Motor Offence Summons

[Daca]

On 17 October 2009 my husband was involved in a car collision at traffic lights, where he was distracted by the green filter light coming on for cars to go left and he proceeded to go straight (his light was red) causing the car who had right of way at the lights to smash into him causing our car to be written off. My husband admitted it was his fault, police were called and he was given a verbal NIP, 6 months have now passed (no correspondence before) and a court summons has been issued for driving offences namely "driving without due care" and "driving not in accordance with his driving licence". My husband has a Croatian full driving licence for over 30 years, an International Licence and UK provisional. I am wondering what is the likelyhood of the outcome of the courts decision and more importantly is the summons valid as the incident happened over 6 months ago. Your advices are much appreciated.

[gina32]

i think that you can only hold an international licence in conjunction with a FULL uk licence and not with a provisional one so maybe that what they mean by not in accordance with his licence

[New Judge]

For the moment dates are more important here than the actual offences..

“Summary” offences (of which this is one) must have an “information” laid before the court within six months of the date of the alleged offence. If it is done outside this time the prosecution is invalid.

Your husband needs to check the date of his summons and the date the information was laid before the court. A solicitor should be able to help him do this for a small fee.

[Daca]

Well I just checked the summons letter and their date of information to the courts is 8 April 2010, letter written 5 May 2010 and received today 13 May 2010, so it seems within their 6 months...............any ideas of what the penalties might be New Judge. Thanks.

[dzug2]

I assume the international licence was a Croatian one. On its own it has zero validity, only in conjunction with the Croatian one, and then only as a translation if needed. I think it's irrelevant to the issue anyway.

It depends how long he has been in the UK whether his Croatian licence is valid or not - I don't know the exact period but after whatever that is you HAVE to get a UK one. The Croatian one is no longer acceptable

His UK provisional licence would only be OK if he was with a qualified UK driver.

So it sounds like a driving without a valid licence offence.

[New Judge]

It seems the careless driving is at the lower end of seriousness scale for that offence. Magistrates’ sentencing guidelines suggest a fine of half a week’s net income and 3 or 4 penalty points (I would imagine that three would be awarded in this case). The fine will be reduced by a third if your husband pleads guilty at the first opportunity.

The licence offence should also attract a fine of half a week’s net income (again reduced by a third for a guilty plea). For this offence his licence will be endorsed but no points added (when two or more motoring offences are committed at the same time only the most serious attracts points).

In addition there will be a “victim surcharge” of £15 and prosecution costs of around £80.

[Daca]

Thanks everyone for your advice.

[Brewster0101]

You have to change your EU licence into a UK licence if you have lived in the UK for more than 3 years. There is an upto £1000 fine if you don't, also its the law.

Now if he had a provisional uk licence and you have a full licence and are over 21 and 3 years driving experience and he is insured as a provisional licence holder, then you can claim you were teaching him and you would be a fault. You would also be at fault because of no L plates. There are alot of 'ANDS' in there.