Totting Up Case Study – Exceptional Hardship Could Harm Company

Everyone makes mistakes, even those who hold responsible positions and are well past the reckless days of youth. But, driving offences—especially speeding—can easily lead to too many points on a driving licence, leading to disqualification. And sometimes, mistakes impact innocent people’s lives.

The impact of mistakes is why scope exists to argue exceptional hardship at a court hearing. I was successful in arguing exceptional hardship for my client, a 46 year old business person. Before going into the details of the case, here’s more detail about ‘exceptional hardship’.

In simple terms, ‘exceptional hardship’ is a legal argument to avoid or reduce a prosecution—in this case, a driving disqualification. Your Motoring Offences Solicitor will provide evidence to the Magistrates’ Court that disqualifying you from driving would result in exceptional suffering for your dependents or a company and its employees.

If a driver accumulates twelve or more points on their driving licence, the Court must disqualify them from driving for a minimum of six months. By invoking the exceptional hardship argument, this ban can be significantly reduced or in some cases waived.

My client was a business owner in his 40s, married with children. He was a devoted father who was heavily involved in his children’s extracurricular activities.

My client had been driving for almost 20 years, without disqualification. However, his latest speeding offence resulted in him clocking-up twelve points on his licence—which meant automatic disqualification.

As the business owner, my client spent most of his working days visiting new or existing clients. His business employs seventeen people full time, very few of whom can drive. When he reached nine points on his driver’s licence, he cut back his client visits. He believes this contributed to two of his long-term clients moving to other suppliers.

Many of the company’s clients were rurally located and could not be reached by public transport. In his capacity as business owner, my client was required to visit sites from Scotland to Southern England. On average, my client travelled four days per week. He could not use public transport as he was often on the road before public services started.

If my client were not able to drive for work, he would be forced to make at least five people redundant. He and his wife would also see a drop in income, which would affect their ability to pay the mortgage and other expenses.

When presenting my client’s case to the Court, I stated that the hardship facing my client was exceptional as it was disproportionate in terms of the consequences of a six month driving ban. I pointed out that my client could not operate his business if he were unable to drive because:

• He needed to transport equipment to customer sites.

• Seventeen employees depended on him winning and retaining business.

• None of his employees that could drive were able to act as his driver due to the long hours involved and their personal circumstances. For the same reasons, he was unable to recruit a driver.

• All his business revenue was generated by him driving to carry out essential work that only he was qualified to do.

• His company is repaying its Covid bounce back loan.

I then directed the Court’s attention to Cornwall v Coke 1976 CrimLR 519, which states clearly that the Court must assess the implications of a driving disqualification on third parties, bearing in mind that those people are innocent but will suffer severe and disproportionate punishment.

In my client’s case, reduced business activity due to him being unable to drive would result in at least five redundancies—more if the business did not survive. And the consequences for my client and his family would also be catastrophic.

Finally, I assured the Court that if they did accept the exceptional hardship argument, my client would have to drive carefully and observe the law in every respect because he could not rely on the above arguments for at least three years. He would also have the equivalent of a 13 month suspended sentence as he could not afford to receive any more points until Spring 2024.

Totting Up Case Study 2: Exceptional Hardship Could Harm Company

What is exceptional hardship?

My client’s background

How I successfully argued exceptional hardship

Outcome