When the law requires a court to disqualify a driver or impose penalty-points on their driving licence, the only thing that can prevent that happening is a find that there is a special reason not to follow the usual rule.
Special reasons are things that mitigate the offence, are not a defence to the charge, but are directly connected to the offence, and are something the court should consider when imposing sentence. Because the special reason must be connected to the offence it cannot be something about you, e.g. that you will lose your job, such arguments can be effective when asking a court to find exceptional hardship would be caused by a driving ban.
They are most used following a drink driving conviction but can be used in response to any driving offence that carries mandatory points or disqualification. Special reasons do not apply where a court has a discretion whether to impose points/disqualify.
The most common special reasons are: laced drinks, i.e. your drink has been spiked with alcohol or a drug without your knowledge and you would not have been over the limit but for that spiking. Short distance driven; this applies where you drove such a short distance that nobody was at risk from your presence on the road. Emergency, this will apply if you are escaping a threat or rushing to help somebody. Deception, this is relatively rare but would apply if you have been misled, for example about whether a vehicle was insured, and that deception caused you to commit the offence.
It is often helpful to have evidence to support what you say. That could be in the form of an expert or medical report in the case of laced drinks, or an independent witness who comes to court to tell the court what was happening at the time of the offence.
When the court accepts your special reason, it opens up other avenues of sentencing that would not usually be available. In one case, we represented a young man who said his drink had been spiked but was unable to get the spiker to come to court. The court heard his evidence and found in his favour. Normally, he would have received a fine and up to a 17 month driving ban; however, the court found he was not at fault and instead imposed an absolute discharge meaning that although he had been convicted there was no punishment and nothing was added to his driving licence.
In cases where the court finds there is a special reason but that the defendant is not wholly blameless, the can still chose to impose a discretionary driving disqualification but that is rare and usually avoided if you have a good solicitor.
By instructing a specialist motoring solicitor with experience of defending these cases you increase your chances of staying on the road. Call us today on 01869 866 490 or drop us an email via our contact page.