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.

It doesn't matter - because you'll have had to drive over the bridge to park your car there to begin with (there is no other road in).

Friend of mine, who was nabbed for speeding, successfully appealed in court against a driving ban on the grounds that it would cause him exceptional hardship due to him not being able to do his sales job. He had no dependents - if you have them, you use them as an argument, but his job was his sole source of income, and he was important to his employer, so the hardship would have spread to them. Loss of employment can be used as part of a successful "Exceptional Hardship" argument if you can prove that the consequences of losing your job are "exceptional" and go far beyond standard inconvenience.

Presumably it is possible to enter the town without driving a car?

Yeah, they're tightened up on this a lot recently

And why would you not just increase the likelihood that people would drive within the speed limit by putting up signs?

I spent 20 years of my life sentencing on this, and I'm definitely rusty, but some of the stuff being spouted on this thread is a load of shit

Not if you send in the lowest speed first then wait until you get offered the course then send the others in

Not really - we live very rurally. If you've not driven here, someone else has driven you. There's no pavement access from anywhere else.

They'll still know you've had tickets prior to that one though. It's all computerised.

You'd have to ask the council - I'm not in charge of how the signs work, I'm just saying what our town is like.

There is a speed limit sign as you enter (one side is 20, the other is 30) and that's it. There's no other signs until the 30 "side" changes (to NSL on one road and down to 20mph on another).

First thing, as someone else proposed, go back and check the entire route with a video camera to see if the road is correctly signposted.

second thing, contact an expert barrister here:

http://www.counsel.direct

he specialises in traffic law and he is fairly priced and excellent, he is honest and not money grabbing, if he can help you legally it’s worth every penny.

good luck, you made a mistake and unfortunately repeated it over and over, with awful consequences. Seems insanely harsh punishment.

OP, I’ve only read your posts so sorry if this is saying what you have already been told.

If you can afford a solicitor, do so and go to Court. If you are a ‘totter’, some one who is in danger of getting 12 points and having their License taken away, you should be able to go to Court to argue your case.

You or your solicitor needs to explain the circumstances, strange location, not realising the limit, not exceeding the 30mph you thought it was, time proximity of journeys so not getting the first ticket and continuing to break the limit regardless.Apologise, be contrite, explain previous clean record and confirm you have learned to take more notice in strange environments in future. Offer to take a course if offered and ask for the number and proximity of time to be taken into account. Ask if the Magistrates can see their way to not give the full 12 points, or if they do, to not disqualify.

If you do get 12 points and face disqualification you may be able to plead Exceptional Hardship. This really should be exceptional. Losing a job is not usually a valid reason because most people will be able to function without their license for a while. A solicitor would be able to advise you.

Try not to minimise what you have done by criticising the signs (unless you can prove there weren’t any or they were covered by foliage etc., and/or you don’t think it’s fair or the limit is wrong, or that boy racers get away with it all the time; this is about you and the law.

The actual purpose of keeping somebody on nine points is not to be kind as such, but it means they're under the cosh to drive well for three years! 🙄 (until the first lot of points fall off)
totting only gets you a mandatory min six months ban

wisdom from @grumpygrape But you don't necessarily use solicitor to do it. Read up about it online and you could easily do it yourself.

I don't think it would make any difference. You could have 9 points on your licence and still be eligible for a speed awareness course.

repeater signs are not mandatory

I don't think that's true. The Police UK website states:

If you already have nine points on your licence

You need to complete the appropriate sections of the notice and return it to the address shown on the form within 28 days.
You may be eligible for a driver retraining scheme course, but if you aren’t then the matter will be referred to court.

https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/speeding/if-youve-received-a-speed-camera-activation-letter-or-notice/

Yes, I'm aware of that. It was PP asking why they didn't have more signs up - I just said you'd have to ask the council (who would presumably say it's not mandatory so they didn't bother).

Because the bridge is a motorway? There’s always a sign when you leave the motorway

Yeah it's bollocks..regardless of the huge decline in accidents and fatalities, still the same message.

Thaty can withdraw the offer

Nope, not a motorway in this case.

The road up to the bridge is 30mph, it then splits in two - if you go left, it drops to 20mph, if you go right, it stays at 30mph (until it splits again and changes, in which case there are signs).

But if you go left, it stays at 20mph for every road on that side of the bridge. The town is a "dead end" road wise in that direction so you can't get out - you have to come back over the bridge again.

Seems unfair when on the school run every day I see people blatantly reading their phones (actually holding them up to their faces), overtaking people who have pulled in to let others down a very narrow uphill road, and just driving down the wrong side of the road because they don't want to wait a few minutes to get to their turn off in traffic (and inevitably panicking when a car turns left out of that junction straight for them).

Great. If you are not prepared to keep your speed down, it's no great loss to Wales.

20's, 40's and 50's have lots of repeater signs to remind you of the speed.

I am pretty sure all those letters are computer generated so there is no human interaction which might have indicated it was an accident. You have the right to appeal and you may possibly be able to do a speed awareness course which will deduct 3 points.

I would call them and explain the situation, unfamiliar area, didnt realise it was a 20, but also see hiw many 20 signs they were, in addition 20 zones often have 20 in a big circle painted on the floor and it will be a heavily built up area.