driving without due care and attention

[sunshine124]

hi guys,

my friend has been caught for "driving without due care and attention" she has been summoned to court in March, but has also been told that if she does a course (costs £165 to do) which will help to improve her driving skills then she wont have to go to court.Can anyone tell me of any expereinces with this course and what exactly has to be done and how long the course will last?

any advice will be appreciated.

[sunshine124]

hi again!

my friend has also lost her driving licence and has moved home, so how does she apply for a new one? she has the paper part but not the photocard part. Does she apply under change of address or lost licence?

[Keith]

If only your "friend" had spoken to you five minutes earlier, you could of included it all in one post ;)

If your "friend" ;) has been offered the course, then your friend ;) should take it, learn from it and improve their driving. Your friend ;) will not need to declare that they have taken the course to their insurance on renewal.

The course is provided by Drivetech UK, and lasts a day I believe, if you agree to do the course to get away from the summons and then do not turn up I believe you are then charged. The course is only offered once, and second time the court appearance is the only option.

[sunshine124]

Hi "keith",:confused:

thx for all the info, and if u r trying to imply its me then i can assure you it's not, go to the bankruptcy board and you will find out why i am asking for my "friend" as you like to call her.

[saintjanet]

I must say everyone who takes the course seems to be glad they did from the info. i have gathered from other sites.

P.S. i dont think it's YOU!!!

[sunshine124]

hi guys,

i dont understand why saintjanet said "p.s. i dont think its YOU!!!"

My friend would like to go on the course but unfortunately her time to reply is up so she can no longer go on the course! Now she is afraid that she may get disqualified from driving coz she already has 3 points on her licence. Does anyone know what happens in court? and how much the fines are? or if there is any other way of applying for the course?

I would be grateful for any advice

[rsvtoddy]

You get a free replacement when you move house - not sure if you need to send off the old one though?

Better get it done sharpish or she'll have a charge of failing to produce added to the list!

[sunshine124]

thx rsvtoddy

thx for the advice, but i dont think anyone wants to help me out on this one coz there are some sarcastic people out there, and its a shame coz my friend has a GENUINE problem about the course, but people are not willing to believe that I am helping a friend. :cry:

[Crabman]

Hi sunshine :)

Do you know what exact offence he/she was reported for?

If it's a straightforward speeding case then it'll likely be 3 points + £60 though you mention court so it may include extra costs. If you can get hold of some extra info hopefully someone will have an idea of what may happen at the court hearing.

[lee131]

should of took the course asap really

[LandyAndy]

hi guys,

i dont understand why saintjanet said "p.s. i dont think its YOU!!!"

My friend would like to go on the course but unfortunately her time to reply is up so she can no longer go on the course! Now she is afraid that she may get disqualified from driving coz she already has 3 points on her licence. Does anyone know what happens in court? and how much the fines are? or if there is any other way of applying for the course?

I would be grateful for any advice

If she's a 'new' driver then she will be disqualified otherwise she won't get enough points from this to be disqualified.

Unfortunately the law isn't very forgiving in these circumstances (nor should it be). Hopefully your friend has learned a valuable, though potentially expensive, lesson.

[sunshine124]

thx guys,

thx for the replies, she actually hit a car from behind, she was only doing about 20mph (i know its still fast) but she didn't mean to and wasn't paying attention to the road. I know she probably deserves it, but still what do u guys think? i mean will she get a huge fine and alot of points - she already has three points but they were in 2001.
She is also applying for a new licence as she has lost her old one, so will the 3 points from 2001 be wiped off automatically? as it has been over five years.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Charis]

Don't stress out over it. What will be, will be. And if it makes your friend a bit more aware of her responsibility to pay attention, it might even save her life one day. Some lessons are painful. And expensive. I speak from experience.

Charis

[goldspanners]

why are the courts involved? did the person she hit call the police or where they passing by,surely this could be sorted out with an exchange of insurance details and let them argue it out.

[Pew Pew Pew Lasers!]

thx guys,

thx for the replies, she actually hit a car from behind, she was only doing about 20mph (i know its still fast) but she didn't mean to and wasn't paying attention to the road. I know she probably deserves it, but still what do u guys think? i mean will she get a huge fine and alot of points - she already has three points but they were in 2001.
She is also applying for a new licence as she has lost her old one, so will the 3 points from 2001 be wiped off automatically? as it has been over five years.

Any help will be appreciated.

Tell her to consider taking the Institute of Advanced Motorists course, or a ROSPA course.

Best money I ever spent tbh.

[LandyAndy]

thx guys,

thx for the replies, she actually hit a car from behind, she was only doing about 20mph (i know its still fast) but she didn't mean to and wasn't paying attention to the road. I know she probably deserves it, but still what do u guys think? i mean will she get a huge fine and alot of points - she already has three points but they were in 2001.
She is also applying for a new licence as she has lost her old one, so will the 3 points from 2001 be wiped off automatically? as it has been over five years.

Any help will be appreciated.

Unfortunately when you are granted a licence to operate a large and potentially lethal piece of machinery you are expected to pay attention when operating it. Perhaps this aspect of driving is not emphasised enough to new drivers.

[chris147]

Due care and attention can be anything between 3-9 points and a fine of up to £2000 (I think the fines right, might be a bit lower).

Unfortunately if she's hit a stationary car from behind it doesn't bode well. She should have been paying attention.

Seeing as though she is now out of the time for accepting the course (which according to most people is quite good) she will have to go to court and answer for what she's done.

I know you say she didn't mean to but at the end of the day none of us would intentionally crash our cars (at least I hope we wouldn't!) and what if that would have been a pedestrain. Unfortunately 'sorry' just doesn't cut it for me.

Driving standards in the UK are terrible and people should have to look after their own driving standards rather than relying upon the Police offering them a course after they've crashed in to another car/person.

If you friend is a new driver then its bye bye licence I'm afraid. If not then insurance will go up a lot. After all it doesn't look good to insurers when you declare you have been prosecuted for driving without due care and attention.

[derrick]

thx guys,she already has three points but they were in 2001.
She is also applying for a new licence as she has lost her old one, so will the 3 points from 2001 be wiped off automatically? as it has been over five years.

Any help will be appreciated.

Those points are now spent, the rules are they count under the totting up rule for 3 years, but stay on your licence for 4 years, so if she gets a new licence the points from 2001 will be removed.

[sunshine124]

thx guys for all your replies my friend is going to phone up about the course on monday first thing, as they have been shut, so will let u all know whats happening.

[saintjanet]

[quote=sunshine124;7935981]hi guys,

i dont understand why saintjanet said "p.s. i dont think its YOU!!!"........I said i dont think its you,meaning that i believed it really is your friend who broke the law unlike kieth who seemed to think it was you.I was defending you!!

[sunshine124]

Sorry saintjanet for misreading your reply, I didn't realise u were defending me, but i really appreciate it , so thx :o

Anyway, my friend had phoned up to find out about the course and fortunately, she was accepted to apply for the course and is now waiting for the forms.

[laganuk]

In 2003 I was prosecuted for Driving without Due Care and Attention in the Magistrates' Court. Due to work i employed a laywer and instructed him to plead guilty etc in my absence. I got 3 points & £150 fine. Issue is the other driver had no lawful MOT at the time therefore is there a technicality to get this spent conviction of my record?