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#Post#: 83355--------------------------------------------------
Fitness to Drive Assessment - England - 'Driving without due
care and attention' not in car when approached by police
DIR By: ConcernedDaughter
Date: July 29, 2025, 1:19 pm
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Hi I'm hoping you can help me. My mother is 70 and last week was
reported 'by a neighbour' of the car owner saying shed reversed
into a car when doing a turn in the road and drove off. She had
two dogs in the car barking but didn't feel any bump and rather
than drive off, she was heading to a walk nearby - this all
occurred on her own housing estate (round the corner from her
own home) - she had gone down the wrong road so reversed to turn
back to the correct one.
Apparently she was reported for a hit and run by this car owners
'neighbour' however she parked up about 400 yards from where it
supposedly happened to go for her dog walk. When she returned to
the car the police were there.
FYI her car has damage on it already on the front and back from
over the last 10+ years she's had it and not known where to get
it sorted - she let her ex partner drive it and he hit a wall by
her house a few times and she scratched it with a trolley just
so you are aware she has damage on her panels prior to this. The
police questioned her and made her do a breathalyser which came
out 0 reading - presumably this is because she slurs since
having a minor stroke last year that she was signed off from by
the doctor. She explained that she had TIA's last year that they
think might have been less transient given the permanence of her
slur but doesn't drink and drive. She said she didn't believe
she had had an accident however her dogs were very noisy so it
would have been hard to hear anything, although she didn't feel
a tap of any kind.
The police have issued her with the above titled assessment
saying she has a choice between paying £175 and attending a
'fitness to drive assessment', or going to court for 'driving
without due care and attention'. It says 'on the evidence
available to me i believe that you MAY have committed an offence
contrary to section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. i consider
it appropriate to offer you the opportunity to'....'or attend
magistrates court...' It then goes on to say that the assessor
may decide she isn't fit to drive and refer this to the dvla for
review. It sounds like court is the better option here for
points just in case her nerves flop it or they assume the slur
makes her seem less competent than she is??!
IF she did knock the car parked up because she didn't see it in
her blind spot i don't believe someone was armed with a camera
at the ready first of all for any evidence to be available (i'd
like to see it to be convinced she did actually knock the
vehicle, although she did say she reversed out the road opposite
to where they live and why would they call the police
otherwise). The police didn't even see her in her vehicle at any
time - they drove off before she climbed back in and she wasn't
in it when she arrived as she was still walking, so on what
grounds do they have to issue this like she has done something
wrong based on assumption? I have a ding on my car, i cant just
point at a random car and say 'yeh they did it' and expect
anything to happen.
I met with the couple who's son owns the car . I didn't deny she
had hit the parked car (directly opposite the road) i just asked
what the situation was. i have images of the road from all
angles and the damage to the car - there is a scrape on the
front bumper (minor which would T cut out plus two chips and a
little scratch to the headlight plastic which would be
consistent with a reverse bump really) but more damage to the
side of the car which she could only have done if she reversed
back and forth at speed hitting it from various angles - I
recorded the damage and stated that the side could not have been
done by her reversing and asked if it was already there - the
son admitted that was old damage on camera which i have footage
for on my phone. The husband was very aggressive towards me and
did not like that the son admitted to the damage already being
there. We offered to pay for the front bumper damage but they
have gone through the insurance so I have issued all picture
evidence along with a statement clearly stating we did not
believe mum had damaged the car although it was possible on the
front bumper however it was not viable on the rest of the car
and the video evidence uploaded shows the son admitting it is
old damage. They are claiming for the full damage it seems to
all areas so i feel like they are chancers.
I would not let my mum drive for her own safety if she wasn't
competent, she has a full license with no points or claims until
now. Where do we stand? I don't understand how the police can
issue this on a randomers say so without seeing her drive/video
evidence. I feel that she's being unfairly scrutinised for
admitting she had TIA's and a stoke last year, but she has been
seen by specialists and signed off with no issues bar
cholesterol meds etc. She has been on diazepam since she was 15
on 1 a day supply but hadn't had any that day). It may be wise
to add that she was taken off a medication some weeks ago that
stopped vertigo (she had this at the start of the year and
didn't drive at all during this time) - the doctor said it can
make you a little dizzy coming off them, but she said she felt
fine and she was not advised to avoid driving. I also rely on
mum to let my dogs out whilst i work long days.
