QUOTE (andy_foster @ Fri, 31 Dec 2021 - 23:47)
This was never going to be a viable duress of circumstances defence - there was no immediate danger of death or serious injury to mitigate. However, IMHO there could be a viable special reasons not to endorse argument - if it is accepted that it appeared to be necessary to exceed the speed limit in order for your partner to get to her mum's funeral.
The official definition of SRNTE is (off the top of my head) -
not a defence,
is directly connect with the commission of the offence (the offence was committed because),
is mitigation and
is such that he court ought to consider not ordering the licence to be endorsed.
The slightly more cynical version is -
circumstances (not of your own making) where the magistrates could envisage doing the same as you did if they were in your shoes.
For the price of a stamp it seems prudent to write to the SCP asking explaining what happened (ideally with evidence) and asking for leniency - although it should be noted that they are generally speaking "sausage factories", so I wouldn't pin my hopes on it.
N.B. If the court find SRNTE then you don't get any points, and I would suggest that they also ought to consider a discharge (no fine). To get to court, assuming that the SCP don't want to be lenient, you would have to reject/ignore the offer of a fixed penalty and risk a larger fine/costs/points if the court do not find special reasons, etc.
Thanks andy_foster.
First I may need some help with the abbreviation you have used, IMHO & SRNTE
As I understand it, initially I can attempt to request for leniency with SCP explaining the situation with evidence and there is a small chance that they may let me off without points, is this right and this is entirely separate to the SRNTE which is the prosecution option in which case I run the risk of losing everything and end up with a potentially high fine and more points.
And if I manage to get SCP request done before the current 28 days deadline and if returns not in my favor, I guess I can still choose to submit the S172 with driver details and keep my fingers crossed for a £100 FP and 3 points. I'm already resigning to not to go through prosecution route as I feel it is not worth the risk.
Kindly confirm if my above understanding is correct.
Thanks
QUOTE (roythebus @ Sat, 1 Jan 2022 - 04:41)
The easiest and cheapest way out is to take the £100 and 3 points if that's what they are offering. The points are hardly likely to affect your insurance, most people have at least 3 points these days according to statistics.
Appreciate your effort to help me with some thing like that
but based on my quick research it seems it will take at least 4 years to wipe out the points completely off the drivers record and the insurance generally goes up by 5% for 3 points on the licence and 25% if you have 4 points.
QUOTE (notmeatloaf @ Fri, 31 Dec 2021 - 23:10)
Despite not thinking clearly due to the circumstances I don't think there is any
defence of necessity (also referred to as duress of circumstance). You were rushing to the airport but you hadn't checked for flights online. As such, your speed wasn't required in order to get a flight in xxx minutes. And you were rushing to get to an airport where no flights take off overnight setting off in the early hours.
As such, your best offer will be the £100/3pts you will inevitably receive in the post. Do
not return this with any details about needing to get to the airport. Camera offices have a habit of interpreting this as a defence/mitigation you want heard in court, and not processing the FPN (though they'll probably keep your money for a few months).
Not entirely correct, we did book the tickets online prior to our journey to the airport and so we did know what we were aiming for which forms the reason to be there on good time. And the fact that we will be faced with additional time constraints for doing a walk in for the PCR test (which isn't entertained in the first place) which in normal circumstances was already going to take over 3 hours for the result to come out meant we needed at least 5 hours between providing the sample and the check in time for the booked flight.
Hope that makes things a little clearer now. Not that this is going to make any difference to my current situation but atleast helps people like yourself to give me the right suggestions.