12pts in a week - driving ban

Could you go back to the road and prove there were no signs?

Ive noticed that Google maps is still displaying many roads as a 30 when they are now changed to 20.

I was recently let of an offence due to mitigating circumstances and the officer chose use discretion. Hopefully if you explain you will only be guilty of one offence. I do feel for you massively.

It depends. If the OP commutes to a job where no public transport is available and has no husband or partner that can step in to give lifts or perhaps is a single mother who does school drop offs and pick ups and the school is not on a public transport route and requires a car. All of that would be taken into consideration, particularly due to the circumstances. My instinct is she won’t lose her license but if they offer a lifeline it will be on the back of no more points.

You can appeal the six month ban in court. You'll likely get a court summons for having 12 points and you can plead your case there, if you can plead exceptional hardship if you can't drive. Your previous good record could help. I'd get legal advice if you aren't confident about putting an argument together yourself and if a 6 month ban will cause you massive issues.

sentencingcouncil.org.uk/ancillary-suppl-information-text/road-traffic-offences-disqualification/3-totting-up-disqualification/

My son did similar.Thought a 30 mph was 40 mph so triggered speed on 2 consecutive days.Went to Court argued a previous clean record of 16 years.Got a fine of nearly £1000 pounds and 12 point but did not receive a ban

That’s shit OP. I have a car that tells me the speed limit every time it changes by making an annoying noise and dipping the stereo to do so. Another thing you could do is always have Waze running on the sat nav as that will also make a noise to alert you if you are going over the speed limit.

Go to court and plead your case. It’s all you can do.

To my knowledge, I've never seen speed cameras in a 20 mph zone. But clearly it does happen. I wonder how common they are, though. Are you in Wales, OP?

Sorry, no. In the eyes of the court, losing your job is not "exceptional" hardship which is what's needed to stop a ban.

Of course it's hardship, that's the point.

I'd ask the court to consider it as one penalty, be very sorry, dress appropriately and get a specialist barrister to rep you.

20 signs are normally really obvious so if they weren't then you might have a case for appeal. If they are obvious and you've admitted you weren't paying attention to them that won't go down well. But if it makes you feel better a friend had recently received 12 points after almost getting to the end of their 9, unfortunately - driving in wrong lanes on a motorbike in London which they didn't see signage for. And they haven't yet had their court date and you can drive until you get that. Apparently they have a huge backlog and aren't actually getting round to a lot of the court sessions so you might get away with it if you're lucky!

4 times in a week seems pretty persistant to me.

And if someone isn't caught this time, how many times would they be allowed to keep doing it before they were, and if so would they then be persistant ?

Should drunk drivers be let off their first few points if they are just over the limit because they are not persistant ?

To me the whole thing does seem a bit harsh. But we'll never probably know the full detail of just how visible the road/camera signs were.

Being smashed off your bike by a car that is going too fast is also pretty harsh too.

For people saying use Waze. My car 'reads' the speed signs, I have the speed limit on the sat nav and there's places I drive frequently where they're both wrong (and sometimes different from each other whilst still both being wrong)

You have my sympathy op. As much as people are blaming you, not all signs are clear. I have a long road near me which has only 2 small signs one at the beginning and one near the end saying 20mph. If a van is parked in front of it or the over hanging nearby branches are covering it, it’s very easy to miss to people new to the area. It might be worth getting specialist legal advice.

Of course it is! 🙄

I would contact the police force first and explain. They may be kind and withdraw one (or 2 hopefully) and then ask for a speed awareness course. You won’t get a ban then

Couldn't agree more, it's completely out of proportion.

Firstly try ringing the police (there'll be a number on the penalty ticket) and ask for them to be considered as one (or any number less than 4) offence.

Secondly you will have the opportunity to do a speed awareness course, so max you will get is 9 points - not a ban.

Thirdly you may find your insurers aren't as bothered as you might expect. I had a similar experience last year (caught going to, and then coming from, an appointment by a mobile speed van, doing 48 one way and 51 the other on a road that I thought was 50mph limit - but it was 40 🤬) and it didn't affect my premiums at all.

I wasn't commenting on the OP. I was replying to a poster who explicitly said that they find it difficult to adhere to a 20mph speed limit. That driver is unsafe.

My opinion of OP's driving would depend on how clear the signage on the road was, as I said in my reply to OP, when I suggested she go back and take some dashcam footage of the route to check for road signs.

I work in traffic courts from time to time. The first thing you need to do is to return the letters confirming that you were the driver. I suspect that you will then be offered a speed awareness course for the first offence and 3 points for the remaining 3 (plus a fine) which will take you to 9.

If you did get to 12, you would have to go to Court in order for a disqualification to be applied at which point your solicitor could advise as to the best route to take re mitigations etc.

Yes that's true... If you are a persistant offender. The OP is not. Most people are not.

The judginess on this thread is off the scale.

Go to court. You’re not going to get a ban for this. Look up totality principle. They’ll probably put you on 12 points and leave you there as a deterrent. Explain what you’ve explained here. Try and stay calm.

Agree. Do appeal @Jarofgoodness How are you by the way? Have you spoken to anyone about this? (Like a lawyer.) Or made an appointment to see anyone?

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Exactly. I’m in Wales and I haven’t had a fine for going over 20mph yet - and I haven’t heard that any friends have either.

Rubbish and you sound ridiculous.

I feel your pain, not as bad as you, but today my husband drove thought a bus gate, a new road for us, and just didn't see the signs until we drove through, it will be his first ever fine driving of 50 years.

This happened to a friend of my father in law. He was on holiday and used the same road several times in a week and he thought it was a higher speed limit. He didn’t get the 12 points. It was a long time ago Donn can’t remember how he got off. Get legal advice. O think there will be a way if avoiding a ban. Good luck

If you find it difficult to adhere to the speed limit, you are a dangerous driver and have no business being behind the wheel of a car. Drivers are not being hammered; criminals are.