If you are convicted of a driving offence, but are not sentenced on the day, the court can, in certain situations, disqualify you while you’re waiting for your sentencing hearing. The power to imposed an interim ban is designed to protect the public and prevent motoring offenders from driving around for weeks or months after a conviction. This court power can be found in section 26 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.
When Would a Driving Ban be Imposed?
For the court to impose an interim disqualification:
– The individual must have been convicted – that is to say they pleaded guilty or were found guilty after a trial.
– The offence must carry a mandatory disqualification – it must be a certainty that the offender will be disqualified for a period of time, even if it has not yet been decided how long.
– The magistrates can impose an interim disqualification either when sending an offender to the Crown Court for sentencing or adjourning for sentencing in a further magistrates’ court hearing.
– The court usually reserves this measure for more serious motoring offences such a dangerous driving.
How long can it last for?
Interim disqualifications are generally imposed until an offender is sentenced properly, but they cannot last for more than six months, so whichever comes first. This can cause confusion particularly when more serious offences are sent to the Crown Court for sentencing, which can take longer than six months (see case study below).
Time served
Once a disqualification has been decided by the court and an offender has been sentenced, the period of the interim disqualification is subtracted from the disqualification imposed. For example, when you are convicted an interim disqualification is imposed pending the sentencing hearing. If after four months you are disqualified for 20 months at your sentencing hearing, having been banned in the interim, you will be back on the road 16 months from the date of the sentencing hearing (subject to any DVLA clearance that may be required).
The DVLA may take it away
The DVLA have the power to revoke a person’s licence when they believe that they are a threat to public safety. This again usually happens with the most serious offences, such as dangerous driving. However, it can also happen when alcohol or drug dependency issues are suspected or revealed in court. If the DVLA learns that a person is addicted to a substance, they will usually put measures in place which will include a medical examination and drug or alcohol testing before a person is allowed to drive again.
There are also mandatory DVLA medical tests for certain “high risk” drink driving offenders where they provided an alcohol reading over a certain level, are a repeat offender or failed to provide a specimen.
Case Study – Interim Driving Disqualification
In the recent case of R v Jamieson Green Marshall, the aforementioned pitfalls of the current interim disqualification rules were demonstrated. The original case began in 2020 during Covid 19, the defendant pleaded guilty and an interim disqualification was ordered. The case was then sent to the Crown Court for sentencing. However, for various reasons, that sentencing hearing did not take place for 16 months. A 30 month disqualification was imposed and the judge wrongly assumed that the disqualification began from the date of the interim disqualification. This sentence was appealed and it was pointed out that the interim disqualification should only have been able to run for 6 months. This meant that technically a maximum of 6 months should automatically be subtracted from the final disqualification. Recognising the intention of the judge to account for the time that the offender had been off of the road due to the delay, the appeal judges quashed the 30 month disqualification and replaced it with a disqualification of 19 months and 25 days. The distinction is that interim disqualifications are a separate entity and do not count as the beginning of a disqualification.
With court backlogs still present due to stretched resources and a slow recovery from Covid 19, it seems that this confusion will likely occur again. Technically, the offender in the above case should have been able to drive for 10 months between his interim disqualification and sentencing hearing, due to the 6 month time limit applicable to interim disqualifications. As he was not aware of this, the problem was easy to solve on this occasion. However, the statute setting out this court power could result in a situation that was certainly not the intention of those who drafted it.
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