Who (if anyone) gets prosecuted?

mattyprice4004

fivetide wrote: »

As above. I did see the original post and if there was a reason for the learner car to move, that might be looked at but otherwise, it seems down to the "responsible adult" sat in the passenger seat at the end of the day.

I would hope, they have legal protection as part of their insurance as it may come in handy.

The instructor in my case was also found to be in breach of his lease conditions on the car in question - however as far as I'm aware they did have legal cover.
My insurance company seemed rather happy to go into the ins and outs I didn't think they would - including how much the final claim was expected to be!

fivetide

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Obviously depends what actually happened, assuming the learner driver simply made a mistake and went to turn when there wasnt a big enough gap then no, the learner driver would be the one potentially prosecuted for driving without due care and attention/ dangerous driving etc.

The "responsible adult" may be prosecuted for aiding and abetting in these circumstances as per the previously quoted legislation. If you look at driving instructor forums there are hundreds of cases of speeding, drink driving etc where its the learner that was charged with a few instructors being done for A&A

Now, if the driving instructor is the one that told them to go when it wasnt safe to then it potentially is a different matter

As I said, I saw the original post where you didn't. My thoughts were based on that but whilst also trying not to say too much about what was originally there.

Soot2006

Thanks for everyone's thoughts.
Apologies for removing all the extra info, but as rightly pointed out by another poster, best be careful as I suppose it is not clear cut and it seems likely some type of legal proceeding may follow!

Similar discussions ongoing in the comments section of the original media report as well.

Mark_Mark

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Obviously depends what actually happened, assuming the learner driver simply made a mistake and went to turn when there wasnt a big enough gap then no, the learner driver would be the one potentially prosecuted for driving without due care and attention/ dangerous driving etc.

The "responsible adult" may be prosecuted for aiding and abetting in these circumstances as per the previously quoted legislation. If you look at driving instructor forums there are hundreds of cases of speeding, drink driving etc where its the learner that was charged with a few instructors being done for A&A

Now, if the driving instructor is the one that told them to go when it wasnt safe to then it potentially is a different matter

Question for the legal eagles.

If a learner isn't done for careless driving, can the instructor be done for aid and abet?


Also if the instructor told a learner to do it, is that a defence for the learner?

InsideInsurance

Mark_Mark wrote: »

Question for the legal eagles.

If a learner isn't done for careless driving, can the instructor be done for aid and abet?


Also if the instructor told a learner to do it, is that a defence for the learner?

Not a legal eagle but:

1) What would they be aiding and abetting if there is no charges of a crime?

2) My gut reaction would say it depends on what the instruction was and how much experience the learner had. Tells them to do an emergency stop, causes an RTA, then its likely a reasonable defense as a learner knows they're expected to react quickly. Instructor tells them to do a 3 point turn on a dual carriage way on the way to their test then its unlikely that they can get away with blindly following the instruction.

Weird_Nev

Mark_Mark wrote: »

Question for the legal eagles.

If a learner isn't done for careless driving, can the instructor be done for aid and abet?


Also if the instructor told a learner to do it, is that a defence for the learner?

Aiding and abetting is only for criminal matters - and indictable ones at that.

In short, both the Learner AND the Instructor are 'Driving' for the purpose of offences comitted. Whilst learners might be given some more leeway for certain things, owing to their inexperience and being under tuition, instructors are held to high standards.

An instructor cannot be drunk - they are commiting a drink driving offence.
An instructor cannot use their phone (And obviously they never would, right? :rotfl:)
And instuction can be prosecuted for dangerous driving or careless driving either alongside or independantly of their pupil if circumstances dictate.