EXCEPTIONAL HARDSHIP IN RELATION TO DRIVING DISQUALIFICATION

 11:02:22 by TheJusticeofthePeace

Magistrates know all about exceptional hardship as it applies to driving disqualification……….or at least they should know and if they are deficient in that department their legal advisers ought to know. However the Sunday Times in its article on this subject yesterday threw some doubt on those assumptions. As that newspaper is now behind a paywall no link can be given but I can list below the two salient facts the newspaper quotes.

I devoted my blog of May 15th to this topic. What follows is a more detailed analysis.

Legislation regarding disqualification for totters allows magistrates not to disqualify or to reduce that period only if they are satisfied having regard to all the circumstances that there are grounds for mitigating the normal consequences of the conviction the most common of which put forward is the potential effect of the disqualification on the offender namely that hardship would result. Section 35{4}(b) of the RTOA 1988 precludes the court from taking into account “hardship, other than exceptional hardship”. There is no strict definition of this term.
The Sunday Times amongst other things quoted the following facts:-
31,110 drivers disqualified for reaching 12 points in 2009
11,228 is the number of drivers reaching 12 points not disqualified in 2009

Practice suggests that the loss of employment by itself is unlikely to satisfy the “exceptional” test. Some judicial guidance can be found in the Scottish case of Brennan-v-McKay (1996) 1997 S.L.T. 603. A taxi driver reached 12 penalty points on being convicted of speeding. He claimed that he would be likely to lose his job and be unable to obtain other work and this would have a substantial effect on his family. The High Court of Judiciary held that the justices were entitled to conclude that exceptional hardship had not been demonstrated. Whilst it was not an invariable rule that exceptional hardship would only be established where persons other than the accused and his immediate family would suffer it was ruled that it was necessary to demonstrate that there were other circumstances associated with loss of employment which might involve reflected hardship of a serious kind on the accused`s business, his family or his long term prospects [per Lord Hope in Brennan-v-McKay].

It is important to note that offenders may not put forward the same circumstances which have been used either for not disqualifying or for reducing the length of the totting up disqualification within three years of conviction {sec. 35(4)(c) RTOA 1988} It follows that detailed court records must be made of the exact circumstances which justified any finding of exceptional hardship.

From the above figures more than 26% of drivers accumulating 12 points were allowed to continue driving under the exceptional hardship guidance. From my own experience I find that ratio astonishing. The conclusion on the surface appears to be that misplaced application of the guidance is possibly being applied. Perhaps more formal guidance is required from our lords and masters.

DISQUALIFICATION IN ABSENCE

 12:49:05 by TheJusticeofthePeace

When I were a lad and you couldn`t go down the mines until you were twelve years old …..when you could take a knife into the street and give it to a grimy man treadling a machine that resembled your grandma`s sowing machine and he would sharpen it for sixpence…..when every few months the totter would stop in the street, give his horse a bag of hay and ring a bell for any old clothes or what have you for which he paid a few pence or a shilling or two if you were a haggler. These days epitomised in the series Steptoe and Son arguably the best comedy characters ever on T.V. came to an end about twenty years ago even in Shepherds Bush. 

Talk of a totter nowadays and it means one thing and one thing only…….somebody disqualified from driving for collecting 12 penalty points within a specified period. A moot point is the act by a court of sentencing in absence, i.e. when for whatever reason the defendant is not in court to hear the pronouncement. Where I sit and in line with my personal preferences we do not do this on a matter of issuing a driving ban. If the summons to appear is disregarded a warrant is issued. However that is not mandatory practice. 

A couple of weeks ago we had before us Kevin, mid twenties, who would probably describe the term “good night” as downing ten pints and finding his own way home. He was unrepresented and appeared before us on a charge of driving whilst disqualified and consequently also charged with driving with no insurance. All insurers have clauses in their policies which render the policy null and void if the driver is not qualified to drive. When asked to plead his reply was “Not Guilty”. When he was asked on what grounds he was so pleading he told us he didn`t know he was disqualified and after gathering what wits he possessed he produced a letter from the court involved enquiring about the non payment of £200+ in fines and costs for the original offences for which he was disqualified some four months previously. It was explained to him that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. Unsurprisingly he changed his plea to Guilty when he was told the benefits of avoiding a trial at which he was unlikely to be acquitted.

Because Kevin declared he was on Benefits we were obliged to consider his income as £100 per week and with his plea he was fined a week`s “wages” i.e. £100 plus costs and a lesser amount for the no insurance. He had a further disqualification period of six months imposed. 

For various reasons there was no sympathy on the bench for Kevin and his assertion that he was unaware because he had not received intimation of the hearing at which he was disqualified. But it is not difficult to imagine a scenario where such sympathy might exist. Courts which do not follow our practice should consider doing so. Justice must not only be done it must be seen to be done and that in my opinion includes ceasing the procedure of disqualifying in absence unless under the most extreme of situations where the alternative is not practicable or puts the public at risk. 

COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE POLICE

 15:23:05 by TheJusticeofthePeace

Anyone whose career or job involves direct contact with members of the public, [ and I include myself in this group] as opposed to being hidden away in the corner of an office with a keyboard his/her only contact with the outside world, is well aware of the pressures that can arise when confronted with irrational, bad tempered, depressed, ignorant or violent people and that`s on a good day. 

When that job is as a police officer the temptations to use the authority of the uniform when, as is a major part of policing, in a confrontational situation, must be considerable. More than once I have encountered rude police officers who have adopted a threatening attitude because I have politely questioned an instruction whether sitting in a car whilst somebody is emptying the boot or some other equally innocent and seen to be innocent activity. It is when in contact with law abiding citizens that a police officer is most likely to be perceived as unnecessarily aggressive. The trouble is that when the job requires dealing with villains who could be peaceful one moment and uncontrollably violent the next a distinction between them and the rest of us must be difficult.

