Special Reasons

Special reasons cannot be found to impose a lesser number of penalty points for an endorsable offence.  However, if the Court is persuaded by special reasons to exercise its discretion not to endorse, then you will not have any penalty points endorsed on your licence.  In other words, the Court must either endorse the appropriate number of penalty points or decide because of special reasons not to endorse at all.

Conversely, if disqualification applies, the Court can exercise its discretion not to disqualify at all or to substantially reduce the period of disqualification.  To amount to special reasons, a matter must:

1. Be a mitigating or extenuating circumstance;
2. Not amount in law to a defence to the charge;
3. Be directly connected with the commission of the offence; and
4. Be one which the Court ought properly to take into consideration when imposing sentence.

Insurance Offences

The general test whether the Court may apply special reasons in relation to driving without a valid certificate of insurance is as follows:

1. You had a genuine and honest belief that insurance was in place;
2. The genuine and honest belief was based upon reasonable grounds.

If the Court accepts your evidence that you were being truthful and this genuine and honest belief is based upon reasonable grounds, then you should avoid having any penalty points endorsed on your licence.  If convicted, you will receive between 6 to 8 penalty points, or you could even be disqualified.

Drink Driving

Special reasons for drink driving have already been outlined in our drink driving section – see link.

In short, special reasons may succeed in the following circumstances:

1. Emergencies;
2. Shortness of distance driven;
3. Spiked / Laced drinks.

Emergency Situations

A motorist may have committed an offence whilst coping with a true emergency.  This could apply to driving without a valid certificate of insurance, drink driving, careless or dangerous driving and speeding.

Examples could include driving an ill relative to a hospital where there is no other alternative available, escaping a domestic violence scenario or driving at excess speed due to the threat of personal injury.