johnh
New Member
[FONT="]Hello
I was charged with lots of trumped up charges so that the prosecutor could offer to drop all of them except failure to provide. I had a lousy barrister who turned up to court without even knowing what the charges were and who could not or would not argue my case on the extenuating circumstances, so I lost my licence for a year.
I do not and did not drink and drive. I was pulled over for having too many people in the back of the van and the police decided to aggressively force me to undertake a breath test. They threw me to the ground and inflicted intense pain upon me whilst one of their colleagues jarred the van door shut so that my friends could not exit to help or observe. At the police station, I was disorientated. I had not been drinking and I did not understand what was happening. One minute I had been driving to breakfast with some friends, suddenly I was attacked and thrown into a cell. When the duty officer asked me to take a test, I did not answer. It is refusing this test that I was convicted of.
In the court, due to the evidence and witness statements, even the prosecutor accepted that I had not been drinking, so decided to push the failure to provide charge which is an automatic disqualification.
Neither the court nor the barrister explained to me what this meant, in that I would be classed as high risk and told to take the medical. In fact, the barrister told me that this was a reduced charge and implied that it was not too serious. Even the DVLA did not tell me which they are supposed to do in 2 letters at the beginning and towards the end of the disqualification period. It was only when I called up about the steer clear course that they told me about the medical, and I checked on the DVLA website to see what it was.
I consider this course to be the final straw in the whole saga of injustice in this case. Just when I thought that I could start driving again and stop relying on other people, this is thrown in my face. I can handle the police aggression, but I will not bow down to police who abuse their position to get their kicks. It is enough that I have to apply to (beg) the DVLA for my licence to be re-issued, but I will not take an intrusive medical that I consider to be severely detrimental to my rights as a human being. I am being targeted because I stood up to police brutality, and being punished for doing nothing more than give some friends a lift to a cafe for breakfast.
The case is more complex than this, there were also instances of the police preventing me from seeing my chosen solicitor and using the bank holiday as an excuse to keep me locked up for 2 days. My partner arranged for the solicitor but when he contacted them, he was told by the police that I had refused to see him. One of the policemen ordered me a duty solicitor which I had told him not to do and who I did refuse to see; because this tied the case to his firm, it was 24 hours before I spoke to any solicitor, after my release when I spoke to my chosen solicitor and I did not see anybody inside the police station other than police who can verify my condition. The policeman who did this told my partner that he had done this because he wanted to help me. It only helped them keep me locked up for longer and prevented me from being able to see a doctor.
The appeal, with another solicitor, was a joke because the court informed me about the date on the Tuesday for a Friday hearing of the same week, and my solicitor was not able to attend due to a prior case, so I was advised to go myself to ask for an adjournment on these grounds but it was refused. I am not writing here for the original case, all this is stated just as background, but because I will not be bullied into taking this medical but I need to be able to drive.
I find it strange that the DVLA take back licences when actually the court order was simply that I could not drive on the roads of England, Scotland or Wales. There was nothing to prevent me from driving outside of Britain, even Northern Ireland is not prohibited to me.
My period of disqualification is over shortly. I would like to begin driving asap but have now had this latest development thrown at me. Through an internet search I found the link on this website regarding driving whilst waiting for an application (section 88) which might serve me for the immediate work which I need to be able to drive for, but all the references and technical jargon are hard to understand so I am not sure how this would relate to my case. However, I would like my licence back anyway. Any advice on how I might proceed would be most gratefully received.
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I was charged with lots of trumped up charges so that the prosecutor could offer to drop all of them except failure to provide. I had a lousy barrister who turned up to court without even knowing what the charges were and who could not or would not argue my case on the extenuating circumstances, so I lost my licence for a year.
I do not and did not drink and drive. I was pulled over for having too many people in the back of the van and the police decided to aggressively force me to undertake a breath test. They threw me to the ground and inflicted intense pain upon me whilst one of their colleagues jarred the van door shut so that my friends could not exit to help or observe. At the police station, I was disorientated. I had not been drinking and I did not understand what was happening. One minute I had been driving to breakfast with some friends, suddenly I was attacked and thrown into a cell. When the duty officer asked me to take a test, I did not answer. It is refusing this test that I was convicted of.
In the court, due to the evidence and witness statements, even the prosecutor accepted that I had not been drinking, so decided to push the failure to provide charge which is an automatic disqualification.
Neither the court nor the barrister explained to me what this meant, in that I would be classed as high risk and told to take the medical. In fact, the barrister told me that this was a reduced charge and implied that it was not too serious. Even the DVLA did not tell me which they are supposed to do in 2 letters at the beginning and towards the end of the disqualification period. It was only when I called up about the steer clear course that they told me about the medical, and I checked on the DVLA website to see what it was.
I consider this course to be the final straw in the whole saga of injustice in this case. Just when I thought that I could start driving again and stop relying on other people, this is thrown in my face. I can handle the police aggression, but I will not bow down to police who abuse their position to get their kicks. It is enough that I have to apply to (beg) the DVLA for my licence to be re-issued, but I will not take an intrusive medical that I consider to be severely detrimental to my rights as a human being. I am being targeted because I stood up to police brutality, and being punished for doing nothing more than give some friends a lift to a cafe for breakfast.
The case is more complex than this, there were also instances of the police preventing me from seeing my chosen solicitor and using the bank holiday as an excuse to keep me locked up for 2 days. My partner arranged for the solicitor but when he contacted them, he was told by the police that I had refused to see him. One of the policemen ordered me a duty solicitor which I had told him not to do and who I did refuse to see; because this tied the case to his firm, it was 24 hours before I spoke to any solicitor, after my release when I spoke to my chosen solicitor and I did not see anybody inside the police station other than police who can verify my condition. The policeman who did this told my partner that he had done this because he wanted to help me. It only helped them keep me locked up for longer and prevented me from being able to see a doctor.
The appeal, with another solicitor, was a joke because the court informed me about the date on the Tuesday for a Friday hearing of the same week, and my solicitor was not able to attend due to a prior case, so I was advised to go myself to ask for an adjournment on these grounds but it was refused. I am not writing here for the original case, all this is stated just as background, but because I will not be bullied into taking this medical but I need to be able to drive.
I find it strange that the DVLA take back licences when actually the court order was simply that I could not drive on the roads of England, Scotland or Wales. There was nothing to prevent me from driving outside of Britain, even Northern Ireland is not prohibited to me.
My period of disqualification is over shortly. I would like to begin driving asap but have now had this latest development thrown at me. Through an internet search I found the link on this website regarding driving whilst waiting for an application (section 88) which might serve me for the immediate work which I need to be able to drive for, but all the references and technical jargon are hard to understand so I am not sure how this would relate to my case. However, I would like my licence back anyway. Any advice on how I might proceed would be most gratefully received.
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