PLEASE HELP WITH ADVICE - taken to court

king100

kwaks wrote: »

You cannot walk into a court room charged with careless and be convicted of something more serious!!

Someone watching too much TV:rotfl:

I never said you will turn up in court and be charged with something more serious without being told.

What I have said if new evidence comes to light then yes they can charge you with a more serious crime. Yes they will have to inform you.

Let me think, you have been charged with dangerous driving. During the investigation they find that actually 2 weeks ago that you ran someone over, then they will charge you for that as well.

kwaks

Seperate charge, seperate trial.

You intimated the OP may have been locked up when they did not immediately give us the outcome from their court date for DRIVING WITHOUT DUE CARE AND ATTENTION, an offence which does not carry a jail option for the courts. When this was pointed out you said they may have changed the charge, which cannot happen.

king100

They can drop the charge of DRIVING WITHOUT DUE CARE AND ATTENTION, and file more serious charges.

What warning do they need to give the OP if new evidence has come to light.

The OP can easily turn up to court to find that the 1st charge has been dropped and a new charge has been entered. She wont get rushed into court to face the 2nd charge as the defence needs time to go through the evidence relating to the new charge.

jimbms

kwaks wrote: »

By the way, there is no law which states you cannot drive on the right hand side of the road, so don't worry about that.

Try section 78 of the 1835 Highways act if you're really interested, one of the few parts of the original act that is still in place, this was a formalisation of the General Highways Act of 1773, this has been modified over the years to add wording to the original to bring in the classifications of motor vehicles from the original wording of carraiges but is still in force under the current Highways act and Road traffic regulations.

blued

king100 you clearly have no idea what you are talking about so you should just stop typing before you dig yourself even deeper.

The O/P is fighting a driving without due care and attention charge, nothing more.

king100

blued wrote: »

king100 you clearly have no idea what you are talking about so you should just stop typing before you dig yourself even deeper.

The O/P is fighting a driving without due care and attention charge, nothing more.

Read my posts first please.

Right she is getting charged with that at this moment in time. There is nothing to say thay can drop the case and charge for something else if new evidence concerning the case comes to light. Thats what I am saying.

Is that correct or not?

Happychappy

If the CPS was to consider a new charge due to new evidence, the police would reinterview as new evidence has come to light and go through the disclosure process where the OP would be given the opportunity to have access to the new evidence.

This is clearly a simple due care and not a dangerous driving , manslaughter, terrorism or other offence, the CPS does not just drop the new charge on the defendent when they appear in court, there would be an adjournment prior to the court case for disclosure, so Bigtrouble, don't worry about this and try and get on with your life.

Yorkie1

kwaks wrote: »

Lets lay out the facts, the case is being driven by the CPS, not by the parents of the child. The CPS have gone down this route as 99% of the time it is an easy conviction as drivers say sod it, 3 pts and £60 fine is easier than taking a day off work for court.

Now they have been called on their bluff. Their hope now is that you baulk at the costs of defending yourself and cave. However, if you have a shred of morality then you will fight as long as you can. You know you did nothing wrong, you broke no laws, therefore a conviction would be unjust.

Point of order. The OP was offered the plead guilty by post procedure and served with the witness statements. This is the s.12 MCA 1980 procedure which is driven by the police only. The paperwork doesn't go anywhere near the CPS until after the defendant has pleaded not guilty. Up till then they have no locus standi (right to conduct the case).

BigTrouble_2

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Point of order. The OP was offered the plead guilty by post procedure and served with the witness statements. This is the s.12 MCA 1980 procedure which is driven by the police only. The paperwork doesn't go anywhere near the CPS until after the defendant has pleaded not guilty. Up till then they have no locus standi (right to conduct the case).

Are you sure? It's just that the lawyer said that he will be correponding with the CPS on the matter. I haven't pleaded anything yet. The hearing has been adjourned and according to the lawyer I will have to enter a plea then (if negotiations with the CPS fail, that is).

BigTrouble_2

kwaks wrote: »

Bigtrouble, late to this thread but got to say don't worry.

King100, since when could the CPS increase a charge on the day of the trial, you have alarmed someone who is obviously already worrying, have the decency to offer a proper apology for your jail "joke" and stop worrying her more as you try to dig your way out of it.

Back to OP. Lets lay out the facts, the case is being driven by the CPS, not by the parents of the child. The CPS have gone down this route as 99% of the time it is an easy conviction as drivers say sod it, 3 pts and £60 fine is easier than taking a day off work for court.

Now they have been called on their bluff. Their hope now is that you baulk at the costs of defending yourself and cave. However, if you have a shred of morality then you will fight as long as you can. You know you did nothing wrong, you broke no laws, therefore a conviction would be unjust.

By the way, there is no law which states you cannot drive on the right hand side of the road, so don't worry about that. If the witness in the car WAS moving and you were "overtaking" her then she is guilty of careless driving as she has not done her observations (and why did she not hit the child whose has according to her statement now run out in front of 2 moving vehicles).

I was once offered a COFP for careless driving after a single vehicle accident. I fought it all the way. On the day of the court date the Sherrif asked who was representing me, no one I said. He appointed me a lawyer and gave me time to discuss. By the end of it I had not said a word, the Sheriff ripped into the PF for bringing it to court and all I had to do was give my lawyer a lift home

kwaks, thank you so much for your support.

I do believe that I did everything I was supposed to do as a driver. I just hope the CPS will take into consideration my account of the incident too.

To be absolutely honest, knowing how terrified and worried I would feel, maybe I wouldn't have bothered either if my penalty was likely to consist of 3 points and £60 fine. But two solicitors I spoke to previously said that I am facing up to 9 points and up to £2500 fine - so it was worth fighting against.