If you have been unfortunate enough to be accused of committing a motoring offence , then you will need to prepare yourself quickly in order to put forward a plausible defence. There are many aspects of the law that are open to interpretation and the prosecutor needs to correctly complete every stage of the accusation process or you could have grounds to contest the allegation.

If you believe that the particular circumstances under which you committed the driving offence should exempt you from some or all of the punishment, then you can make a Special Reasons argument. These are most commonly used to avoid bans in drink driving cases, however they are sometimes used to avoid penalty points for other offences as well or driving through a red light.

When you argue Special Reasons, you have to give evidence under oath in order to persuade the Magistrates that in the circumstances, it would not be fair to put any points on your licence. The most common ground put forward is that the offence was committed in the context of an emergency, for example if you were rushing somebody to casualty and you went through a red traffic light or exceeded the speed limit.

If your case is found to have a Special Reason, then you will not be given any penalty points. There are however no strict guidelines as to what constitutes a Special Reason, but it must fall under one of the following:

1. A mitigating or extenuating circumstance

2. It must not be a legal / law based defence claim

3. It must be directly connected to the commission of the offence

4. It must be something that the Court ought to take into consideration when deciding what punishment to impose.

The opportunity to argue Special Reasons is contained within Section 34 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.

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