Q&A Our specialist motoring solicitor Andrew Prendergast guides readers through their legal trials and troubles
Q
I met my girlfriend last summer through some mutual biking friends. We had all been for a ride out to the Peak District for lunch and the rest as they say is history. We just hit it off. Since then we’ve barely been apart and she’s covered thousands of miles with me on my trusty Triumph Daytona T595 and her riding a Honda CB650r.
She’s a genuinely lovely woman and kindly insured me on her bike a couple of months ago. The problem I have is I got clocked speeding doing 37mph in a 30mph limit. She now has a Notice of Intended Prosecution and has been asked to identify the rider.
However, I never told her I only had a provisional licence and she got me insured on the basis I had a full licence. I didn’t think it would matter as I only used her bike on the odd occasion when mine was out of action or hers was nearer the front of the garage. She has gone bonkers now she has found out. What can I do to get out of this? Her (adult) kids don’t like me as it is since I moved in with her.
A
It appears the gene pool is missing a lifeguard. I feel sorry for your girlfriend, to be blunt. By trusting you, she now has unnecessary grief to deal with. If she ignores the request for driver information, she will likely be summonsed for failing to give information. This carries a punishment of six penalty points and a fine of up to £1,000. If she does identify you as the rider, you may get offered a fixed penalty offer. If you accept a fixed penalty offer, then that may be the end of the matter, if you are very lucky. However, I cannot guarantee the Police will not ‘join up the dots’ and discover you only had a provisional licence.
In this scenario you could get summonsed for other offences such as riding otherwise in accordance with a licence and/or riding without insurance. Further, in this scenario your girlfriend could be summonsed for letting you ride without insurance.
My advice is don’t flag up the issue with the Police and make a decision when you know what is going to happen. Oh, and get a full licence like you are meant to.
QSome old moron pulled out of a side road to my left and straight into me, smashing my left leg and ankle to bits. I am about to have my third surgery to fit an ilizarov external fixator, i.e. a big medieval-looking frame. I am kacking it. Thereafter, as a best guess, my surgeon reckons I’ve got at least a year of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Hoorah! I can’t wait (Yes, you can hear the sarcasm I’m sure…).
What I can’t understand is the Police have been about as much use as a handbrake on a canoe. They have told me they are not prosecuting the car driver because he is 87. My view is they should book him on a one-way trip to Switzerland. However, I accept I am
A
From a purist’s perspective, the Police’s jobis not to decide whether the ‘old moron’ should be prosecuted, but to gather the evidence. Thereafter, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) makes the decision whether to prosecute. When making a decision whether to prosecute the CPS should look at The Code for Crown Prosecutors. There are two main considerations:
Is there enough evidence against the defendant?
Is it in the public interest for the CPS to bring the case to court?
If you want the driver considered for prosecution, I would read the guide and then write to the Police with your reasons and ask for the matter to be reviewed with a view to prosecution and go from there. I genuinely cannot say whether they will prosecute or not, but if you do not doing nothing it won’t help get what you want.