Driving Ban

Driving disqualifications

Drink Driving

If you are caught drink-driving in Manchester the penalties are harsh. If you are found guilty of drink-driving you could be imprisoned, banned from driving and face a fine if you’re found guilty. If you plan to go out and consume alcohol do not drive. Public transport and taxi services are the best options.

Disqualification for drink-driving

Depending on your offence, you may also be sent to prison for 6 months get an unlimited fine and a driving ban for at least 1 year (3 years if convicted twice in 10 years). If you refuse to provide a specimen of breath, blood or urine you may get 6 months in prison an unlimited fine and a driving ban for at least 1 year.

If you’re disqualified from driving for 12 months or more, you might be able to reduce your ban by taking a drink-drive rehabilitation course.

You’ll need to apply for a new licence after your disqualification ends.

Disqualification for drug-driving

Prescription medicines

It’s illegal in England, Scotland and Wales to drive with legal drugs in your body if it impairs your driving.

It’s an offence to drive if you have over the specified limits of certain drugs in your blood and you have not been prescribed them.

Talk to your doctor about whether you should drive if you’ve been prescribed any of the following drugs:

amphetamine, for example, dexamphetamine or selegiline
clonazepam
diazepam
flunitrazepam
lorazepam
methadone
morphine or opiate and opioid-based drugs, for example, codeine, tramadol or fentanyl
oxazepam
temazepam

You can drive after taking these drugs if:

you’ve been prescribed them and followed the advice on how to take them from a healthcare professional
they are not causing you to be unfit to drive even if you’re above the specified limits

Speeding

The minimum speeding penalty is a £100 fine and also 3 penalty points on to your licence. You may be eligible for a National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme course instead. Failing to respond to the notice your case will be referred to court because you failed to provide the information you were asked for by the Police.

If a speed camera catches you

Within 14 days of your car being caught speeding you’ll be sent a:

Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP)
Section 172 notice

You must return the Section 172 notice within 28 days, telling the police who was driving the car.

High-speed offences

These are usually defined as 20 mph or more over the speed limit. This can lead to a Court summons & prosecution. Penalties in the range of 3 – 6 points or a discretionary disqualification of between 7-56 days and up to £1000 fine (up to £2500 for speeding on a motorway). Police are required to lodge the summons with the Court within 6 months, but this does not mean that if you don’t hear from them within six months that you have escaped prosecution.

Driver awareness courses

Once you’ve responded to the notice, and done so within the required timeframe, you could be sent:

an option to attend a driver awareness course under the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme
a fixed penalty notice
or a letter telling you to go to court

The police will consider the following grounds when assessing your eligibility for the driver awareness course:

Your speed narrowly exceeded the limit and falls within the guidelines set out by the National Police Chief Council (NPCC) up to:

- 31 mph in a 20 mph area
- 42 mph in a 30 mph area
- 53 mph in a 40 mph area
- 64 mph in a 50 mph area
- 75 mph in a 60 mph area
- 86 mph in a 70 mph area

You haven’t already completed a course within three years or are booked on an upcoming course

Drink and Drug Driving

If you are caught for drink or drug driving there are heavy penalties. You will lose your driving licence and could also receive a prison sentence. If you are convicted you will also receive a criminal record. The majority of drink and drug driving offences will be considered spent after 5 years.

If you are concerned or worried about an upcoming court date, contact us on 07541 281 120. We have experienced solicitors who can offer free advice and help you every step of the way. Use our contact form to get in touch.

Endorsements

Endorsements must stay on your driving record for 4 or 11 years, depending on the offence. Drink driving Codes DR10 to DR61 must stay on a driving record for 11 years from the date of the conviction. Codes DR40 to DR70 must stay on a driving record for 4 years from the date of the offence or 4 years from the date of conviction where disqualification is imposed.

Drug driving these codes must stay on a driving record for 11 years from the date of the conviction. DG10, DG 60 and DR 80.

These codes must stay on a driving record for 4 years from the date of the offence or 4 years from the date of conviction where disqualification is imposed. DG40, DR 70 DR 90.

For more information on drug and drink driving penalties call 07541 281 120. We have experienced solicitors who can offer free advice and help you every step of the way. Use our contact form to get in touch.

Mis Sold Car Finance

Mis-Sold Car Finance. Have you paid a commission on your agreement you did not know about?

PCP is a credit agreement taken with a commercial finance company to purchase a car from a car dealer who is also the credit or loan broker.

This is how PCP work and this is how it is unique from other loan agreements: Your Total Loan Amount (the total amount you borrow) is the value agreed between you the sales company and the commercial finance company to purchase the vehicle less any deposit Your Total Repayment Amount over the agreed term does not discharge the Total Loan Amount.

Call us on 0754 128 1120, email us at info@helpline4u.co.uk, or enter your details here for us to contact you. It’s completely free to get in touch and we’d be glad to discuss your situation and offer advice on Mis Sold Car Finance.

