If you have been unfortunate enough to be accused of committing a motoring offence , then you will need to prepare yourself quickly in order to put forward a plausible defence. There are many aspects of the law that are open to interpretation and the prosecutor needs to correctly complete every stage of the accusation process or you could have grounds to contest the allegation.
A Special Reasons argument can be used to try to persuade the Magistrates, after giving evidence on oath, that it would not be appropriate in the circumstances to impose the penalty points. Special Reasons arguments are normally used in relation to avoiding bans in drink driving cases but, they can be used to avoid penalty points in relation to any of the endorsable offences.
When arguing a Special Reason, you are required to give evidence (under oath of course) that in the given circumstances it wouldn't be fair to administer the penalty points. The most common case for people to argue Special Reasons is that it was an emergency, i.e. they were taking a badly injured passenger to A & E or were taking a woman who is having a baby to hospital and went a bit above the speed limit or ran a red light.
If the Magistrates find that there were Special Reasons in relation to your case, then they will not put any points on your licence. There is no set list as to what amounts to a Special Reason but, in order to fulfil the criteria, the Special Reasons you put forward must be: -
1. A mitigating or extenuating circumstance
2. It must not be a legal / law based defence claim
3. It must be directly connected to the offence in question
4. It must be something that the Court ought to take into consideration when deciding what punishment to impose.
The opportunity to argue Special Reasons is contained within Section 34 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. - 16887
A Special Reasons argument can be used to try to persuade the Magistrates, after giving evidence on oath, that it would not be appropriate in the circumstances to impose the penalty points. Special Reasons arguments are normally used in relation to avoiding bans in drink driving cases but, they can be used to avoid penalty points in relation to any of the endorsable offences.
When arguing a Special Reason, you are required to give evidence (under oath of course) that in the given circumstances it wouldn't be fair to administer the penalty points. The most common case for people to argue Special Reasons is that it was an emergency, i.e. they were taking a badly injured passenger to A & E or were taking a woman who is having a baby to hospital and went a bit above the speed limit or ran a red light.
If the Magistrates find that there were Special Reasons in relation to your case, then they will not put any points on your licence. There is no set list as to what amounts to a Special Reason but, in order to fulfil the criteria, the Special Reasons you put forward must be: -
1. A mitigating or extenuating circumstance
2. It must not be a legal / law based defence claim
3. It must be directly connected to the offence in question
4. It must be something that the Court ought to take into consideration when deciding what punishment to impose.
The opportunity to argue Special Reasons is contained within Section 34 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. - 16887
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