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by Les Oldridge, AMIRTE, MIMI
Disqualification and endorsement of driving licences
A HEAVY FINE and sometimes imprisonment are the penalties for the more serious traffic offences but in addition an offender may be disqualified from driving for a period and /or have the conviction endorsed on his driving licence. To the professional driver disqualification is of course, a very severe punishment. The employer is also affected: he must. either find the driver another job not involving driving, or dismiss him; and if the employer is unaware of the disqualification and continues to employ him he may be Prosecuted for employing an unlicensed driver.
The relevant law is contained in Sections 93 to 103 of the Road Traffic Act 1972. Schedule 4, Part I, of the Act sets out Punishments for all the offences under the Act and in column 5 of the Schedule it is stated whether or not a particular offence . carries with it disqualification and if so whether it is obligatory or discretionary. Column 6 of the same Schedule deals in the same way with endorsements of driving licences. Parts II and III of the Schedule list a few other offences under other Acts which carry disqualification or endorsements of driving licences.
Section 93 of the Act specifies that where an offence is scheduled as being one where disqualification is obligatory then the offender must be disqualified for at least 12 months unless the court, for "special reasons", thinks fit to order him to be disqualified for a shorter period or not to order him to be disqualified. More about. these "special reasons" later. Where offences are shown as carrying discretionary disqualification the defendant May be disqualified for such a period as the court thinks fit.
The offences in the 4th Schedule for which disqualification must be ordered are: manslaughter, or in Scotland culpable homicide; causing death by dangerous driving; dangerous driving committed within three years after a previous conviction for a similar offence; driving while unfit through drink or drugs or with the proportion of alcohol in the blood above the permitted limits; motor racing on the highway. .
Among the offences where the court may use its discretion about disqualification are: reckless, dangerous, careless and inconsiderate driving; driving under age; being in charge of (as opposed to driving) a motor vehicle while unfit to drive through drink or drugs or with the blood-alcohol concentration above the prescribed limits; carrying a passenger on a motorcycle not sitting astride; failing to comply with traffic signs or constable's signal; leaving vehicle in a dangerous position; failing to stop after an accident; parts and accessories in a dangerous condition; defective brakes, steering gear, tyres or offences concerning weight; certain cases of driving without a driving licence or failing to comply with conditions of a provisional licence; driving with uncorrected defective eyesight; driving while disqualified; using a motor vehicle without insurance; driving a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner; theft of a motor vehicle; pedestrian-crossing offence; school crossing patrol offence; and certain motorway offences.
Escaping endorsement
• Generally, in all the offences listed above as having obligatory or discretional disqualification, there must be an endorsement of the driving licence, unless there are "special reasons" for not doing so. In the case of the Construction and Use offences of dangerous parts and accessories, defective brakes, steering, tyres or weight, the defendant need not be disqualified or have his licence endorsed if he proves that he did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the facts of the case were such that the offence would be committed.
Suppose, for example, that a lorry is stopped by the police and on examination it is found that a main leaf on a front spring has fractured allowing the axle to drift forward and backwards. The driver and the owners of the lorry are both prosecuted under Regulation 76 of the C and U Regulations for using the vehicle in a dangerous condition. It is fairly certain that they cannot escape conviction for this offence but if evidence can be produced that the lorry was properly maintained and that it was inspected as a matter of routine shortly before the offence then it is probable that the driving licences of the driver and the owner will not be endorsed and that they will not be disqualified from driving.
It would be necessary, under these circumstances, to produce to the court the relevant maintenance documents and perhaps to call the mechanic who carried out the last inspection before the offence to prove that the defendants did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the defect was present. As well as avoiding disqualification or endorsement this evidence is likely to impress the magistrates so that the penalty they impose is less severe than would otherwise be the case.
With the risk of suspension, revocation or curtailment of one's operator's licence by the Licensing Authority for any conviction for failing to maintain the vehicles in a fit and serviceable condition, anything done to reduce the penalties for offences committed in similar circumstances to those in the hypothetical case discussed is worth while.