The Supreme Court has issued an interesting ruling on the impact of S3ZB of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which created an offence of causing death while driving a motor vehicle when the driver is unlicensed, uninsured or disqualified from driving.
The ruling was made in relation to an appeal raised by a Mr Hughes, who had been convicted of causing death by driving while uninsured and unlicensed.
The case dates back to a Sunday afternoon in October 2009, when Mr Hughes was driving his family home in a campervan. Road conditions were normal and his driving was faultless. At the same time a Mr Dickinson was driving in the opposite direction. Mr Dickinson was driving erratically - his car was veering all over the road, twice crossing into the wrong lane before smashing into the appellant’s campervan as it rounded a bend. Mr Hughes and his family survived, but Mr Dickinson died.
Mr Dickinson was found to have had a significant quantity of heroin in his system and was a drug user. He was also overtired, having worked a series of 12 hour nightshifts in a power station in Largs, on the west coast of Scotland.
It was accepted by the prosecution that Mr Hughes was in no way at fault for the accident and could not have done anything to prevent it. The blame was entirely with the driving of Mr Dickinson. However, because at the time of the accident, Mr Hughes did not have a full driving licence and was not insured, he was prosecuted under section 3ZB of the 1988 Act.
On appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr Hughes’ driving must, in law, have been a cause of the death of Mr Dickinson in order to sustain the charge. As this was plainly not the case here, the Supreme Court found in Mr Hughes' favour and the matter was referred back to Newcastle Crown Court.
If you have been charged with driving while unlicensed and uninsured and require specialist legal advice, please contact our solicitors Jeffrey Lewis or Siobhain Egan on 020 7387 2032 or complete our online enquiry form here.
This blog post is intended as a news item only - no connection between Lewis Nedas and the parties concerned is intended or implied.
