How Should I Reply To A Single Justice Procedure Notice For Speeding?

You have been accused of speeding. Time has passed and you had started to think your matter may have been lost in the system. Then to your disappointment a Single Justice Procedure Notice arrives in the post. How you reply to this document is crucial.

Why have I received a Single Justice Procedure Notice?

If you commit a speeding offence hopefully you will be offered a speed awareness course. This should happen if the speed was relatively low and you haven’t done such a course in the previous three years. A speed awareness course is a particularly attractive option because it means that you will escape penalty points being put on your driving licence. Also your insurance premiums will not be affected.

If you don’t meet the criteria for a speed awareness course you may still be able to avoid your matter going to court. This would be by accepting a “conditional offer of fixed penalty” (3 penalty points and a £100 fine). Such a fixed penalty may be offered if the speed wasn’t too high and you didn’t have 9, or more, penalty points on your driving licence already.

However, if neither of these options are possible then court proceedings will start and you will be sent a document called a Single Justice Procedure Notice in the post.

What is a Single Justice Procedure Notice?

The Single Justice Procedure Notice will have the details of the offence you have been accused of. You will have to confirm that your personal details are correct. You will be asked to give your financial details. Most significantly, the Single Justice Procedure Notice will give you three options:-

To plead guilty and request for the matter to be dealt with in your absence by the Single Justice (a magistrate) and their legal advisor.
To plead guilty and request a court hearing which you will attend in the Magistrates’ Court.
To plead not guilty and have a trial.

Your reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice will then go before a Single Justice who, with the help of their legal advisor, will then decide the next step. No one else is allowed to be present.

Can any defences be found from the Single Justice Procedure Notice?

Importantly, in the Single Justice Procedure Notice it will normally mention the “charge date”. This has to be within 6 months of the date of the speeding offence or you will have a technical defence.

The Single Justice Procedure Notice will have a description of the allegation. This will either be a Statement of Facts or a witness statement. If a police officer pulled you over there will often be their statement attached. There may be photographs from the camera that recorded your speed. Such information may give rise to a defence.

How long do I have to respond to the Single Justice Procedure Notice?

You will have 21 days to respond. You can reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice online or by post. If you are going to send your reply by post you should take a photocopy, so that you have a record, and send it by special delivery.

What happens if I do not reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice?

If you do not reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice the Single Justice will decide the outcome of your case without your input. This will almost invariably result in you being found guilty. The Single Justice may then put your matter over for a Magistrates Court hearing to consider disqualifying you, or send a Notice Of Proposed Driving Disqualification to you. Alternatively, he/she may deal with your matter themselves, in your absence, by putting penalty points on your driving license. When you are sentenced you will not have the normal reduction in your sentence for a guilty plea and this could result in a higher fine, longer driving ban or more penalty points.

How should I reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice if I am not guilty?

If you believe you are not guilty of the alleged speeding offence then you should indicate this in your response to the Single Justice Procedure Notice. In your reply you will need to give a brief summary of your defence and to mention any witnesses you want to support you. The Single Justice will then list your matter for a trial for you to attend at the Magistrates’ Court. You shouldn’t plead “not guilty” lightly because if you loose the trial there will not be the reduction in your punishment that you would have received for pleading guilty. Also you will have to pay more towards the prosecution costs.

How should I respond to the Single Justice Procedure Notice if I am guilty?

What if you decide that you want to plead guilty to the speeding offence? Should you respond to the Single Justice Procedure Notice by saying that you are willing to attend the Magistrates’ Court? Or should you reply by saying you don’t want to attend court and you wish to be sentenced in your absence? The answer will depend on how high your speed was, and whether you had penalty points on your driving licence at the time of the offence.

How should I answer the Single Justice Procedure Notice if my speed was low?

If the speed for the offence wasn’t that fast then you may want to be sentenced in your absence by the Single Justice. This would be in the hope that your licence won’t be in danger and you’ll just receive penalty points and be ordered to pay a small amount of money. Here, you would need to tick the box in your reply to the Single Justice procedure Notice saying you are guilty and you do not want to attend court. If you choose to go down this route you should include in your reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice some mitigation, for example brief comments about how sorry you are for committing the offence. You should also provide details of your finances. However if you already have so many penalty points on your driving licence, that there is a real danger of accumulating 12 penalty points or more, the Single Justice will refuse to deal with your case in your absence. In such an instance, he, or she, may put your matter over for a full hearing for you to attend. This is because the law states that if you end up with 12, or more, penalty points then you have to be disqualified for at least 6 months unless you can successfully argue Exceptional Hardship. Exceptional Hardship is where you and others will suffer, more so than most, if you can’t drive.

