ZZTopWereHere
Well Known Member
Hi all,
I'm starting a new thread because it looks like my case is unique in this forum. All the details are in my other posts here, which are all around my mistake at the beginning of this month, but here I'm reporting about a weird surprise when I got back home yesterday evening.
I have received an envelope from the relevant Magistrates Court with all the printed details about disqualification and fine. When I got out of the court on Monday I was given already all the details agreed by the court on some forms where my payment terms were handwritten on a printed form. Moreover, all my case details with the police reading of 47 were printed on the "Initial Details Pros Case".
I am concerned by the following discrepancies between what I've received yesterday and what I was handed and/or told on Monday:
The only relevant people I can contact today, on a Saturday, are the local police and the Community Legal Advice for the payment question. However, I strongly suspect that I won't sort out much until Monday. As you can read in my other posts, I didn't involve a solicitor beyond the duty one available on that day but I don't know her details in case it might be worth talking to her.
Has anyone heard of an odd case like mine? Please note that all other details, including the case number and fine amounts, are correct, so it's not a case of a clerk mixing up two unrelated hearings.
All feedback is more than welcome.
Thanks and best regards,
Z
I'm starting a new thread because it looks like my case is unique in this forum. All the details are in my other posts here, which are all around my mistake at the beginning of this month, but here I'm reporting about a weird surprise when I got back home yesterday evening.
I have received an envelope from the relevant Magistrates Court with all the printed details about disqualification and fine. When I got out of the court on Monday I was given already all the details agreed by the court on some forms where my payment terms were handwritten on a printed form. Moreover, all my case details with the police reading of 47 were printed on the "Initial Details Pros Case".
I am concerned by the following discrepancies between what I've received yesterday and what I was handed and/or told on Monday:
- A page titled "Notice about reduction in disqualification" begins with the line "Your alcohol level was 43 in breath". Actually, as per my arrest documents and my initial court documents, the reading was 47.
- A page titled "Notice of fine and collection order" states that I must pay the full amount at the beginning on May. However, what was agreed in court, both verbally by the magistrates and both reported in handwriting on the documents I was given there and then, was that I would have paid half in a week (i.e. in 2 days from now) and the other half of the fine a month after my first payment.
- Finally, even though the court was happy to leave me with my EU driving licence telling me that I was only disqualified in the UK (and Ireland), in a page titled "Notice of disqualification from driving" there is the following statement: "You must apply to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Swansea, to renew your licence. You can do this up to 2 months before the disqualification ends so that you can drive as soon as it ends. If you drive without obtaining a new licence, you will be committing a criminal offence".
- Discrepancy 1 worries me because I have already declared my actual reading both in a US visa application, both to my insurance. I am in the process of getting my ACRO certificate for the visa application and now I'm not sure what I will find there.
- Discrepancy 2 is clearly annoying even though I could afford to pay the fine in one go, but I'm only left with Monday to contact anyone and clarify this.
- Discrepancy 3 will not be a concern for a long while but still I've read elsewhere of EU citizens stopped by the police after the end of the driving ban and who were told that they should have "renewed" their licence while it's obvious that the DVLA can't renew a non-UK licence.
The only relevant people I can contact today, on a Saturday, are the local police and the Community Legal Advice for the payment question. However, I strongly suspect that I won't sort out much until Monday. As you can read in my other posts, I didn't involve a solicitor beyond the duty one available on that day but I don't know her details in case it might be worth talking to her.
Has anyone heard of an odd case like mine? Please note that all other details, including the case number and fine amounts, are correct, so it's not a case of a clerk mixing up two unrelated hearings.
All feedback is more than welcome.
Thanks and best regards,
Z