Outdated Licence Offenders Wrongly Convicted

After the recent discovery that two people involved in a minor road accident where the police were called only to realise that the people involved in the crash had outdated licences. These two cases where eventually dropped as it was found that they were incorrectly charged, but how can you mistake an outdated licence? The date is on the licence itself. Well it wasn’t a factor of getting the date wrong, their licences where out of date it was a different factor all together.

So what was the issue? Police regular fine minor traffic offenders with a section 87 offence which is the normal section for a minor driving offence which is what they assumed the outdated licence offence to be in several cases however the actual section offence should have been section 99, its believe that many people have been subject to this mistake and its costing you. The difference between the offences charged is in an 87 offence you get a fine and points off your licence whereas in a 99 section offence should only be a fine for not keeping your licence up to date, the issue is that it’s believed many people have points on their licence due to this mishap when they should not.

This has become a big issue as the points may have been issued to several thousands of people as this mistake is believed to have been wide spread. It’s even caught the attention of Chief Superintendent Irene Curtis, president of the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales, who said: “We need to get this right; the last thing we want to do is alienate and punish members of the public who have made a minor mistake with disproportionate action.” These points could seriously affect someone’s livelihood as driving may be essential and such a minor thing could add in addition to other points to cause a ban.

Having worked in the car rental industry for over 15 years, he really knows his stuff. Rob heads up our marketing department and as a keen traveller, always has a new location to talk about. Particularly if there is a golf course nearby.