Speeding tickets near hospital during terminal illness: likely consequences and process

[SadTired]

My mother in law has terminal cancer which we only found out about in February.
She started chemo and had her first round which was hopefully planned to give us a year.

Thursday (2nd April) her gallbladder perforated and they can’t operate so she’s deteriorated fast and yesterday entered hospice care.

Today we got our first speeding ticket 😫
There’s a zone near the hospital where it has a 40-30-40 stretch and the 30 has a camera.

I have been coming off the accelerator as we approached the 30 sign but then just coasting down until hitting the 40 before increasing speed again. Based on my husband’s ticket today, he’s pretty much just stayed as though it was a 40 zone (ticket is 39)

We are in an area that has persistent postal problems so just because only one ticket has arrived from the offence on 3rd April that doesn’t mean anything.

I’m worried we will both lose our licenses on top of everything else. Does anyone have experience of how this works when multiple offences occur in a short space of time under huge stress? I was effectively camping there all day so only came and went once daily but my husband was more come and go as he was looking after our son.

Sorry to hear about your DM.

This happened to my DB he got 2 tickets in the same week on the road to the hospice where my DM died. I also got a couple of parking tickets near the hospital.

I’m afraid your sad circumstances have no bearing on the outcome.

You won’t lose your licence for 1 incident of doing 39 in a 40 zone. You might get a speed awareness course or you might get points.

I know it’s hard in the circumstances but you need to stay within the limits

Yes but we suspect there are lots more to follow and for both of us…

Neither of us have ever had points and my husband did the speed awareness once 10yrs or so ago

Also, after the first few days when I realised I’d not been paying attention we both were careful and paid more attention to the road. We were very much on auto pilot and it’s not ok but life has really fallen apart over the last 9 days

There is a very similar zone near my hospital. I am the one with advanced cancer. I am often driving myself to the hospital because it’s an hour from home and Dh needs to be with the dc. I’m in pain. Sometimes I feel quite unwell - had to take myself in yesterday in holiday traffic, with a high fever having heart palpitations. I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket. Knowing an ill person doesn’t mean you can just not pay attention when driving.

I thought it was you with the terminal diagnoses, in which case the court might be lenient if you were set to lose your license.

But whilst I sympathise with your situation with your mother in law, everyone would have a good reason if this was allowed.

Also why were you staying at the hospital when your husband had to leave to take care of your son if it's his mother who is poorly?

If it’s been that long since your DH did the course he’ll be offered one again so that’s the first offence accounted for.

Any further ones will be 3 points each, unless you were really tanking it which doesn’t sound likely.

You have to reach 12 points to be in a position to lose your license, only you know how likely that is.

Unfortunately your personal situation will have no impact on the outcome.

This explains the consquences
https://www.gov.uk/speeding-penalties

It’s very unlikely you’ve both got 4 tickets. You’ll get fined and points. You might get the option of a speed awareness course.

Im sorry about your MIL

It might not have been a factor but I once got a speeding ticket letter, I dont remember the exact details but it was a temp speed reduction in a place I didn't know on my way to a funeral and I explained that when I sent the form back and I never heard from them again.

Maybe some police forces have discretion or maybe it just got lost in the system somehow

I’m sorry about your mother in law.

I’ve had two fines in close succession on the same camera. I did the course for the first one and three points and a fine for the second one.

You would have to have four offences each to lose your license.

That website doesn’t say mitigating circumstances will never be considered?

OP, you can absolutely go to court and plead mitigating circumstances. BUT it will be expensive and there are no guarantees; you could get an understanding judge that day or not. I would ONLY take this route if you get into a position where there are so many tickets that you risk losing your license. In addition, there are arguments that can be made if you were caught speeding several times on the same journey or in the same location before you received notice of the first speeding incident. But again, I would not be trying to argue this unless your or DH’s license in at risk.

As I said, it will be expensive and no guarantee of a positive outcome. But we do absolutely have the option to plead not guilty, or ask for some form of leniency. NOTE: I am not a solicitor; I am a researcher. This is based on information I’ve found about the matter.

Mitigating circumstances:
https://www.jmw.co.uk/articles/speeding-offences/mitigating-circumstances-for-speeding-offences

More than one incident:
www.richardsilver.co.uk/news/caught-speeding-twice-or-more-on-the-same-journey-how-many-penalty-points-will-you-get/

I would also say: mother in law in hospice isn’t enough for mitigating circumstances. Mother in law who has very suddenly and unexpectedly been placed on hospice due to unexpected and unsurvivable organ damage, when she was attempting to recover and undergoing chemo, is perhaps more appropriate for mitigating circumstances. I think your best argument is to ask that only the first ticket you received be “counted,” as you can prove your behavior changed after receiving it. BUT a solicitor may say otherwise.

