Special Reasons

Many motoring offences carry penalties such as penalty points, licence endorsements or driving disqualification. A driver may be convicted after pleading guilty or following a trial where the court finds them guilty of the offence.

However, even where a conviction occurs, there may be circumstances that allow the court to avoid imposing penalty points or a driving ban. This may be possible if the driver can successfully argue that special reasons apply to the case.

Special reasons relate specifically to the circumstances surrounding the offence itself. If accepted by the court, they may allow a driver to avoid penalty points or disqualification, although the conviction will still remain.

What Counts as a Special Reason?

For a circumstance to qualify as a special reason, it must meet certain criteria. The issue must:

• be a mitigating or extenuating factor
  
• not amount to a full legal defence to the charge
  
• be directly connected to the offence itself rather than the personal circumstances of the driver
  
• be something the court considers relevant when deciding the appropriate sentence
  

When dealing with offences that normally require a driving disqualification, the court must impose the required ban unless it decides that special reasons justify reducing or avoiding the disqualification.

How the Court Considers Special Reasons

When a special reasons argument is raised, the court usually follows a two-stage process.

First, the court decides whether the circumstances presented amount to special reasons. If the court accepts that special reasons exist, it then has discretion to decide whether to impose penalty points or disqualification, reduce the length of a ban, or in some cases avoid these penalties entirely.

The responsibility for proving special reasons lies with the defence. The driver must show, on the balance of probabilities, that the circumstances meet the legal test.

Examples of Situations Where Special Reasons May Apply

Special reasons can arise in a variety of situations depending on the facts of the case.

Drink Driving Cases

In some drink driving cases, special reasons may be considered if the driver consumed alcohol without realising its strength or content. For example, a drink may have been tampered with or spiked without the driver’s knowledge.

Another situation may involve driving only a very short distance while over the legal alcohol limit.

In rare circumstances, a driver may also rely on an emergency situation, such as driving to obtain urgent medical assistance for another person.

Driving Without Insurance

Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence, meaning a person may still be guilty even if they believed they were insured.

However, special reasons may exist if the driver was genuinely misled into believing they were covered by insurance. For example, this could occur if another person arranged the insurance policy and incorrectly assured the driver that they were properly insured.

Driving While Disqualified

Driving while disqualified is also treated as a strict liability offence. In some cases, however, a driver may argue that they were unaware that a disqualification had been imposed.

This might occur if a court hearing took place in the driver’s absence and they did not know about the proceedings or the resulting disqualification.

The Effect of Special Reasons

If the court accepts that special reasons apply, it has the discretion to reduce or avoid the usual penalty.

This means that although the driver may still be convicted of the offence, they could avoid penalty points or a driving ban that would normally be imposed.