‘Will my son lose his licence?’
QMY SON, WHO has not long gained his A2 licence, was pulled over for speeding by the police, at 38ph in a 30mph zone. The officer also wrote him up for a bald front tyre and yes, it was bald. The police officer also gave him a vehicle rectification notice for three or four little faults, such a defective numberplate, light and non-bsapproved non-reflective numberplate and no reflector.
My son, who needs his bike for work (he works as a night-shift warehouse operative and has no method of getting to work other than his bike) is terrified that he might lose his licence, as he has held it for less than nine months. He was offered a driver improvement course for the speeding but is struggling to afford it, as he has had to replace his tyre and had to pay about £75 for the defects to be fixed, and a stamp from the tester.
He is a hard-working lad and has struggled to get this job as he is disabled — he is profoundly deaf. I have got no complaints about the police officer who actually called me to ensure that my son understood what he had been told. He told me he had my son on Vascar at ‘well over 40mph’ but ‘stuck him on’ — to use his phrase — at 38mph so he could be offered the course. He also commented my son was a decent lad but he wanted him to understand that a bald front tyre is a dangerous thing to be using on cold, damp mornings. I have done some internet research and I think my son has ‘special reasons’ but is now thoroughly confused by all sorts of contradictory information — he just wants a straight answer to his question; “Am I going to lose my licence?”
ANOT IF HE takes the driver improvement course. 38 mph in a 30 zone at 0615 hours when your son was returning home from work would normally attract a driver improvement course. However, north of 40mph does not. I think your boy was unlucky to get a police officer looking for a nick that early in the morning but lucky to get one who appears to have a level of humanity! However, 38 (or perhaps greater speed) in a 30 in front of a fully “Battenberged” car in reflective blue and dayglow is so inattentive, I don’t think the copper had much choice but to pull him over.
If your lad does not take the course, he will inevitably get three points for the speed and three points for the bald tyre. The two offences add up to six points which, under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act, gets your son’s licence revoked, and he will have to redo his licence. The time runs from the date of his first full licence. So if he passed his full car test more than 24 months before the offence, he will not be banned but in any event he is definitely better off taking the driver improvement course. He will get three points for the tyre whatever happens. The ‘Fix it now’ direction from the police relates only to non-endorsable offences so he will not tot up any more points for those.
In short, your son needs to go on that course, whether he is skint or not. The fixed-penalty fine is usually more than the course. He will be a lot more skint with no job and, under the New Drivers Act, if you have six points on your licence which is less than two years old, you lose your licence.
The Court cannot intervene, regardless of his circumstances. You are mixing up special reasons not to disqualify with the administrative loss of licence under the New Drivers Act.