And so it seems for 2000 of the men in blue. According to reports in today`s Belfast Telegraph and the BBC that is the number of police officers who have had three or more complaints made against them in the last year. There are about 160,000 police officers in the U.K. so it is a fairly small proportion of the whole. 

This information was made under a Freedom of Information request. Why on earth do authorities such as the police force in general not make public this type of information without its having to be dragged out of them? That truly would increase people`s respect for those organisations complying. 

I note that a certain Mr T.Blair has been quoted from his newly published memoir that of his time as Prime Minister the F.O.I. Act is one of his regrets. He says it is not practical for good government. Given that most libertarians would assert that the F.O.I. Act was one of the most significant innovations of recent times for the ability of the individual to challenge an authority gone awry this revelation is quite amazing for a Prime Minister who presided over the most authoritarian government since 1945 that Act being a notable exception which did not prove the rule.

FOOTBALLERS PLAYING AWAY

 31. Aug. 2010. – 16:38:40 

It seems it`s as natural for a famous wealthy Premier Division footballer to play away from home as it is to have at least a Ferrari and a Range Rover in his garage. But sometimes he leaves his garage door open when it should be firmly closed. 

So the third England footballer in recent months [not Mr D.Beckham] has successfully sought an injunction to keep his identity secret with regard to alleged shenanigans, doing his bit for England, something on the side or whatever slang is favoured for the description of somebody`s bedroom frolics becoming as widely known as the frolicker himself is known. And that`s the rub………how well known must the individual be before he is availed of this cloak of invisibility? With footballers is it a case of measuring the column inches written about them and anything less than two feet in the last twelve months has no chance of convincing his honour. For those playing in the Championship, have they lost any possibility in such a circumstance unless they play for a newly relegated team? The legal arguments are for others to comment upon but in my humble opinion those who leave their garage open and who live by the sword of public exposure should die by that self same sword. 

CRIMINAL LIFE IN 2010

 30. Aug. 2010. – 23:07:46 

There is a dearth of interesting news and other pressing matters over a Bank Holiday but viewed collectively a few snippets noticed over the last week or so arguably provide a greater insight into the criminal activity that takes place day in day out in every village, town and city in this country than the headline events.

I discussed drugs in prison on January 31st. A recent report concerning Craig Inches prison in Aberdeen commented upon by Shadow Scottish Justice Minister and North East MSP Richard Baker revealed that drugs finds at Craig Inches have doubled over the last 3 years. Of course the conclusions are perverse. With a fixed amount being brought in to the prison it could be said that detection and seizure have improved considerably but as the usual opinions are that drug seizures are a relatively fixed proportion of the total smuggled amount, in such a situation one might reliably conclude that the problem is getting out of control in this prison especially when the increase nationally of such seizures is just 12%. It is difficult to dismiss the thought that the prison drug problem in general is not a problem for those running prisons. In simple terms if there is not the will there is not a way. 

As somebody who has been for some years in favour of the de criminalisation of drugs nothing seems more to articulate the case that hard drug users require a medical intervention and not a legal one than the case reported at Blackburn Magistrates` Court where Kenneth Young was imprisoned for his 183rd offence. Cases such as this should be on the desks of cabinet ministers responsible for our health and law and order.

It seems that the difficulties of the European Extradition Treaty about which I commented on August 23rd are not just one way. Our European Union associates` justice systems are being utilised in all their majesty to extradite low level criminals to their homelands where justice is waiting for them. It seems this reciprocity is at the British tax payers` expense. There is an interesting report in The Telegraph.

Since increased resources from all directions have been focussed on domestic violence the impediment often preventing justice being done is the same as it always has been……the reluctance of the injured party, usually but not exclusively female, to give evidence against the male perpetrator. Bringing such cases to court involves the judgement of the CPS; their task is certainly difficult. How many cases fall at this hurdle I obviously don`t know. A clear example of such a case both resulting in a conviction and the complainant re-uniting with her guilty partner was heard at Croydon Crown Court. The defendant had pleaded guilty and the assumption is that magistrates had sent him to the Crown Court for sentence. The disposal suggests they could have saved the state money by retaining sentencing but that`s another matter for another time. 

Interestingly enough the Manchester Evening News reports that there were 28,493 reports of domestic abuse in the Greater Manchester area in the first six months of the year. How many ended in court proceedings is unknown. Perhaps the recent speculation that there is some evidence that Neanderthals bred with early Homo Sapiens in or around Old Trafford when the home team lost has some truth to it. 

And this is criminal life as we have come to accept it in 2010.

3000 NEW LAWS AND STILL IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE

 

29. Aug. 2010. – 11:04:13

The old adage, ignorance of the law is no excuse, might have been applicable when it was first coined 2000 years ago but at a time when according to the Law Commission 3,000 criminal offences were created between 1997-2010 it might have increased substance as a defence in theory if not in practice.

From my experiences in court I am of the opinion that some of the non police uniformed figures telling us where we mustn`t wait, where we can`t walk, what we can`t wear, what we can`t drop, where we can`t cycle etc etc rely on their scanty knowledge of a tiny bit of law to persuade, frighten, threaten ordinary citizens to do or not do what they are told to do or not do. But for that to be more or less written into the system is unacceptable. The case of CPS-v-Jolly AER 20 [May] in allowing a police officer to explain to a driver who has provided a breath sample of < 50mg that it can be substituted for a blood or urine test by simply reading the words on the form without explanation is in my opinion restrictive but who am I to argue?