Dvla Prosecutes 91-Year-Old With Alzheimer’s Over Short Uninsured Car Period
A 91-year-old man with Alzheimer’s was found guilty after his decade-old Renault Megane was uninsured for less than a fortnight, a conviction that spotlights how streamlined magistrates’ hearings handle vulnerable defendants. Wednesday at 11: 22 a. m. ET — the dvla took the case to court, and the outcome raises questions about the Single Justice Procedure now under government review.
Dvla Seizes Case Under Single Justice Procedure
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) prosecuted the pensioner for a lapse in car insurance in September of the previous year, taking the matter through the Single Justice Procedure (SJP). The dvla has accepted it does not routinely review mitigation letters because of how the SJP is structured and has called on the Government to overhaul the system so prosecutors examine all mitigation letters before proceedings.
Magistrate Eve Cooper Gives Pensioner Absolute Discharge at Leicester
Magistrate Eve Cooper, sitting at Leicester Magistrates’ Court, found the 91-year-old guilty but imposed an absolute discharge rather than a fine. The pensioner was prosecuted over a vehicle kept without insurance and was not ordered to pay a penalty after the court reviewed mitigation details presented in the case.
Son’s Letter Details September Insurance and Renault Megane Sale
On behalf of his father, the son wrote that the pensioner had his driving licence revoked due to Alzheimer’s and that the Renault Megane was parked on the family driveway while being sold. The son said they took out insurance from September 5 to September 11 to pass an MOT and that the car was sold on September 22, leaving it uninsured for 11 days while the sale was finalised.
The son also noted his father’s year of birth as 1934 on the mitigation form, and marked the court form indicating he was completing the plea on his father’s behalf. Magistrates who oversee SJP prosecutions have the power to adjourn and refer cases for a public interest assessment if mitigation suggests prosecution may not serve the public interest.
In this case, Ms Cooper does not appear to have referred the matter back to the DVLA for such an assessment, a decision that left the prosecution outcome as a guilty finding accompanied only by an absolute discharge.
No timetable for any overhaul of the Single Justice Procedure has been announced, and no further court dates in this case are listed as of 11: 22 a. m. ET.
