Fixed Penaly Notice - should I go to court?

Ultrasonic

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

being in the forfront of her lessons, in the event of a blow out coast the vehicle for as long and as farr as practical as you can, DO NOT STOP IN A LAYBY OR HARDSHOULDER UNLESS IT IS AN EMERGENCY!

Are you serious? I'd definitely be using the hard shoulder or a layby if I had a puncture! How is that not an emergency?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Are you serious? I'd definitely be using the hard shoulder or a layby if I had a puncture! How is that not an emergency?

read through to my point i was making.

portly was on about stopping as soon as he struck a pothole to CHECK for a pucnture on the hardshoulder or layby and thats not a good idea, not if you want limbs, i certainly will not be CHECKING my tyres on the hardshoulder i would get off the motorway bypass trunk road at the next exit and find a spot to check them! if the steering became as such to me thinking it was deflating then yes i would pull onto and far over on the hardshoulder or layby wich ever is first to change to a spare or call for assistance in the event a pair were damaged.

if you have blow out witch is different to a pucnture, then granted coast as smoothly as you can into the hardshoulder.

but i would not risk my limb or life checking for something that maynot be there i wouldnt class checking an emergency.

Jamie_Carter

It is highly unlikely that two tyres in good condition would be damaged without the OP noticing how they did it. So it is very likely that the tyres were already in very poor condition, and possibly illegal.

So I should think the reason why the police officers gave you a ticket was because they realised this, and they also realised that a new driver does need to learn about basic car maintenance. After all it could save the OP's, or some other innocent persons life.

Joe_Horner

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

read through to my point i was making.

portly was on about stopping as soon as he struck a pothole to CHECK for a pucnture on the hardshoulder or layby

The trouble is that, going by the letter (rather than the spirit) of the law, that's what you should do if you don't want to risk a ticket for driving on a damaged tyre because it's an absolute liability offence. If you drive on a damaged tyre then you're guilty regardless of whether you carry any fault for doing so. There is no defence for "it just happened and I was finding somewhere safe". If one of your tyres is damaged then you're guilty.

In fact, still by the letter of the law, that even applies with a blow-out between when it blows and the time it takes you to stop - for those few seconds you're committing an offence and if some arrse of a copper decided to ticket you for it they'd be within the law.

You would hope that the Police would show a little common sense but, if they choose to ticket, they're entitled to. If it goes to court then magistrates have to follow the law, even if they agree that it was inappropriate to report in that case, so the correct verdict would be guilty.

goomba

alastairq wrote: »

exactly what was the offence you've been reported for?

[Exact wording, if possible?]

An offender would only receive one set of penalty points, if multiple offences of the same type were reported at the same time.

Offence code 115 - Tyre lump, bulge or tear.

The officer said "I could give you 3 points for each tyre, and I'm sure you know what 6 points means for a new driver." If he was concerned about safety and me being a danger surely he would have given me 3 points for the front tyre in a far worse condition?

To the earlier poster who said I was driving 10 miles, it was 3 or 4 at most. Also I was already pulled over before the police got to me.
I agree I need to learn a lot about car maintenance, if I sign up on a course I wonder if that will help my case.

I took the photos on a colleagues phone and can upload them tomorrow. If go to court and lost I think the total fines will go up to about £200, that's not a small amount for me but I really don't want to be 3 points away from a ban!

Ultrasonic

goomba wrote: »

If go to court and lost I think the total fines will go up to about £200, that's not a small amount for me but I really don't want to be 3 points away from a ban!

While I understand your concern, being 3 points away from a ban shouldn't be a problem. Many drivers go their whole lives without ever getting a point on their licence.

I have no experience of courts so disregard this at will, but I'd be inclined to go along with Joe Horner on this one. It sounds like you're thinking of going to court to argue that the law was enforced, which at best sounds risky. Although don't get me wrong, if I had tyres in good condition, hit something in the road to damage two and burst one, and then got a ticket for it I'd be seriously annoyed too :mad:.

goomba

I didn't question it, when he said I could have 6 points it was a shock to the system because that would be my licence gone and I didn't know what was happening. After 5 minutes when he was taking the picture I asked if there was anything I could do and he said no, and then I didn't want to bug him in case he decided to give me 6.

Ultrasonic I hope that's the case and I don't get any more tickets, but I've had my licence for 3 months and driving on the road for 1 month, I think I drive quite well but still feel that I'm inexperienced. 21 months seems like a long time right now, my insurance will go up as well, I think I have enough evidence to at least have a chance in court.

alastairq

Paradigm wrote: »

Last time I looked at that forum 50% thought that an expired photo on a driving licence meant the licence had expired & driving was illegal.... hope they've improved

ETA: Just looked & nope, they haven't improved.... it's no better than any other forum & worse than some



The above from a member with 23,500 posts!

Oh how we get selective on here?

Does an MOT fail invalidate any previous MOT?

For example if I have a valid MOT with 1 month left on it and I take the car in for an MOT, but it then fails... can you now drive it around for the remaining 1 month (i.e. on the old MOT certificate), or would it now be considered as not having an MOT due to the recent failure?

I have heard conflicting advise on this including one MOT tester who said it would be "unlawful" to continue to drive after the failure as it no longer has an MOT. Was he correct?

is the next relevant subsequent post

followed by

Originally Posted by wazza
However you can put your car into an MOT test ANYTIME... many sellers do it, to give the car a full years MOT on selling it... as any new MOT will invalidate the old one... pass or fail.
Originally Posted by LXT
Does an MOT fail invalidate any previous MOT?
A new MOT does not invalidate the previous MOT certificate.

You could, however, leave yourself open to a driving an unroadworthy car charge, plus, most insurance says the car needs to be roadworthy, if the fault is a serious one.

there, that's put your original quoted post in a bit better perspective, eh?



The topic in question is one which no-one has a definitive answer to, given the Mot is now online.

However, just like pepipooo, there will be contributors who get it wrong...nobody's perfect.

Unlike pepipooo, there are more qualified experts available...if they can be bothered, that is? [which includes me, under a very different user name]

Paradigm

alastairq wrote: »

Unlike pepipooo, there are more qualified experts available...if they can be bothered, that is? [which includes me, under a very different user name]

A shame it's "dead" then Like I said

it's no better than any other forum & worse than some

Jamie_Carter

goomba wrote: »

I didn't question it, when he said I could have 6 points it was a shock to the system because that would be my licence gone and I didn't know what was happening. After 5 minutes when he was taking the picture I asked if there was anything I could do and he said no, and then I didn't want to bug him in case he decided to give me 6.

Ultrasonic I hope that's the case and I don't get any more tickets, but I've had my licence for 3 months and driving on the road for 1 month, I think I drive quite well but still feel that I'm inexperienced. 21 months seems like a long time right now, my insurance will go up as well, I think I have enough evidence to at least have a chance in court.

You were driving a vehicle in an unroadworthy condition, so you won't win in court.

I would suggest that in future you check the condition of your tyres before setting off.