Dumfries Section 2 Road Traffic Act 1988

In a rather bizarre case, our client had been travelling from Walsall with his family following a funeral and a wedding. He had embarked upon his journey around half past midnight and was making his way up to Glasgow. Around five o'clock in the morning for reasons he could not properly explain, he lost concentration whilst chatting to his son who was sitting in the back of the car. He moved his vehicle from lane 2 into lane 1 and into the back of a Heavy Goods Vehicle.

Most fortunately, there was no serious injury caused to himself, his passengers or the other driver. His vehicle was written off but matters were settled between insurers early on in proceedings.

He received a Citation to attend at Dumfries Sheriff Court to answer a complaint of driving dangerously contrary to section 2 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. He replied pleading guilty to the charge without understanding the consequences of doing so, namely that a disqualification of at least 12 months would follow with an order to resit his driving test. The Court sent him a letter ordering him to attend to receive his ban. 

We were instructed by our client to review his position and see if there was any hope of saving his licence. We contacted the Crown and Court and were able to have his guilty plea withdrawn and a not guilty plea substituted. The case proceeded along its normal course. The incident - captured on dash-cam - was utterly bizarre but not, in our opinion, at the level required for dangerous driving. The case called for Trial in March and we offered a plea to careless driving however this was not acceptable. The Court put the case off that day owing to a lack of court time.

The case was continued to the 8th of June for Trial. We contacted the Crown again and on reflection they agreed that the driving was careless as opposed to dangerous. A plea in mitigation was tendered to the Court resulting in an 8 point endorsement and a fine of £1,350 (which was a little on the high side). 

This case was dealt with by our Mr Simpson at Dumfries Sheriff Court on 8th June 2018. 

 Kept Licence!