Cardiff Magistrates Court

Mr S D appeared before Cardiff Magistrates Court for speeding and failing to identify the driver, an offence under Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.  Mr Hatvany, a specialist motoring defence solicitor, persuaded the prosecutor that he could never produce the necessary evidence to show the magistrates that Mr S D was guilty of the speeding offence.  Eventually, the prosecutor agreed to withdraw the matter of speeding due to the lack of evidence.  This just left the allegation that Mr S D had failed to inform the police as to who was driving, despite their request for information.  Mr S D maintained his not guilty plea concerning this matter and the trial went ahead.  Philip Hatvany persuaded the magistrates that Mr S D had changed address and, therefore, the police had sent the request for driver details to the wrong address, and that Mr S D couldn’t therefore reply to the request as he had never received it.

Outcome:

The magistrates found Mr S D not guilty.