DWDC, Driving w/o insurance, leaving the scene of an accident

[mister c]

My son was pulled up whilst driving without insurance. He pleaded guilty by post, got 8 points & £260 fine.
Leaving the scene as well could have other consequences, cant help on that one, but as someone said before, tough ti*ties, he should be insured so dont have much sympathy. I did say the same to my son as well.

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

That will depend mostly on whether "an example" is needed or not.

Personally I think he should, especially if its a mentioned in sentencing guidelines - it would be guaranteed to be on the front pages of the tabloids.

However in hindsight it wouldn't prompt the chavs to go get insurance - it would just have them go on about the in-justice.

I think that is a little harsh and unrealistic in the scale of things. He hasn't injured or killed anyone, he hasn't even done that much damage to the other vehicle, do you not think that a stay in prison is too much? What will happen to him will primarily depend on the scale of his crime, nothing to do with example. I don't agree with what hes done at all, if he had been that worried he could have reported it to the police himself at the first opportunity (cover thine own a*se) but he didn't and now he is paying for it,or will be soon, however a custodial sentence at the taxpayers expense is a bit too much.

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

Also on the other hand, no-one got hurt, so fine him, make him pay for the repairs and ban him for a couple of years is probably more relevant.

This I totally agree with though.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by mister c

I did say the same to my son as well.

Hopefully while you were beating the snot out of him with a cricket bat...........

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by carlos

I think that is a little harsh and unrealistic in the scale of things. He hasn't injured or killed anyone, he hasn't even done that much damage to the other vehicle, do you not think that a stay in prison is too much? What will happen to him will primarily depend on the scale of his crime, nothing to do with example. I don't agree with what hes done at all, if he had been that worried he could have reported it to the police himself at the first opportunity (cover thine own a*se) but he didn't and now he is paying for it,or will be soon, however a custodial sentence at the taxpayers expense is a bit too much.

Hence the last line of mine that you quoted.

The reason I mentioned a custodial sentence was that it SHOULD be a deterrent to other people thinking about driving without insurance, as I believe that the penalties for doing wrong should be as much a deterrent as they are a punishment, the current governement/police policy seems to be "stop crime from happening by making it impossible (cameras etc)" rather than make people realise that crime does not pay.

However I realise that even a short time in prison - many of which are more like hotels/holiday camps due to the facilities given to prisoners - is not much of a deterrent these days.

What I was trying to say is something should be done that would make others think twice, but I realise that to do that, it would be out of proportion for what he actually did.

[mister c]

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

Hopefully while you were beating the snot out of him with a cricket bat...........

He's that thick he did it again 12 months later, said he forgot about renewing it. Has now got a 6month disqualification £400 fine & 16 points.
I would like to know what my milkman looked like 24 years ago, I'm sure my eldest isnt of my loins

sckusey, what does dwdc mean nen?

[timwilky]

Driving without due care (me thinks)

-Driving without insurance: 6-8 points, discretionary ban, fine upto £5000

thats black and white he either had insurance or he didnt.

-Leaving the scene of an accident: 5-10 points, discretionary ban, fine upto £5000 or upto 6 months imprisonment ,

it has to be proved that he knowingly left the scene or a had a reasonable suspicion that he had an accident, you cant be done for leaving the scene if you couldnt reasonably have known you had a bump, how you prove it either way i dont know.

-DWDC: 3-9 points, discretionary ban, fine upto £2500,

again has to be proved that you were driving without due care, from a "conversation" i recently had with a traffic cop , west yorks at least will only pursue for DWDC if it was witnessed by a police officer.

rights or wrongs of whats happened im not going to get into, but in my experience the POlice have a habit of throwing lots of charges and hoping one sticks.

[Lissa]

In our local paper today a lad was convicted of failing to stop after a road accident, failing to report a road accident, DWDC, driving other than in accordance with his licence and driving without insurance.

He was fined £275 with £50 costs, was given 6 points, and ordered to pay £300 in compensation.

Bit of an update, as agree he returned all the paperwork admitting guilt, declared he had no insurance at the time of the accident, etc. he has decided not to sell the van yet as he might be able to afford insurance after the points/ban. I have explained that with speeding, the summons can take up to 6 months to come through (the swine got me with about 2 days to spare), but that I had no idea how long it would be for his charges. If it's likely to be more than a month or two, he wants to insure his van and use it in the interim as otherwise the effective ban could last months longer than necessary. I did explain that he needs to notify the insurer of any pending convictions when arranging insurance and he seems to accept this.

Anyone got an idea of timeframe before he can expect a court summons/the next step of the prosecution?

As to sentencing; I think jail would be a bit harsh (not to mention highly unlikely in this case), but think ban, fine and a subsequent big insurance hike are in order.

Lissa: Looking in the "In the courts" section of the paper that seems fairly normal. Nuts really, as that's pretty much what I got for speeding, which aside from being completely safe, involved no one else at all.