Best of luck, OP. This sounds stressful AF. I wish I had better news.

Are you commonly entering the 30 above 30 or are you taking your foot off early enough to enter at 30? Was maybe just too late on a single occasion?

Our local hospital is critically understaffed and so I’ve been providing all of her personal care, something both my husband and her would rather I do than him. Plus I don’t have family nearby and am genuinely close to her. My husband is thankfully a very hands on dad so I don’t have to worry about our son whatsoever when he’s looking after him.

I’m hoping I might be ok because I was routinely coming off and so most likely I’ve either I’ve been caught every time or caught none but my fear is the every time risk.

So a friend of mine got 4 tickets in 3 days in the same place (40 to 30- same as you). Technically should have been 12 points but she hired a lawyer and only got 6 as was obviously "unwitting" and the magistrate was sympathetic. This is one in our town where the council have basically admitted they did it to get people and there's no rationale for it (stretch of DC-one side of a roundabout it 30, the other is 40).

Mother in law who has very suddenly and unexpectedly been placed on hospice due to unexpected and unsurvivable organ damage, when she was attempting to recover and undergoing chemo, is perhaps more appropriate for mitigating circumstances. I think your best argument is to ask that only the first ticket you received be “counted,” as you can prove your behavior changed after receiving it.

This is pretty much it, except she wasn’t at the lovely hospice receiving wonderful care yet. She was at a chronically understaffed hospital and we’ve been so frightened for her. It’s so awful; we got her yesterday to the place she will die at imminently and it feels so much safer than the hospital.

We can both demonstrate that our behaviour did change, and not just because we stopped going there, as we realised and corrected this for the last few days when she was still inpatient prior to a hospice bed becoming available so thank you for the research.

This happened to me, last year. I even wonder if it’s the same hospital!

Had an awful weekend, where I need to take my child to A&E and then the assessment unit daily.

i did the journey 8 times in a week. And I got two tickets. Both times were early hours.
I like you was shitting myself for the remaining four journeys that hadn’t been accounted for and replaying the drive over and over in my mind.

anyway, no advice, but will keep my fingers crossed!
and if it does come to it, I had looked online and if you get some legal advice, you may be ok. Particularly if someone relies on you for care that means you need your car.

Been there, done twice on a single journey (nice one Plymouth) and got Awareness Course for 1st and points and fine for the second, but like you when they came through the door I suddenly realised that I might well have repeated the offences the next day. Thankfully, didn't happen, but that fear of the postman and the possibility that I might go from clean licence to ban in two days (23 and 24 in a 30, honestly thought I was being good!) was terrifying.

I replied to the NIP asking if the two could be treated as the same offence, but no chance. I would say, OP, that if the worse does happen then throw yourself on the mercy of the court, but unfortunately speeding is seen as one of those things that has very little mitigation l, and actually I agree with that.

I got caught speeding at 78mph when my Dad was terminally ill - I'd just had a phone call from his lifelink pendant to say he'd had a fall and was very groggy. They'd also called an ambulance but couldn't get access until I got there. So yes I did speed to get to him because he was on the floor. It was a clear dual carriage way with little traffic on but with a sneaky hand held speed camera wielding policeman on an overhead bridge.

They didn't give a shiny shit when I appealed it. I took the points on the chin because I had no choice and in terms of losing my darling Dad, it was irrelevant.

I am sorry for your situation but it does sound as though you should not be driving if it is affecting you so much.

After initial panic, I’ve looked at how many journeys we each undertook prior to paying proper attention and it’s 3 more for him and 5 for me. I think/hope we will get a nasty lesson but keep our licenses as we’d both be eligible for the speed course (taking him to potentially 9 points and, yes, I could have 12 but only if I’m extremely unlucky because I definitely was reducing in speed each time I passed it, hopefully enough! Driving is also a necessary element for providing Care to someone profoundly disabled I look after which I believe meets the hardship criteria)

Each day was so very long, so it feels like this went on for longer than it did but looking back at all messages I texted him to say I might have gone through the speed camera too fast on the third day of visiting the hospital, whereupon we would’ve both been very careful from then onwards. I understand the concern from a PP about safety to drive but I was travelling very early and the roads were pretty empty. I actually travel near there for work but I’m so used to sitting in rush-hour traffic that I wouldn’t ordinarily have a chance to reach regular speed, let alone speeding!

You’re kind.

Maybe I care about the people who are crossing the road! It is well known that you should not drive while impaired by stress and worry.
OP there will still be people about in the early morning.

Did you get anymore tickets? Have all the timescales lapsed now? Are you in the clear?