Mr. C approached our firm having been already convicted and sentence a few days earlier for the identical case. On that occasion he was unrepresented for an offence of failing to give information. The original speeding offences were no longer an issue as the 6 month time limit to prosecute had passed. Mr. C was from County Durham but at the time he was working as a delivery driver for a well-known company, and committed the offences in Manchester.

He received some speeding tickets which he confirmed he completed, and posted back to the police and heard nothing further. However, a few months down the line he received two court bundles known as Single Justice Procedure Notices(SJPN) requesting his attendance before Manchester Magistrates Court. He pleaded not guilty to both, one case was listed one week after the other. Mr. C made the decision to represent himself, which clearly he has a right to do so. However, when he attended he was out of his depth and bullied to an extent on the day and unfortunately convicted.

This placed him on 6 points. Mr. C contacted JMW Solicitors and discussed matters with Hojol Uddin, the trial was due to take place within 4 days, that included the weekend.

It was quite clear that Mr. C had a defence to the allegation on the grounds that he did respond to the notice. The issue he had was the previous conviction and that we had to be very careful not to inadvertently mention this at the same time Hojol had to make sure that the Prosecutor did not bring this up as it would clearly prejudice the trial position and likely to result in a conviction.

On the date of trial Hojol discussed matters with the Crown Prosecutor whom immediately suggested that she would seek to make a bad character application due to his previous conviction. It was made clear to the Prosecutor that they had not complied with the procedures to submit this and therefore if she sought to bring this up then a formal application would have to be made and I would seek to contest this. The prosecutors backed down and did not pursue. It should be noted this was the same Prosecutor that dealt with his previous trial.

The trial proceeded, and the Magistrates heard all the evidence. Hojol then made closing submissions and the Magistrates retired very briefly and returned with a not guilty verdict.

In addition a defendants costs order was granted which will allow the client a proportion of legal costs in return.The right result in the end. This case was an example of the difference with and without representation.

JMW Solicitors Motoring Department are one of the leading experts in motoring offences in England and Wales and should you require advice please do not hesitate to contact us.