No licence — no fixed penalty
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You recently referred to drivers having problems producing licences to the authorities when they were away for renewal.
I understand that if a driver cannot produce his licence when caught for an offence which carries a licence endorsement, such as speeding, he cannot be given a fixed penalty, Because of this the offence might go to court where he will be fined a lot more than the £32 fixed penalty.
Is that right?
Yes. The penalty system is not available when a driving licence cannot be produced within seven days of the offence.
While the law dealing with the production of a driving licence provides for it to be produced outside the seven-day period as long as it is produced "as soon as reasonably practicable", that concession does not appear in the fixed penalty law.
Section 54(3) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 states that a fixed penalty notice may not be given by police for an offence which involves an obligatory licence endorsement unless the offender produces his driving licence.
If a person does not produce his driving licence at the time, Section 54(4) states that the policeman may give him a notice stating that if the licence is produced within seven days at a police station he will be given a fixed penalty notice there.
In other words, for a person to be eligible to be dealt with a fixed penalty he must (a) produce his driving licence or (b) produce it within seven days.
If a delay in the return of a renewed driving licence results in the driver being prosecuted he should explain to the court why the matter was not being dealt with by a fixed penalty, suggest that the fine should be no higher than the fixed penalty and request exemption from costs.
The same situation can arise when a driver surrenders his driving licence for a fixed penalty offence and before it is returned he is stopped for another endorsable fixed-penalty offence. While the receipt he obtains on surrendering his licence can be produced instead of a licence for general checking purposes, the receipt cannot be used as a substitute for a licence under Section 54(3) or 54(4).