speeding ticket for emergency doctor call out

salthepal

My GP husband was clocked by a mobile camera unit for doing 39 in a 30 limit whilst on his way to urgently visit a sick patient, having left his surgery to do so.
Is there any point in his writing a letter of appeal to the magistrate to explain this in the hope of not getting the 3 points on his otherwise clean licence?
Thanks very much.
Sally

sturll

salthepal wrote: »

My GP husband was clocked by a mobile camera unit for doing 39 in a 30 limit whilst on his way to urgently visit a sick patient, having left his surgery to do so.
Is there any point in his writing a letter of appeal to the magistrate to explain this in the hope of not getting the 3 points on his otherwise clean licence?
Thanks very much.
Sally

Surely he would have had the legalities of speeding made clear to him? Particularly in regards to attending sick patients.

If indeed it was illegal for him to be speeding it may still be worth writing a letter of appeal if at least to do so on ethical and moral grounds.

Best of luck.

bargepole

salthepal wrote: »

Is there any point in his writing a letter of appeal to the magistrate to explain this in the hope of not getting the 3 points on his otherwise clean licence?

He can only "appeal" once he's been convicted by a Court. Your husband will get a Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty from the police, which costs him £60 and 3 points without the need for a court hearing.

If he wants to ask for leniency from the Magistrates, he should pass on the fixed penalty offer, then when the summons comes through, he can plead guilty with "Special Reasons". In order for the Special Reasons argument to succeed, he will have to show that there was no alternative but to drive in the manner that he did and that your emergency must be “real, not nebulous, nor manufactured”. If the Mags accept this, they can give him a conditional discharge, ie no penalty.

It is worth noting that a certain well known AC Milan footballer, on loan from LA Galaxy, used this successfully when he was being pursued by a horde of paparazzi. And a well-known Scottish football manager used the reason to speed down the hard shoulder as being that his bladder condition required him to get to the services quickly. Both of these were conducted in court by £400-per-hour solicitor Nick Freeman, but if what I've read about GP's salaries is correct, this shouldn't be a problem for your husband.

Conor_3

salthepal wrote: »

My GP husband was clocked by a mobile camera unit for doing 39 in a 30 limit whilst on his way to urgently visit a sick patient, having left his surgery to do so.
Is there any point in his writing a letter of appeal to the magistrate to explain this in the hope of not getting the 3 points on his otherwise clean licence?

No. He is not entitled to exceed the posted limit, end of. Even when running under a green beacon, there's very few times when speeding is allowed, mostly being restricted to 999 calls.

bargepole

Conor wrote: »

No. He is not entitled to exceed the posted limit, end of.

Conor, please stop giving incorrect advice. Just google "Special Reasons" along with David Beckham, Alex Ferguson, and a few others I can't think of right now, and you'll see what I mean - details on BBC news archives.

dmg24

bargepole wrote: »

Conor, please stop giving incorrect advice. Just google "Special Reasons" along with David Beckham, Alex Ferguson, and a few others I can't think of right now, and you'll see what I mean - details on BBC news archives.

You'll get used to Conor!

I know of several GP's that have been excused for this reason (the correct terminology has just escaped me!), it shouldn't be a problem. I also know several clients of Nick Freeman (and I don't condone what the people in question have done), but that's a whole other story ...

Conor_3

I hope he gets 3 points...I'll be !!!!ing myself laughing.

mikey72

You could write to the chief constable, and explain what happened, he could decide not to take any further action.

clairec79

A colleague did this once (fraudently though she admitted afterwards) she was given the choice of fine OR points rather than both

vikingaero

Conor wrote: »

I hope he gets 3 points...I'll be !!!!ing myself laughing.

Let's hope you never need an emergency doctor.:rolleyes:

Conor_3

vikingaero wrote: »

Let's hope you never need an emergency doctor.:rolleyes:

If I need medical assistance that urgently, it'll be a 999 call. Obviously it wasn't life threatening as the GP didn't call an ambulance, and they weren't answering a 999 call so the need to speed didn't exist.