12pts in a week - driving ban

[Jarofgoodness]

I can't believe that this is happening.

I am normally such a careful driver. I hate speeding, always use the speed limiter on my car and have never had even 3pts on my licence in almost 30 years of driving.

Last month I worked away from home for a week, and on the way to my temporary workplace there was a road which I thought was a 30mph road but which was actually a 20. I got caught speeding (high 20s) every single day, and yesterday received four speeding fines in the post at once. £400 in fines but also 12pts which means a mandatory six month driving ban!

I simply cannot believe that this is happening. I know that it is my responsibility to know the speed limit, and that I shouldn't break it. But this punishment seems wildly excessive and unfair to me. I have 30 years of spotless driving, and have not suddenly become dangerous in a week. Surely someone can see the pattern here and note that it was multiple times making the same simple mistake in exactly the same place? I didn't even have time to reflect on one speeding ticket and change my driving behaviour because they all arrived at once, after I had left the area!

What can i do? I am not expecting sympathy as I know I am only receiving the punishment due to me. But I may well lose my job. The form says that I can plead 'exceptional hardship' in court but that losing employment doesn't count.

I see boy racers all the time and yet I am getting banned! It just seems such an unfairness.

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.

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 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

Of course it is! 🙄

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.

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)

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.

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!

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.

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?

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.

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

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/

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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