Driving whilst disqualified - UNAWARE due to disability.

Convicted Driver Insurance

duffy1807

New Member
Hi Guys, Am looking for a perspective on the view of my situation, I was caught drink driving blowing 49 and was giving 17 Months and a £500 Fine I accepted this and prepared my self buying a push bike as i knew a ban would be inevitable.

I have a disability which severely effects my memory for the things i hear* , I am not deaf and i can understand simple conversations verbally as long as I am comfortable and people speak slowly. It is called Auditory Dyslexia and is an Auditory Processing Disorder in conjunction to Moderate Anxiety and Depression

When i was in Court i took all my medical files with myself (not as mitigation) but to help me understand the court case as i have never been to court before. I had medical reports from Hospitals and Doctors, Clearly stating how my Memory for things I hear is Extremely poor and how adjustments should be made to Provide things in writing for me to read and to Speak slower and clearer and take me to one side to help with myself understanding.

They took away my file and entered back in the room. I was being roasted in the courtroom, and given my sentence. They did not make it clear to me at all nor did the follow any advise from my doctors to help me understand the concept. I walked out under the wrong impression that my ban would start after sending DVLA my licence.

I have now been caught just 2 weeks after my ban started driving whilst disqualified, all because the court did not follow or even read my medical report to make resolvable adjustments. I WOULD NEVER even think about driving whilst qualified if i knew I was banned as i just want to get it over and done with.

Now i have been given a 6 month ban extension , 200 Hours and 12 Month community order and £85 fine.

i feel hard done by . I am writing to appeal . any advise would appreciated thank you
 
Firstly, you have 21 days in which to appeal from when you are sentenced.

it seems that you are not appealing about the initial disqualification being awarded, but that it was not explained to your properly.

I presume that you told the court when you appeared before them for driving whilst disqualified that you felt that you had not had the ban explained to you properly, but clearly they did not feel that this was a reasonable excuse. Unless you are going to claim that the second court did not listen properly to your explanation and were unreasonable in extending your ban, Then I fear that you are out of time to appeal.
'The 21 day rule also applies to the second court, if that was more than 21 days ago then you cannot even appeal that.

I have been in court many times when people are disqualified or drink driving. The magistrates do sometimes rush through what the sentence is, but in my experience the Legal advisor (the person sat in front of the magistrates) always says 'You realise mr xxxx that this means that you must not drive a motor vehicle of any description on any road or public place until your ban finishes.' and asks you to acknowledge that you understands this.

If you felt that you were not banned until you surrendered your licence, what would stop you for driving for 6 months before surrendering it then? I realise you feel that it may have not been fully explained to you, but in my opinion you would have a hard task, even if you are in time, to persuade the court to accept that you felt that it was a 'suspended disqualification' pending you submitting your licence to DVLA.

The appeal court would also ask; 'if you are aware that you cannot follow verbal instructions, why did you not ask the magistrates to repeat what they said, or look for the information about disqualification at the library or on the internet?' I know this sounds harsh, but I want you to have a realistic picture of where you stand rather than just sympathise with your predicament.
 
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duffy1807 said:
Hi Guys, Am looking for a perspective on the view of my situation, I was caught drink driving blowing 49 and was giving 17 Months and a £500 Fine I accepted this and prepared my self buying a push bike as i knew a ban would be inevitable.

I have a disability which severely effects my memory for the things i hear* , I am not deaf and i can understand simple conversations verbally as long as I am comfortable and people speak slowly. It is called Auditory Dyslexia and is an Auditory Processing Disorder in conjunction to Moderate Anxiety and Depression

When i was in Court i took all my medical files with myself (not as mitigation) but to help me understand the court case as i have never been to court before. I had medical reports from Hospitals and Doctors, Clearly stating how my Memory for things I hear is Extremely poor and how adjustments should be made to Provide things in writing for me to read and to Speak slower and clearer and take me to one side to help with myself understanding.

They took away my file and entered back in the room. I was being roasted in the courtroom, and given my sentence. They did not make it clear to me at all nor did the follow any advise from my doctors to help me understand the concept. I walked out under the wrong impression that my ban would start after sending DVLA my licence.

I have now been caught just 2 weeks after my ban started driving whilst disqualified, all because the court did not follow or even read my medical report to make resolvable adjustments. I WOULD NEVER even think about driving whilst qualified if i knew I was banned as i just want to get it over and done with.

Now i have been given a 6 month ban extension , 200 Hours and 12 Month community order and £85 fine.

i feel hard done by . I am writing to appeal . any advise would appreciated thank you
Click to expand...



In addition to the points already raised considering the following;

It would be reasonable for the court to ask why, after two weeks, had you not surrendered your licence, if you believed that your ban would only start at the point of surrender?

Why two weeks? Why did you not surrender your licence the next day after court, or five days after court?

I think on this point alone you would have a mountain to climb in convincing the court that it was an oversight.

Good luck.

M
 
Portico said:
Did you not have to surrender your licence when you were in court?
Click to expand...

I was not informed about surrendering my licence in court, they mentioned that DVLA would request my licence and 1 / 2 days after driving whilst disqualified a letter came from DVLA asking for my licence.
 
Mclanelli said:
In addition to the points already raised considering the following;

It would be reasonable for the court to ask why, after two weeks, had you not surrendered your licence, if you believed that your ban would only start at the point of surrender?

Why two weeks? Why did you not surrender your licence the next day after court, or five days after court?

I think on this point alone you would have a mountain to climb in convincing the court that it was an oversight.

Good luck.

M
Click to expand...

Hi, Thankyou for your comment .

I was expecting DVLA to get in touch and request sending my licence, I received a letter from DVLA 2 Days after being caught driving whilst disqualified. I even called DVLA within the 2 week period and they took money off me to pay for my tax.

When i was given my 2nd sentence, at first I was sentenced for 200 Hours unpaid work. I walked out and a clerk stood outside writing down my sentance for me as per my health conditions. my solicitor asked the clerk if their was an extension on my ban, to which she said No.

he then asked her to double check, she went back into the court room whilst another Case was running, and returned back out asked me to wait 20 minutes. As they want to speak to me again. I returned back in the court room they said they made a mistake and didnt extend my ban. which is where the extra 6 months came in.

At first they said 12 Month ban extension, I asked them for the points instead and they reduced it to 6. * Just this point alone shows that they can make a mistake and i still upto this Day doubt myself if my 1st sentence was started that my disqualification had started on the day !

is this allowed?
 
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