He's already been warned that he may be prosecuted.
And no NIP is required for the offence anyway.
The only real avenue he has is to decline the fixed penalty (which means the next he will hear will be a "Single Justice Procedure Notice"). He can then plead guilty in response to that and ask for a court hearing. At that hearing he can ask the court to consider that there are "Special Reasons" (SR) not to endorse his licence and impose points or a ban.
Frankly I don't hold out much hope of success with that. The offence is one of strict liability and it is the driver's responsibility to be as sure as he can be that cover is in place. Even with auto-renewal things can go wrong (e.g. credit card expired) and a driver who did not check that his policy had renewed in those circumstances would not succeed with a SR argument.
The court might take into consideration his other problems which may just swing it. But equally there is a danger that court might consider that with all these issues which may affect his ability to stay on top of the administrative responsibilities associated with driving, should he really be driving at all?
Weighing up the pros and cons, the fixed penalty will cost him £300 and six points. If his SR argument fails he will still have six points imposed (the offence carries 6-8 points or a disqualification, but there's no reason to suspect the court would go beyond the minimum). He will also be liable to a means-related fine, a surcharge of 40% of the fine and prosecution costs of around £90. In view of his lack of funds, it is unlikely that total will greatly exceed the FP sum.
In summary, I doubt very much that a SR argument will succeed. But it probably will not cost him too much over and above the FP sum to give it a try. However, it will mean a trip to court to present his SR argument.
|