Google says that they normally issue points and a fine on the
road side, why would they expect a court appearance - I'm really
confused by all of this and my mum won't question authority so
if they say she's guilty she nods so i want to make sure she is
okay.
#Post#: 83356--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fitness to Drive Assessment - England - 'Driving without due
care and attention' not in car when approached by polic
DIR By: FuzzyDuck
Date: July 29, 2025, 1:31 pm
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--- Quote from: ConcernedDaughter link ---
>
> Google says that they normally issue points and a fine on the
road side, why would they expect a court appearance - I'm really
confused by all of this and my mum won't question authority so
if they say she's guilty she nods so i want to make sure she is
okay.
>
--- End Quote ---
Seems that Google has turned into the "man down the pub",
because it is taking out its arse (again). Points and Fine have
never been issued at the side of the road (nearest to this was
the Fixed Penalty Notice). Nowadays a report is made back to the
office and a decision is made on how to proceed.
#Post#: 83405--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fitness to Drive Assessment - England - 'Driving without due
care and attention' not in car when approached by polic
DIR By: The Slithy Tove
Date: July 30, 2025, 3:35 am
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Regarding the police action, all you can do for now is wait and
see what steps they take and what you receive from them or the
courts. What they said at the time isn't worth the paper it
wasn't written on, so whether it's an assessment, a fixed
penalty, court or even 'no further action' is anyone's guess
right now.
#Post#: 83406--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fitness to Drive Assessment - England - 'Driving without due
care and attention' not in car when approached by polic
DIR By: andy_foster
Date: July 30, 2025, 3:38 am
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They don't need particularly strong grounds to offer an out of
court disposal - no matter how many times you ask the question.
We mostly apply the law to the facts. The facts in this case
being that your Mum may or may not have hit a parked car (and if
she did, she wouldn't have noticed because of the dogs in the
car which were distracting her.
If she hit the other car, then on the face of it her driving
fell below the standard of a competent and careful driver - so
the offence is made out.
If she didn't hit the other car, then despite what you have told
us, there is no objective evidence that it did.
This leaves us with strategy as regards likely evidence and the
strength of such evidence.
If they filmed your Mum hitting their son's car, and give
evidence to that effect, and adduce the recording as physical
evidence, it is difficult to see how your Mum would be able to
defend the charge.
If they merely claim to have seen your Mum hit their son's car,
and your Mum's evidence is that she's not sure because she was
being distracted by her dogs, unless you can cast doubt over the
veracity of their evidence.
If you can prove that they made a fraudulent insurance claim to
include pre-existing damage, you might be able to cast doubt, or
they might not want to give evidence.
#Post#: 83434--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fitness to Drive Assessment - England - 'Driving without due
care and attention' not in car when approached by polic
DIR By: roythebus
Date: July 30, 2025, 6:14 am
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Being in the group of "over 70" drivers who still drives buses
for a living, I have to have an annual medical.There's some of
us who are still "all there" and others who aren't but don't
realise it. A word of advice to everyone, these days if you have
an accident, no matter how small it is, report it to your
insurance and in some police areas they have a web page you can
do so straight away . You can do it online. If your neighbour
has left it a while before reporting it it lessens their chance
of a succesful claim.
Try not to worry about the outcome, let the insurance deal with
the matter, they have specialists who can spot a fraudulent
claim from afar. Wait to see if your mother has any
correspondence from the police. they usually take the easy was
out by offering th wrinkly version of the speed awareness course
as opposed to gong to court. You may well win at court.
#Post#: 83633--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fitness to Drive Assessment - England - 'Driving without due
care and attention' not in car when approached by polic
DIR By: Sander333
Date: July 31, 2025, 2:25 pm
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The DVLA medical branch receives reports from the Police,Medical
Professionals members of the public as to the fitness of persons
to drive.
They can and do send medical questionnaires out to drivers and
if necessary will ask for medical reports from consultants or
GP’s. Depending on the information received the can revoke a
driving licence on medical grounds. This can be appealed at a
court hearing.
The can request a driver to attend a driving assessment and
depending on the report no action need to be taken or the
driving licence can be revoked.
If a driver has had a TIA the DVLA then a STR 1 requires to be
completed.There is no indication whether this has been
addressed.
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