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Jo C.
Jo C., Barrister
Category: Law
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Experience:  Over 5 years in practice
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I WAS ARRESTED IN ERROR FOR DRIVING WHILE BANNED. THIS WAS

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I WAS ARRESTED IN ERROR FOR DRIVING WHILE BANNED.
THIS WAS DUE TO A COURT ERROR.
MY CAR WAS IMPOUNDED AND I HAD TO PAY TO GET IT BACK.
I WANT TO CLAIM MY COSTS BACK AND ALSO SUE FOR COMPENSATION.
HOW DO I DO THIS?

REGARDS,
MIKE DAWES.
Jo C.
Hi.

Thank you for your question. My name is XXXXX XXXXX I will try to help with this.

What was the court error please?
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Customer: replied 4 years ago.

i was banned for 6 months on the totting up basis.


i went to the appeal court and it was reduced to 3 months, so it should have finished on the 9th november 2013.


somehow the court advised dvla the ban was up on the 9th jan 2014.


i was arrested on the 6th jan and bailed until the 10th feb.


the charge of driving while banned was dropped.
What was the basis of the appeal?

6 months is the minimum for totting unless you show exceptional hardship?
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Customer: replied 4 years ago.

it was hardship and the judge accepted this.


i got the transcript of the hearing to prove it, but i assume the police did the same and that is why they dropped the charge.
Thanks.

That is probably down to court admin then rather than a police error. I suppose it must have been on the police database as well but normally that is dependent upon courts uploading the correct result. You do need to get to the bottom of who is to blame for that though to avoid suing the wrong party.

The way to do that is to write to the force solicitor setting out your position. It might well be that they will offer a refund upon the impound fees anyway. If its a police impound then there is no real loss to them anyway. If its a third party impound then there is a loss but they will offer a full refund in some circumstances.

Proceeding on the basis that they refuse though, you are going to need to ascertain who is reponsible. It does sound like a Court service error but it is possible they did upload it and the police did not.

One option if that does happen is to add both the court service and the constabulary as defendants. If they are both added then one will settle or soon enough produce evidence that the other is liable.

That is all very well as far as the impound fees goes. It terms of addition compensation, you do have a claim for any consequential losses that you actually incurred. If you are hoping to sue for inconvenience though then that is not a head of compensation in the UK. You need to show losses actually incurred. There may well be some but that is the target you need to reach.

Its probably a small claims court sum so if it comes to it then you can issue here

www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

There's no doubt that you will get something here.

Hope this helps. Please let me know if you need more information.

Jo
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Customer: replied 4 years ago.

thanks that is very helpful.


but are you saying i cannot sue for compensation?


i was chased through the mersey tunnel by 2 police cars.


made to get out of my car, was manhandled into the back of a police car,


taken to a police station, searched and locked in a police cell for 3 hours,


had to tell 2 employers i had been arrested, very embarassing.


could not do one of my jobs due to not having car.


and none of this was my fault.


i believe i should be compensated for this.


If I can be wholly honest, its probably not going to be a large amount if you do get anything at all.

Obviously you are entitled to the money back for the impound and any other out of pocket expenses.

The case is a non issue as you could always have stopped.

You may well get something for the initial arrest. It used to be that you were compensated for the hours spent in custody but that has been reduced to a nothing realistically beyond the shock of the initial arrest.

Having to tell two employers I'm afraid its not going to attract compensation.

You might get something for the time spent without a car but usually its in the region of £15 - £20 a day.

None of it was your fault but you only get compensation for your actual losses in the UK.
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