was shocked at how the road layout has changed….no entry signs, a right turn into a multi -storey car park replaced by concrete blocks…and a few hundred yards further along there were signs for a ‘bus gate’.

I’d never heard of a bus gate before and indeed was looking for something resembling a gate, like one sees at railway level crossings. There was nothing at all apart from a sign. I didn’t have a clue what to do but I saw lots of cameras on poles and didn’t want to risk a fine. I was very fortunate to be in a right hand lane and was able to do a loop. Unfortunately for the city centre traders I’ve decided to never drive in the vicinity again, and talking to my siblings they tell me they never go there either and just go to retail parks or shop online instead.

Yes - I'd be reluctant to rely on any information like this other than my own eyes. (Acknowledging that OP didn't see!)

My in-car satnav doesn't update without a cost and even then it's not always correct.
Biggest discrepancy I've seen so far is a 20mph zone that it still thinks is 60!!

All the 20 limits in our town have great big 20s painted on the road, great big yellow speed cameras and 20 signs. You may think it's unfair, but I very much doubt it wasn't well signed.

You could ask for it all to be heard in court as you could potentially plead exceptional hardship if that is the case. You can only use it once and any fine will be potentially higher if you aren’t disqualified. Seek some professional advice.

Absolutely go to court, be contrite but offer your explanation. Yes, losing your job would be taken into consideration. I know of a few people who’ve reached 12 points and not received a ban. You would however retain the points on your licence and have to keep it clean till they come off.

What a horrible shock for you! I would definitely appeal- if it wasn’t obvious to an experienced driver after 4 journeys along that road then I would imagine there will be lots of people in the same situation! As someone else said, go back and video it ASAP before the bastards upgrade their signage! Do you have any dash cam footage? Good luck I hope it works out x

Use google street view to drive along the route and check the signage out before deciding how to proceed. If it’s obviously marked, I don’t think you would stand a chance getting anything reduced.

Haha, yeah OP why not just add perverting the course of justice to the rap sheet, that'll help the situation.

Get a good lawyer. You might be able to get away with a fine and a course on safe driving.

Agree with PPs recommending going to court and looking contrite. Be very careful about claiming you didn’t notice , you don’t want to get done for driving without due care and attention to compound it all.

You might may get a fortnights ban which might not be soo very bad.

OP- get some legal advice. It will be worth the money. Dont make lame excuses like "but everyone was doing it" or "I was just keeping up with traffic" etc.

My friend got caught doing 120mph on the motorway and we were sure he'd be banned but he admitted it and took full responsibility. He said he knew he had done it, it was stupid decision, he'd never done it before or since and he had let himself down. He said there were no excuses, he took full responsibility for his mistake and apologised. He got a £600 fine and 6 points on his licence. We were amazed and we think its because he didnt try to excuse his behaviour or make lame excuses, because from googling other people doing what he did- they got an instant driving ban.

Can you tell us where you were? And have you been back to check for signage or have you looked along the street on Google maps streetview to see if there's any signs?

More and more city and urban roads are now 20mph. My first experience of this was Cardiff a few years back. But now it's in most of London, and I've come across it in towns and village centres from Sevenoaks in Kent, to Goring in Oxfordshire. Very often in addition to speed signs, it's also painted on the road surface. Does your SatNav or your in-car info centre not display the current speed-limit?

I am sorry this happened to you.

I am sure if you plead spotless driving previously I hope they take this into account.

where I have received a bus lane fine it was in an area nowhere near where I lived and yes the huge sign I saw at the last minute but had no choice as car behind me beeped to keep driving elsewhere. I think 3 or 6 points is fair; 12 seems unfair in this particular situation.