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 may be eligible for a driver retraining scheme course, but if you aren’t then the matter will be referred to court."

As I said, it is still possible to be eligible for a course if you have 9 points on your licence.

It would be odd if sending the forms in a particular order affected this as they would all be logged as outstanding.

EDIT: My bad, they are the same thing - who knew!

Definitely go back and check the signage, if you are a competent older driver you couldnt have missed the speed change every day.

All the villages by me only have the 20 sign on entry, no repeaters....the lorry's still fly through at 55mph and council wont put a speed camera in.

Either get someone to drive the route with you to look for the signs you missed or go on google maps street view to have a look. It seems really odd that you missed all the 20mph signs 4 days in succession.
I've missed a sign on an unfamiliar road once (didn't get fined though) but the next day when I drove it again I noticed the sign and drove at the correct speed.

Is anyone else insured to drive your car ? You can split the points with them if there is no photographic proof of them driving. Ie the speeding photos are taken from the back of the car

I think you'll find that's criminal. (Or something like that).

Take advice and consider whether going to court and asking for mitigation to avoid a ban is an option.

NB At first read I took 12pts to refer to pints of beer.....

Certainly criminal.

Then MP Chris Huhne/his ex wife did gaol time for doing exactly that.

Don't even consider.

I got a letter once for doing 36 in a 30 (was slowing down from 40 but clearly not quickly enough). No course offered.

I queried it and all was resolved.

I'd definitely get in touch and ask why it hadn't been offered (I'm aware it's at their discretion). I'm also interested to know what the signage was like.

Yeah, let's encourage OP to lie the police - what an excellent piece of advice!

I am usually very much "you speed, you got caught, you get punished", but this seems very unfair to me. I hope you can appeal it. Sure you should have seen the sign, but people receive far less punishment for crimes in which people are hurt or property is damaged.

When I met my DH he had 24 points and still held his license. Go plead your case at court, explain it will cause you to lose your job and they may let you keep the license.

And learn from your mistake.

For those who are going to ask, DH learnt his lesson, he keeps a clean license these days.

Definitely worth pleading mitigating circumstances, as all on the same stretch and you would not have been speeding at 30. It can’t hurt. Dh got off a ban by being contrite (years before I met him) and a letter from his employer saying he needed to drive. He went to court, polite, dressed smartly but no solicitor, just being apologetic and he didn’t see the sign (doing 70 in a 50 zone)

@gototogo what do you mean, plead mitigating circumstances? What is mitigating?

Get yourself a scrambler motorbike, ride it at 40 doing wheelies without a helmet, ignoring red lights and pavements, and you'll get six months driving without seeing a sniff of law enforcement.

And I can tell you that what you wear to court makes no difference

Can you appeal it? My aunty had similar and was allowed to do a speed awareness course instead of 3 of the points

Are you eligible for NSAC/drivers awareness? That will be one set of 3 points avoided.
If this was my constabulary it would not be considered for considering as one offence.
You will need to put a really good mitigation together to put towards the magistrates for consideration.

If she’s in wales that doesn’t apply. The default is 20mph

That's why I said OP or their solicitor could argue. Court can be daunting to get one's point across clearly and in full so often easier if it's a solicitor to do the talking.

If it was a new area did you not use a sat nav or equivalent? They always have the speed and camera locations.

To do the same road and repeatedly not see what speed it is is very odd. I would check the signs . And if plenty (like everywhere else) then accept you made a mistake.
Loads of people speed in 20mph rds . They think its ridiculous so dont stick to it. But not enough cameras to catch them.
You have been very unlucky.

Sorry to hear this op. No advice but just wanted to say It’s so easy to make this kind of mistake when signage isn’t clear and limits keep changing. Ignore all the sanctimonious posters on here.

Oh, yeah because that’s the way to go…..like Chris Huhne and Fiona Onasanya found out. 🙄

Unless you’re there for possession of cannabis and wear a t-shirt with a large cannabis leaf logo on it. I know a Magistrates’ Legal Adviser suggest to the defendant he might want to go to the loos and turn the t-shirt inside out…

Sorry, off topic 😉

A friend of ours a retired police inspector works for solicitors defending cases like this. He drives the route marking all the speed signs. If they're incorrect, obscured by foliage etc. he almost always wins.