How should I reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice if my speed was high?

But what if your speed was far over the speed limit? Should you still reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice, stating that you want to plead guilty and don’t want to go to the Magistrates’ Court? Alternatively, should you say that you do want to attend court? The Single Justice will not disqualify you in your absence. If he/she believes that a disqualification should be considered then they will put your matter over for a full hearing for you to attend. If your speed was really high then it may annoy the Single Justice if you had asked for him/her to deal with the matter in your absence in your reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice. The Single Justice may very well think, in such a case, that you are “trying it on” and that you should have known that a full court hearing would be necessary because the court will need to consider disqualifying you. Such a reply may therefore lead the Single Justice to believe you are wasting their valuable time getting them to consider this. In a case like this it may have been better if, in your response to the Single Justice Procedure Notice, you had simply asked for a full hearing for you to attend in the first place.

Should I send a letter with my response to the Single Justice Procedure Notice?

However, what if your speed was such that, although the Single Justice would be inclined to put the matter over for a full court hearing to consider disqualification, they could still be persuaded to deal with the matter themselves by way of penalty points. In such a case, your reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice, indicating that you wish to plead guilty but want to be sentenced in your absence, should be accompanied by a carefully worded letter. After careful analysis over the years Speeding Law Solicitors have come to the conclusion that in order to stand a reasonable chance of success, this should only be attempted where the speed falls within the following ranges:-

In a 20mph speed limit: 35mph - 42mph

In a 30mph speed limit: 45mph - 53mph

In a 40mph speed limit: 60mph - 68mph

In a 50mph speed limit: 71mph - 78mph

In a 60mph speed limit: 85mph - 93mph

In a 70mph speed limit: 95mph - 103mph

What should such a letter, sent with my reply to the Single Justice Procedure notice, say?

If your speed fell within the above ranges, and you want to try and persuade the Single Justice, with a letter, to deal with your matter by way of penalty points, in your absence, it will have to be very well written. This letter, that accompanies the reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice, should first ask the Single Justice to be lenient because you have pleaded guilty rather than going through a trial. It should emphasise any remorse that you feel. Also, it may be helpful if the letter to the Single Justice mentions your driving history before the offence took place. It may give the circumstances of this particular speeding offence and why it was unusual. It could also say how you now drive much more carefully since the offence took place. The rest of the letter should talk about the difficulties any driving ban would cause, with particular emphasis being placed on innocent parties that may be affected. These could be, for example, your spouse, children and any friends or relatives (particularly if they are physically or mentally vulnerable). The tone of the letter will be very important and it will have to sound respectful, and remorseful, rather than confrontational.

What are the advantages of the Single Justice sentencing me in my absence?

First and foremost, if the Single Justice is persuaded by such a letter to sentence you without your attendance then you will normally not be disqualified from driving. As well as still being able to drive, there is also a financial benefit because having penalty points imposed, rather than a disqualification, almost always results in a far lower increase in your insurance premiums. This saving can be substantial because your insurance premiums will normally be affected over a 5 year period. Also if the matter is dealt with in your absence by the Single Justice this saves you from having the stressful experience of attending court and potentially taking a day off work.

What are the problems if the Single Justice doesn’t sentence me?

Despite the above, we find that a lot of other specialist motoring law firms still advise their clients, whose speeds fall within the above ranges, to instead reply to the Single Justice Procedure Notice saying that they are guilty and want to attend court. The tragedy with this advice is that you not only miss out on the above benefits but you have greatly reduced your chances of saving your driving licence. This is because you can then only argue to keep your driving licence on the one occasion when you appear before the Magistrates at a full court hearing. By contrast, with our suggested method there are potentially two opportunities to save your driving licence. The first being because of the written representations in your letter, and then, in the event that the Single Justice doesn’t decide to bring the matter to an end, a second opportunity to save your licence when you appear before the Magistrates.

Contact Speeding Law Solicitors today!

Writing a good letter to the Single Justice is not easy. If the letter is not correctly written it will frustrate the Single Justice rather than help persuade him / her to deal with your matter themselves leniently. Over the years we, at Speeding Law Solicitors, feel that we have perfected the art and we have a very high success rate to reflect this. This involves taking the client’s detailed instructions, drafting the letter, and then emailing this to the client to check before it is sent to the court. Since November 2018, our founding solicitor, Philip Hatvany, has over a 90% success rate in persuading the Single Justice to impose penalty points in the client’s absence, where the speed falls within the above ranges, rather than putting the matter over for a full hearing to consider disqualification. Call Philip now on FREEPHONE 0800 909 8110 for a FREE initial consultation.