Driver escapes disqualification following 12 penalty points with successful exceptional hardship application.

Barrister, Millicent Dooher, represented this driver who faced a 6 month disqualification for ‘totting’ before the Magistrates’ Court. Millicent was able to establish that the driver, who worked as a sole trader in the construction industry and provided work to his step-son who was due to start an apprenticeship, would have suffered exceptional hardship if a 6 month disqualification was imposed.

It is very common for the Courts to look at the impact on others rather than just the impact on the driver when considering exceptional hardship. Here, the impact on the driver’s step-son and the driver’s partner were the decisive features of the exceptional hardship.