Exceptional hardship
Why should I care about exceptional hardship
You can only have a maximum of 11 penalty points on your driving licence at anyone time, reaching 12 or more penalty points is called totting up and anybody who tots up is automatically banned from driving for a minimum of 6 months.
Exceptional hardship can be used to escape the automatic driving ban.
Definition of exceptional hardship
All driving bans will cause hardship, in a way that is partly the point of a driving ban. However, where the hardship caused by the driving ban is more than is normally suffered you can rely on exceptional hardship escape the driving ban.
Solicitors have looked high and low for a definition for exceptional hardship (including in one baffling example a trip to the divorce courts for answers - divorce law also uses the concept of exceptional hardship). Judges have consistently refused to provide any hard and fast definition of exceptional hardship, which is a good thing if you are about to tot up because it allows you quite free range in fighting the driving ban.
Examples of exceptional hardship
When looking at examples you must remember that each case will turn on its own facts, so what works in one case might not work in another and vice versa.
The best exceptional hardship claims will involve hardship caused to somebody else rather than to you, this is because other people can be said to be innocent or any wrong-doing, so why should they be made to suffer?
Loss of employment - we begin with the toughest exceptional hardship claim. Unfortunately, many people who receive a driving ban go on to lose their jobs. Regrettably, the courts sometimes take the view that this is foreseeable and so is not an exceptional hardship. However, where the loss of employment impacts upon others the hardship can become exceptional. If you are a home-owner, losing your job can mean losing your home (housing benefit may protect a renter, but will not help if you own your home). This may be sufficient to amount to exceptional hardship, if the loss of your home will affect your partner and children then you have a good case for winning your exceptional hardship application. The court will expect to see evidence!
Harm to employer/employees - if you receiving a driving ban will cause loss to your employer or employees then you will have a strong claim for exceptional hardship. Again, the court will expect to receive strong evidence to back up this claim.
Caring for others - if you care for a relative who relies on your driving licence then you may have a claim for exceptional hardship. For example, if you have a disabled or ill child who you drive to hospital appointments, and there is no other way of them getting there, then exceptional hardship could work for you.
These are examples only and as has already been said, exceptional hardship can be almost anything. If you want to discuss whether you can make a successful exceptional hardship application call us now on 020 8242 4440.
What should I do now?
Being accused of a criminal offence is a stressful time and you may think that it's impossible to defend yourself or save your driving licence. We can review the case against you and give you our expert opinion on the strength of the evidence against, errors made by the prosecution, possible tactics to have prosecution evidence excluded, defences available and whether you can avoid penalty points if convicted. In 99.99% of cases we can provide this review quickly and cheaply so you can decide what to do once you have the full facts and not just the police's version.
You are also welcome to call us and speak with an experienced solicitor about your case for some preliminary advice. Although your solicitor can only give basic advice on the telephone based on what you say you will get an idea of what can be done. There's nothing to pay until you decide to instruct us, so if you decide not to instruct as after speaking on the telephone then it won't cost you a penny.
Feel free to give us a call now on 020 8242 4440 To discuss your options. Or you can send an email via our contact us page.