Advice on court appearance please

Sgt_Pepper_2

andygb wrote: »

From what I understand, she pulled out onto a roundabout (which she uses every day), after she had checked that nothing was coming. Suddenly another car appeared and collided with the front of her car.
Obviously I do not know the exact circumstances, but from what she said, she is unable to get this out of her mind, and cannot work out how she failed to see the other car, between the time she looked right and when the collision took place.

Cause she didn't look.
She's done it that many times it was just a quick glance.

Do you know how many prosecution witnesses there are? I would suggest there is at least one independent.

McKneff

Uses it every day, complacency, she gave a quick glance, she obviously didnt see it, she must have just glanced because as she says, she didnt see it but it was obviously there, because it hit her, if you see what I mean. (God, I sound like Judge Judy)

Quick and easy solution, guilty m'lud, over and done with.

She can then move on.

Yorkie1

Careless driving often starts out life as an offence to which the person summonsed can plead guilty by post. If this is the case, there is likely to be a brief summary of the facts / prosecution case attached to the summons. If so, the CPS may not have any further papers because they are not the prosecutor unless and until a not guilty plea is entered.

If the summons does not contain a summary of facts and a document setting out how to plead guilty by post, then if she is not sure of the basis on which she is being prosecuted, she should contact the CPS and ask for initial details of the prosecution case. They may have received the file from the police in time to send out statements or other disclosure.

If she does not get anything until the day of court, she can attend and ask for disclosure of the prosecution case. The court may well stand the case down for a short while and she is likely to be able to see the duty solicitor at court for initial advice.

Edit: If convicted, the fine can be reduced for an early guilty plea. The level of penalty points will not be affected by the timing of a plea / conviction. If the charge is denied then the costs will be higher if it goes to trial and there is a conviction.

If she is adamant that she is not guilty, then she should not be pleading guilty for the sake of convenience. The court is likely to realise that this is what is happening, and vacate her guilty plea, enter a not guilty plea and adjourn for trial anyway. Hence it being a good idea to speak to the court duty solicitor at the first hearing.

agrinnall

From what you've described it's difficult to see any way that she wasn't at fault, given that responsibility at a roundabout lies with the person entering it, unless there is something else that you haven't told us, such as the other vehicle being driven at excessive speed or a traffic light control that the other vehicle went through at red. I'm certainly siding with the plead guilty view at the moment.

Sgt_Pepper_2

Can she remember her initial account to the police?
Was it after caution and has she since been interviewed?

worried_jim

Cars don't suddenly appear on a roundabout! She's guilty. Next!

andygb

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

Can she remember her initial account to the police?
Was it after caution and has she since been interviewed?

Yes, she can, but has not received a copy of the witness statement (which they said she would). She was pretty shaken at the time, and was cautioned, but has not been interviewed since.

andygb

worried_jim wrote: »

Cars don't suddenly appear on a roundabout! She's guilty. Next!

And that is the logical conclusion unfortunately. I don't think that it was a case of complacency, because she is very much a "belt and braces" type person, but yes, it will certainly be considered that she was at fault.

TonyMMM

She won't be given any of the evidence until such time as she enters a Not Guilty plea.

If she is going to plead guilty, then a solicitor is unlikely to be worth the potential cost - just turning up at court, smartly dressed and being contrite is going to get as good a result (which will be points plus a fine based on income, plus victim surcharge but with a third discount for an early guilty plea).

If she wishes to contest the charge, then a motoring solicitor would probably be the best option to conduct the case.

Does she have legal cover as part of her insurance ?

andygb

TonyMMM wrote: »

She won't be given any of the evidence until such time as she enters a Not Guilty plea.

If she is going to plead guilty, then a solicitor is unlikely to be worth the potential cost - just turning up at court, smartly dressed and being contrite is going to get as good a result (which will be points plus a fine based on income, plus victim surcharge but with a third discount for an early guilty plea).

If she wishes to contest the charge, then a motoring solicitor would probably be the best option to conduct the case.

Does she have legal cover as part of her insurance ?

Cheers Tony, I suspected as much but haven't actually told her that. I believe that she does have legal cover, and I did say that she should now get on to her insurance company ASAP in order to get them on the case.