Help with court procedure

Convicted Driver Insurance

miserable

Member
I have never been in court in my life. I have a letter of apology and some references. Will I need to speak in court or will I just have to answer yes/no questions? if I have to speak what are they likely to ask me? I am incredibly scared.
 
I have never been in court in my life. I have a letter of apology and some references. Will I need to speak in court or will I just have to answer yes/no questions? if I have to speak what are they likely to ask me? I am incredibly scared.

Our guide to magistrates court for drink driving offences may prove useful to you. You will need to state your name, address and your plea of guilty or not guilty.

You may be asked if you are willing to take the drink driving rehabilitation course which is a yes or no question. They may ask if there is anything you would like to say, again, you can answer no if you wish. If the magistrates need to know any other information they will ask you. You will not be required to speak much at all.
 
I have never been in court in my life. I have a letter of apology and some references. Will I need to speak in court or will I just have to answer yes/no questions? if I have to speak what are they likely to ask me? I am incredibly scared.
In my case the duty solicitor was available to represent me and do most of the talking. I would advise you to ask for the duty solicitor as soon as you get to the court, even though I understand that in some cases they might be too busy to be in court with you when you'll be heard.
Also, in my case, I was warned that if I chose to go with a duty solicitor I would have had to wait longer for my hearing, which indeed was the case as I was heard at about 16:00 even if I had my appointment at 10:00. So, if you have to leave early for any reason, you might want to enter the court on your own.
My written plea of mitigation and my wife's character reference were apparently read attentively by the court but I wasn't asked anything beyond the standard guilty/non guilty question at the beginning and then which rehab course provider I would choose.
The latter was the only question that caught me unprepared. I had been handed a couple of leaflets before the hearing but from all messages in this forum I didn't realise that I could have been given the privilege of picking a specific provider so soon. My expectation was that at most I could have asked for the rehab course, which I basically did in my written plea, but not that they would have asked me which one I'd like. I knew I could anyway choose another one later on, but it was a great positive surprise to be able to choose a course school during the hearing.
However, I hadn't really chosen yet when I was asked, and the court went really the extra mile and looked on the Internet which school was closer to my home during the hearing (!). I've probably been very lucky to find such a nice court, but the bottom line is that it would be good for you to have a look at course providers prior to the hearing so that you can suggest a name if asked.

Good luck,
Z
 
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the court asks you to nominate a course provider when you are in court so that they can notify the provider of your intention to do a course. The provider should then write to you within 2 weeks, giving you details of courses in your area. Sometimes the referral from the court goes astray,which is why you are told to contact the provider if you have heard nothing from them within 14 days.
You are correct to say that you do not have to do a course with the provider who you nominate on the day, you are free to contact any of the providers in the UK to actually attend a course. Some people just chose the first one on the list, - beginning with AA.... then come to us later when they find that some providers, whilst shown on a court list, hardly ever run courses in their area. For a 12 month ban, there is only a 7 month window, so the timing of courses can be important. Courses are run differently by each provider but they all have to stick to 5 key topic areas, and provide a minimum of 16 hours education, spread over 3 days.
 
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you are told to contact the provider if you have heard nothing from them within 14 days
BTW, I am still waiting to be contacted considering that the 14th day was last Monday and I wanted to allow for enough time to account for delivery times/hiccups.
I am now relaxing on holiday in Tenerife to celebrate our wedding anniversary with my wife, but if I don't see any letter upon my return this week I'll call the course provider.
Is there any hard deadline to contact them beyond what's reasonable in order to complete the course by mid-November as I'm expected to?
Thanks,
Z
 
You should certainly contact them if you have not heard by the time you get back from holiday.
We put our course venues and dates on our website for 2 months ahead, to give people time to plan.
Other providers show courses for several months ahead, but whilst there may be a venue near you listed for your provider, the course could be cancelled if there are insufficient people to justify running a course.
I suggest trying to do a course in the 4 - 7 month time frame, so what you learn is fresher in your mind when you get your licence back than if you do the course straight after your ban.
The DVSA will not allow a course to be run with under 4 people on it, which is reasonable because it stifles debate among participants. The maximum is 15, unless there are 2 trainers when it can then be 20.
Having read your posts, I am sure you will be asking plenty of questions!
 
Hi, Courts can be a bit of a worry,but this is straight forward.As other people have said to you.I was offered the course but they wrote to me saying where and when they are being held.You do have to pay for this as it does not come free.If your ban is less than a year(after course)you will find the time goes quickly,although you miss the car.Best not get in the habit of dd again Good Luck. OSCAR.
 
As an update to this thread, I have updated my progress with the course at http://www.forum.drinkdriving.org/drink-driving-rehabilitation-course-discussion/80725.htm

I should complete the course about 4 months after the beginning of my disqualification and there is another course planned at the same location later on, still on time for my deadline which is 7 months after my conviction, so I have another option if the course I booked will be cancelled.

After only one month of disqualification I do indeed miss already the car, but my wife will have her theory test on Monday and she's loving her driving lessons so hopefully we'll use again our car much earlier than when I'll be able to drive it again. Apparently the wait time for practice tests is ridiculous these days, but there are good chances to rebook a test as soon as others get cancelled. She might even be able to give me a lift to the rehab course when I'll have to start it.

All the best,
Z
 
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