News

Carl Millar, head of department, recently represented Mr M at Crewe Magistrates Court in Cheshire, whereby he was accused of travelling in excess of 100mph on the motorway.

Regrettably, Mr M had received an urgent telephone call from a relative explaining that a close relative was in hospital and had less than 24 hours to live. The Magistrates accepted that this was a special reason for not endorsing any points on the defendant’s licence.

There are 4 criteria that must exist in order to raise the issue of special reasons:

It must be a mitigating or extenuating circumstance;
It must not amount in law to a defence to the charge;
It must be directly connected with the commission of the offence and;
The matter must be one that the Court ought properly to take into consideration when imposing punishment.
Mr Millar came across an old 1946 case called Whittall –v- Kirby. In that case, Lord Goddard had referred to the development of special reasons and gave an example of a doctor attending an emergency or a defendant going to see a dying relative. He explained that the list is not exhaustive and that anything could amount to a special reason. Although the law has developed since the 1946 case, and it is not necessarily the case that a special reason may exist for a doctor attending an emergency, the point about somebody travelling at excess speed to visit a dying relative has never been overruled.

Carl is of the view that to prepare a case thoroughly, it is always worth trawling through the old case law to try and find any nuggets of information that may help a client. In this particular case, the reference to a visit to a dying relative in the 1946 case proved to be absolutely vital and resulted in Mr M not receiving any points on his licence whatsoever.