View Full Version : Legal Question
Hey folks,
my brother has just passed an extended driving test after an 18 month ban for dangerous driving -(Long story shortened) was accused of overtaking on double whites - anyway, he was wondering, is he classed as a new driver as he had his licence for 4 years before the offense or is he back to the start with the 2 year probation and the limit of 6 points on his licence or does he now have a full 12 point licence?
Cheers
Cumfy
Luckypants
19-02-10, 10:14 AM
If he has just come off a ban for DD then I really think he should view it as a 0 point licence. Or has he learned nothing about driving within the law from his ban?
quick call to either the DVLA (if you can get though their phone system) or asking at the local police station may answer it best?!
but surely he is looking to stay at nil points isn't he?! ;-)
the_lone_wolf
19-02-10, 10:19 AM
What he said^^^*
With a DD conviction under my belt I'd be working on the principal of "less points is better" rather than "how many can I gain and just about hold on to my license..."
*That'll be Mike, not Lily...;)
the_lone_wolf
19-02-10, 10:43 AM
Official answer from a copper:
"Its two years from when a person first passes a test."
Above post still stands though
yorkie_chris
19-02-10, 12:19 PM
A ban is bloody harsh for overtaking on DWLs!
A ban is bloody harsh for overtaking on DWLs!
+1. Suppose it depends if there was anything coming the other way...
muffles
19-02-10, 12:31 PM
Must have been something coming the other way for DD (if not I am guessing the policeman who caught him has never been in the Blackwall tunnel :o)...think the answer has been given but I also believe it to be from your first test.
So c'mon, what's the long story? ;)
He was travelling back on a winters evening, he overtook a disabled driver with two passengers at a point where it was leaving the double white lines. 3 miles down the road he hit black ice and the car went into a field. No one else was involved and my brother was unhurt.
The disabled driver stopped at the scene and said"you young subaru drivers are all the same yack yack,..." His passengers, then got out and started abusing my brother also.
They called the police unbeknown to my brother who turned up and crashed there patrol vehicle at the same site.
The officers took statements and drove my brother home nd the disabled driver left the scene.
Later my brother was asked to come to the station to help with enquiries. It was there he was charged with DD, - til this point my brother had a clean licence and had done the advance drivers course with the police.
Case went to court and my brother had a terrible solicitor who bungled everything including the fact that all three witnesses to the overtaking on double whites gave different parts of the road for the offence to have occurred( the difference in distance between two statements was 4 miles!!)
The sherriff overseeing the case was not a local magistrate and so thought an exampl needed made of my brother. 18 month ban and a £500 fine and told he was lucky not to be serving two year jail sentence.
My family and I can't believe what happened and everyone that hears of this has to pick their jaw off the floor, but that is how it was.
My brother is not a fast driver, nor a cocky one,- hell he's better than me, but this was a young guy who got stereotyped and prosecuted for the wrong reasons.
Tale ends!
So the reason for the question was merely one of curiosity not because he's a nutter behind the wheel.
Cheers
hindle8907
19-02-10, 06:19 PM
why are you all giving him a hard time he just asked a simple question.
I know full well i would like to know if I was in the same situation and I'm sure if it was you, you would want to know too.
And would probably post it up on here too.
Cumfy im not to sure to be honest but im sure the DVLA would help him if he gave them a ring .
The answer to the question is no he is not a new driver. Section 1 Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995 says:
'(2) For the purposes of this Act, a person becomes a qualified driver on the first occasion on which he passes—
(a) any test of competence to drive mentioned in paragraph (a) or (c) of section 89(1) of the [1988 c. 52.] Road Traffic Act 1988...'
...and this is not the first occasion.
He was travelling back on a winters evening, he overtook a disabled driver with two passengers at a point where it was leaving the double white lines. 3 miles down the road he hit black ice and the car went into a field. No one else was involved and my brother was unhurt.
The disabled driver stopped at the scene and said"you young subaru drivers are all the same yack yack,..." His passengers, then got out and started abusing my brother also.
They called the police unbeknown to my brother who turned up and crashed there patrol vehicle at the same site.
The officers took statements and drove my brother home nd the disabled driver left the scene.
Later my brother was asked to come to the station to help with enquiries. It was there he was charged with DD, - til this point my brother had a clean licence and had done the advance drivers course with the police.
Case went to court and my brother had a terrible solicitor who bungled everything including the fact that all three witnesses to the overtaking on double whites gave different parts of the road for the offence to have occurred( the difference in distance between two statements was 4 miles!!)
The sherriff overseeing the case was not a local magistrate and so thought an exampl needed made of my brother. 18 month ban and a £500 fine and told he was lucky not to be serving two year jail sentence.
I think I'd have been looking for a different solicitor to explore the appeals proceedure had that happened to me.
Then I'd have gone looking for the disabled guy to make him suffer some more.
Really disappointed with the sanctimonious crap being dealt out on here :(
Thanks for the responses that answered the question. My brother checked it out with the DVLA today just in case and it confirmed he was no longer a new driver as Ed stated.
Lozzo, by the time it was all over - took 5 court appearances to get to the final unhappy result my brother had had enough and just wanted it over with. This unhappy episode really shook our families faith in the "innocent til proven guilty", but as mentioned he'd have had better defence if he'd been represented properly.
Stu and Hindel, appreciate the support, but sometimes thats just the way things happen.
Cheers
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