Caught Driving Without a Licence
Driving without a licence is a slightly bizarre motoring offence. It would be reasonably to assume that it’s a quite serious offence and would naturally lead to a driving ban, but that isn’t always the case.
The offence of driving without a licence does carry penalty points, so it should still be taken seriously.
Have you Been Stopped Driving Without a Licence?
Driving while you are disqualified is a different offence to driving without a licence.
If you drive while disqualified you run the serious risk of imprisonment because by driving whilst your licence has been disqualified by the court, you are deemed as having ignored an order of the court.
Driving without a licence is however a lesser offence and you can commit it in several different ways, some of which are endorsable with 3 penalty points while some versions of the offence carry no points.
Endorsable Driving Licence Offences.
Driving without a licence is an endorsable offence if you have no entitlement to drive the type of vehicle that you are driving. A good example of this would be a person driving a manual car having only ever passed an automatic car driving test. This would car 3 penalty points.
Riding a motorcycle without ever passing a full motorcycle test and without a motorbike entitlement is also endorsable on your licence with three points.
Similarly, driving without ‘L’ plates and without a qualified supervisor is also an endorsable offence if you haven’t ever passed a full driving test and so only have a provisional driving licence. This will also earn you three points.
Non-Endorsable Driving Licence Offences.
Non endorsable offences include;
Driving without a licence if you have passed the required test and have an entitlement to drive the vehicle you are using, but for some reason your licence at that time had been either revoked or suspended.
This can happen if you happen to be convicted of an endorsable motoring offence without being aware of it and the Driver Vehicle Licencing Authority have been unable to contact you so that they can add the relevant points to it.
If you fail to respond to letters from the DVLA they will suspend/revoke your driving licence while they wait for you to surrender it.
In order to have your licence returned you just need to surrender it to the DVLA so your outstanding penalty points can be added.
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A new client came to us after being banned by the Magistrates for 6 months. He had accumulated 12 points within 3 years and the Magistrates court banned him for 6 months. The client tried to argue exceptional hardship on his own and the court rejected his argument.
Our client instructed us to represent him at court when he was charged with overloading a hired minibus. He had hired the minibus as he had his extended family visiting for a holiday. At the same time builders were refurbishing his house and asked him if he could help them collect some extra sand and cement. Our client agreed and they went with him to the DIY shop to collect the materials.
Our client was stopped on the way back home for overloading. He was devasted by the charge and the subsequent court proceedings, due to the fact that it was an innocent mistake and he was in the process of applying for an indefinite leave to remain in the UK visa.
He approached many so called motoring lawyers before us who told him to plead guilty and take the fine and points. We acted on his behalf and made a special reasons argument and also an argument under s.48 RTOA 88. The court agreed not to give any points and to impose an absolute discharge meaning that the conviction was imediately spent.
At Patterson Law we think outside of the box and we go the extra mile to try and achieve the results you need. Contact us now on 01626 359800 or email e.patterson@pattersonlaw.co.uk if you want lawyers who represent an island of excellence in a sea of mediocrity!
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