Avoiding a driving ban on exceptional hardship grounds

My partner has been caught driving with no insurance. He has a court date to give evidence to show cause why he should not be banned. He is a self employed painter and decorator with a family to support. Can you give us any advice on what to say at the court appearance.

The offence concerned does not lead to a certain ban but it usually receives 6-8 penalty points and a substantial fine so if he has penalty points already on his licence he could well be banned under the totting up procedure. Furthermore in any event the magistrates can impose a ban of up to 56 days under their discretion.

To minimise the risk of being banned under either measure it is important your partner shows true remorse and establishes what is called an "exceptional hardship" defence. This essentially is a statement the effect the loss of licence would have on others and himself including his family.

Exceptional hardship defences are unique to every individual driver and we find they are best mounted with the defendant having has some professional assistance from a solicitor who knows precisely what the court will want to hear.

The Roadside Lawyer will initially provide expert motoring solicitor support to road traffic offence clients at a one off charge of £25 plus VAT for a detailed half hour telephone consultation. The solicitor will have been briefed and read about the background to your partner's case. After the consultation they will provide email notes and guidance detailing how you should best proceed. If you instruct us to further act for you, any additional charges will be notified before you incur them so you can take an informed decision on how much further expenditure you wish to incur. If you choose to let us represent you (usually with junior counsel) the initial call cost will be waived.

Please respond to this mail if you wish us to contact you regarding an initial consultation. It would be very useful if you could give us a time and date when it would be convenient for such a consultation to take place.

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