It has been reported today that Nottinghamshire has been involved in a trial for the government whereby specialised traffic courts have been instigated in an effort to fast track the court system dealing with motoring offences such as speeding and no insurance.

Since May 2012, in Nottinghamshire, most routine motoring offences have been scheduled to be heard at the Mansfield Magistrates Court, freeing up valuable court time for more serious matters at the Nottingham and Worksop Magistrates’ Courts. Initially on Mondays, but now also on Tuesdays, Mansfield has operated courts devoted to dealing with road traffic law – the case load of 160 or so cases now being split to around 80 cases a day! Ironically, this scheme came about hot on the heels of the closure of the Newark and Retford Magistrates’ Courts in Notts on ‘cost saving’ grounds. Click here to read more »

Last week, we blogged on the case of Raymond Jenkins, a delivery driver who parked his lorry blocking a stretch of road marked with double white lines a short distance before a right hand bend. A van ploughed into the back of his vehicle at between 50 and 60mph but Mr Jenkins was charged with causing death by careless driving, convicted, duly appealed, but left with a 15 month custodial sentence. Click here to read more »

The DVLA’s contracted clamping firm, VEAS, appears to be making an Olympic effort to attach clamps to anything and everything lately, regardless of whether it’s the correct procedure.

First up was a case in Bracknell, in which the clampers targeted a covered, untaxed scooter parked on private land.

The owner says he contacted the DVLA who agreed that perhaps VEAS had been carried away by their enthusiasm for the job and accepted it should not have been clamped. Click here to read more »

When Southend Borough Council heralded the arrival of two CCTV-equipped enforcement cars in the town last summer councillor Tony Cox made clear what they were not for:

“This isn’t about generating revenue for the council’s coffers.”

Following a landmark Traffic Penalty Tribunal case last week Councillor Cox can rest easy in the fact that this comment still holds true, although the ‘spy cars’ might actually end up losing the council money. Click here to read more »

There can’t be many people that were sad to hear a ban on wheel clamping will be introduced shortly. It will only apply on private land, but proponents are celebrating the fact that “the menace of rogue, private sector wheel-clampers”, as Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone describes them, will finally be dealt a severe blow.

It takes very little to sympathise with the misery experienced by scores of motorists at the hands of unscrupulous firms that have been given carte blanche to apply almost any figure they like to release a clamp. However, there is a sneaky suspicion here that the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater.

We can all be sidetracked during the media’s silly season by tales of 30-hour sit-ins by drivers unwilling to pay exorbitant fees to thick-necked men wielding clamps. But between the private-land-nabbing, free-to-park-anywhere mentality on one side and spiralling numbers of unregulated clamping firms on the other is an ocean of sensible approaches, sanctions and regulation.

Click here to read more »

Hello, and welcome to the KeepMeOnTheRoad blog.

KeepMeOnTheRoad is the collective name for the Road Transport Law & Motorist Defence teams at Rothera Dowson Solicitors – Anton Balkitis, Lucy Wood, John Buchanan, Robert Reid, Marie Cooper & Mary Allen.

So what do we do, and why the blog?

As our name suggests, our aim is to keep our clients on the road, whether it’s by saving your driving licence, preserving your operator’s licence, helping if a court summons arrives, or protecting you from prosecution. In short, helping you whenever you might find yourself on the wrong side of the law with the authorities.

The KeepMeOnTheRoad team specialises in Road Transport Law, so you’re in safe hands. The UK Legal 500 describes our department as one that “…sets the benchmark nationally for advice in all areas of Road Transport…” And that’s not us saying it, but the most comprehensive and well-respected independent legal directory in the UK, widely regarded as offering the definitive judgement on law-firms’ capabilities.

We’ll use this blog to share our expertise with you in articles and comments on the law. So if you need us to help keep YOU on the road, you’ll know who to get in touch with.

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For further information contact Anton Balkitis or Lucy Wood on 0800 046 3066 or visit the website if you are looking for motoring solicitors.