Your Total Repayment Amount is calculated as Total Loan Amount + interest on the total loan amount – Balloon Payment
The balloon payment is also known as the guaranteed future value. This is the agreed future value of the vehicle at the time of the last payment of the Total Repayment Amount. This valuation is agreed upon at the time the PCP is taken out agreed and signed by the parties. When the total repayment amount is discharged you pay the balloon payment as one final but large payment and you own the car. At the end of the total repayment amount period if the vehicle is worth more than the balloon payment then the difference can be used as equity to offset against another PCP.

If you hand the car back, you will still have paid interest on the Total Loan Amount over the agreed period within the Total Repayment Amount, and the finance company remains the owner throughout the term of the PCP agreement.

In October 2019 the Financial Conduct Authority produced a report wherein it stated:
“The way commission arrangements are operating in motor finance may be leading to consumer harm on a potentially significant scale. Some customers are paying significantly more for their motor finance because of the way lenders chose to remunerate their brokers.”

Interest, Commission in PCP and The Law as we see it.

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 provides a collection of rules protecting consumers from financial institutions.

One of the rules in the Act is section 140(a) which gives a Court powers to reopen credit transactions if it decides that because something is done or not done by or on behalf of the creditor the relationship was unfair to the debtor.

Where the borrower is not told or even where the borrower is told commission is paid by the lender to the broker but not how much, this may amount to unfairness.

On the question of non-disclosure of commission as a whole or the amount (even where the financial and conduct of business rules do not mandate disclosure) unfairness may be found by a Court when taking into account the characteristics of the borrows and the information available to the borrower.

A significant inequality of information between lenders and borrowers is capable of making their relationship unfair. It is liable to limit the borrower’s ability to make an informed choice.

Furthermore, where a commission is declared but the amount withheld can constitute unfairness as the borrower is unaware as to how much of the repayment is consumed by commission.

It may be that if a borrower is informed they would have questioned this and shopped around for a cheaper option.

Turning to the potential issue of lack of advice by a broker the problem could be that it is the broker that recommends the lender they are the borrows broker and the only intermediary dealing directly with the borrower.

It is an essential requirement of s140(a) of the Act that the unfairness of the relationship should arise from something is done or not done on behalf of the lender. The act views the broker as the creditor’s agent or someone who is answerable in law either under the act itself or otherwise. The broker must give advice as to the suitability of any product that is a function they must perform in the borrower’s interest as the borrower’s brokers. To do otherwise amounts to unfairness The Lender is not subject to this obligation of advice the broker is but both are subject to unfairness as a stress test of their activities in terms of disclosure of commission.

Of particular relevance to the PCP is s140 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the case of Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance Limited. Although this case referred to the hidden commission in a Credit Agreement in respect of an insurance premium undoubtedly the principles are very relevant to the findings of the Financial Conduct Authority and PCP.

Any armchair lawyers out there can watch this decision and understand the rationale behind it in the judgement as brilliantly set down and read out by Lord Sumption in this famous supreme court case of Plevin.

Unfairness Identified In PCP Agreements
We have identified some but are not limited to the following examples of potential unfairness.

The FCA identified that commission was calculated within the interest payment made by the customer to the commercial finance company. A proportion of that interest was then paid by the finance company to the dealer broker in accordance with a behind the scenes agreement between the dealer broker and the lender.

This arrangement was not disclosed to the consumer specifically including the amount paid effectively paid by the consumer. This commission inflated the total value repaid for no apparent benefit to the consumer.

Consumers were potentially denied the opportunity to identify cheaper products.

Customer confusion could amount to unfair representations explained by the broker. The lender’s Equity, for example, the reference to the difference between the balloon payment and the value of the car at completion of the repayments is an enticing term that in reality may have little commercial attraction to the borrower. An advertising narrative is persuasive if not in the borrower’s best interest.

The Rate of Interest. Taking into account the Bank of England bank base rate of 0.1% how proportionate is the agreement rate on a PCP relative to this rate for example the broker acting in its own best interests and not in the interests of the lender.

Credit Risk, do any documents you received contain any evidence as to how interest was calculated. For example your creditworthiness, a higher risk borrower can expect to pay more interest above the average as there is evidence as to risk to the lender.

So these are just some examples of unfairness in PCPs that may have been present in agreements within the past 10 years.

PCP Claims in Reddish

PCP claims in Reddish. Have you paid a commission on your agreement you did not know about?

PCP claims in Reddish is a credit agreement taken with a commercial finance company to purchase a car from a car dealer who is also the credit or loan broker.

This is how PCP claims in Reddish work and this is how it is unique from other loan agreements: Your Total Loan Amount (the total amount you borrow) is the value agreed between you the sales company and the commercial finance company to purchase the vehicle less any deposit Your Total Repayment Amount over the agreed term does not discharge the Total Loan Amount.