Multiple Allegations of Speeding

On this occasion our client presented us with a tricky set of circumstances.  Some early summer jaunts up the A90 to Aberdeen on business had led him to fall foul of the newly-established average speed camera on that stretch of road.  Three journeys in the space of a fortnight resulted in five separate charges of speeding.  It is worth noting that each of these was only marginally in excess of the prescribed limit and that our client had a clean driving licence.

Notwithstanding the fact that four of the offences were accounted for by two journeys and thus were committed on the same day, the cumulative effect of these incidences of speeding would be a disqualification for six months under the totting-up provisions.  Exceptional Hardship was not an option either as such an argument can only be advanced once in relation to the offence which takes a driver to 12 live penalty points.  Adding to the complexity, as if that were possible, was the fact that the five offences were to be prosecuted in two different jurisdictions, namely Forfar and Aberdeen.

We set to work in engaging with the Crown to seek a global resolution to proceedings, the conclusion of which was that prosecutors at Forfar would accept pleas of guilty to three of the four charges there and instruct their counterparts at Aberdeen to take no further proceedings for the one offence in that jurisdiction.  The Court, having heard from us on our client’s behalf, restricted endorsement to a cumulative 9 penalty points, ensuring that matters were brought to a conclusion without the threat of a driving ban.