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.

You don't know that you haven't driven at excessive speed before. You didn't know you had this time until you got the fines through the post

My only one was because I didn't realise it was Tuesday! Living in Germany everyone knew that the Polizei had a camera in the same place in a village every Tuesday. One day I got stopped further on where they pulled people over who'd triggered the camera, I was furious with myself. I explained to the policeman that yesterday, Monday, had been a public holiday for us living with the military, it had been a Bank Holiday, and he told me that they'd caught so many. probably for that reason!

Has anyone suggested checking the road on Google? That sometimes shows you whether the signage is adequate- obviously it may not be current, but it’s a start.

Can you street view the road and the route you took? You’ll be able to see if there were any signs you missed.

Why do they need cancelling?

I thought this was going to be about 12 pints in a week 🍻 and I was going to say it’s fine. I sympathise OP

What an utterly bizarre argument.

Sh8t like this is why I’ve given up driving after 30 years and get the bus everywhere!

Even once you can drive again it will be difficult and very expensive to get insured. I’m actually really fed up with this country and the wrong people being reprimanded heavily for relatively minor things.

If you go to court you forfit the option to do a speed awareness course. Arguing hardship is very difficult, needing a car for work for instance won't work even if it means you losing your job, otherwise everyone would say that.

If you think that about someone of 65, either you are disgracefully ageist or can't reasonably calculate on the basis that people can pass a driving test aged 17.

Because apparently you shouldn't be punished for speeding multiple times unless you've already received a warning for the first one

I got caught speeding in a 20 that I mistook for a 30 also. The signs were obscured by overgrown bushes. So I wrongly assumed I was in a 30 as it was residential with streetlights and no speed bumps. It wasn’t worth arguing for me as it was a first and only offence so I was offered the speed awareness course. But in your situation, it would be worth going to look to see if any 20mph signs were visible. If there is even one visible then the mistake is on you and I don’t think they’d accept any excuse.

It was a first offence, and the OP was only doing around 10mph above the speed limit (and was only doing 30mph!) She absolutely SHOULD have been offered a speed awareness course! (After the first speeding offence!)

But actually an apology to the court and an assurance that she will drive more carefully in future would go a long way. Op should elect to have all of them heard in the Mags court and plead guilty but ask that they treat it either as one offence or to not ban her. A good motoring lawyer would avoid a mandatory ban. If op can afford it she should engage a specialist motoring lawyer

Had a similar thing, though not a ban.

Be very careful, if you go to court. The £100 fine is dependent on you not contesting the conviction. If you take it to court and lose, you will be fined a lot more than that.

This is from the government website...

You’ll have to go to court if you plead not guilty.

You can be fined more and get more penalty points if the court decides you’re guilty of speeding.

The amount you’re fined depends on what the speed limit was and how much over it you were driving. It’s usually a percentage of your weekly income, up to a maximum of £1,000 (£2,500 if you were driving on a motorway). You could also be disqualified from driving or have your licence suspended.

So you'd be looking at whatever that is, times four.

A friend of mine successfully claimed exceptional hardship because she was a volunteer driver for a foodbank and they wrote a letter to the court saying they would struggle to replace her.

You should also be aware that these cases take ages to come to court- can be over a year- and you are free to drive in the meantime.

Exactly. Glad you get it now.

Why should she?

Speed awareness courses are not mandatory and someone going 50% over the speed limit is not likely to be offered one.

Like I say, utterly bizarre.

@AnndalouzierODFOD

Many 65 year olds can drive. You can’t, apparently. If you managed to drive (mostly) competently between 1977-2021, and you’ve had issues since then, your driving has deteriorated.

I agree. A good friend of mine racked up 4 speeding fines in 2 days. Ignored the letters and ended up in quite some trouble. They ha been having some difficulties and wrote a letter expanding on these. Court date was arranged and the magistrates were very reasonable, giving 9 points and a large fine.
My friend was lucky not to get a ban and very grateful.
Much more a careful driver now, and the insurance is a tad on the outrageous side!!

If there were signs then it isn’t any mitigation to say “you didn’t see them” as that just makes you look like a completely unsafe driver.

Your only chance of escaping the ban will be if there was no/grossly insufficient signage so I would focus on that.

“Only 10mph over” in 20 limit is 50% over the speed limit. It’s huge. You aren’t usually offered speed awareness at 50% over no matter how many offences you’ve had.

Like someone else has asked was it in Wales by any chance?
We had to travel from England to North Wales for a family occasion and we made sure we had sat nav and waze on because someone had warned us that the speed limits were a little confusing.
We probably got it wrong a few times travelling at 20 when it should have been 30 because the signage wasn’t clear or there at all. We didn’t seem to be holding people up though so I think everyone was probably local and knew the what the actual limits were or just as confused as we were 😂