Charged with " Driver fail to surrender license "

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Bricklaying
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Charged with " Driver fail to surrender license "

by: Bricklaying on
Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:37 am

First of all i'm a G1 driver, so today basically I was driving at about 10:30pm with my mom and I stopped at a stop sign, and didn't see a car coming from the far left. I made a right turn and this car is going very fast, so he was trying to overtake me and on the other lane was a police car. After a little bit of time the police was right behind me so my mom told me to pull over. So he told me what I did and asked me for my G1 license and I realized I forgot it. So, I got charged with a " Driver fail to surrender license " for $110. So how exactly will this affect me? Will it affect my insurance, demerit points? What will happen? Because I'm planning to go with my mom to the nearest police station tomorrow and show them my drivers license and plead not guilty. As I heard they will most likely drop the charge. Could you guys tell me anything else I should do, and/or say to help me plead not guilty and get the charge completely dropped. I feel extremely bad because my mom doesn't have the money right now. Please help guys

Also this was my first ad last ticket, as I have definitely learned from this mistake.
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jsherk
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by: jsherk on
Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:18 am

So "driver fail to surrender license" is different from "driving without a license".

Somebody else in the forum will have to chime in on how serious this offence is with respect to insurance rates.

However, I think (but am not 100% sure) that the charge you got is much less serious than the driving without a license charge. They probably will not drop it though because when the police officer asked you for your license, you "failed to give it to him" and that's why you got this charge. However it does not hurt to try.
+++ This is not legal advice, only my opinion +++
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Stanton
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by: Stanton on
Thu Jul 02, 2015 10:44 am

It would be considered a minor offence but could still impact your insurance rates as a novice driver. Even if you take your licence to the police station after the fact, it will not negate the charge. The ticket is for not having your licence with you at the time you were stopped by police.

I’d suggest requesting a first attendance meeting with the Crown. Maybe if you’re very lucky they’ll cut you a break and simply withdraw the charge. At the very least they will probably offer you a reduced fine, though you'll still have conviction on your record.
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bend
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by: bend on
Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:09 pm

Stanton summed it up pretty well.

- Just because you show you license afterwords doesn't make you any less guilty. The HTA requires you surrender you license immediately upon request. You were charged for not showing it when asked, not that you didn't have one at all. Whether you have your license or not after the fact is irrelevant, but it doesn't hurt to request an early resolution meeting and see what they do (if anything). Take Stanton's advice.

- Stanton is correct that failure to surrender license is a minor insurance offense. It's equivalent to a minor speeding charge, seatbelt violation, disobeying a traffic sign, etc. There's no points. It may or may nor have an impact on your rates. That's up to the provider.
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Sonic
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by: Sonic on
Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:57 am

I'd still try to talk to the police officer or the prosecution. If you're a G1 driver, assuming you got it right at the beginning, you're only 16 or 17 years old, so they may just withdraw the charge, they're human after all. They're under no obligation to do so but charging a 16 year old for forgetting his license when driving when his mother seems particularly harsh, a warning would seem fine. Just say you just got your G1, you're 16 (if you are), and you went to go practice driving with your mom. Since driving is new to you and you don't get to do it regularly, you forgot your license but it won't happen again.

If the officer doesn't listen, request an early resolution, if that prosecutor doesn't listen, request a trial. If you go to trial and that prosecutor doesn't listen... I really hope the next generation of lawyers/paralegals have some more empathy and compassion than to charge a 16 year old just learning to drive for forgetting his license...
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Stanton
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by: Stanton on
Sat Jul 04, 2015 10:30 am

Sonic wrote:If the officer doesn't listen, request an early resolution, if that prosecutor doesn't listen, request a trial. If you go to trial and that prosecutor doesn't listen... I really hope the next generation of lawyers/paralegals have some more empathy and compassion than to charge a 16 year old just learning to drive for forgetting his license...
With the new e-ticketing systems, it’s pretty difficult for officers to simply withdraw a charge. Everything is automated and the tickets are automatically sent off to the Courts for processing. It’s not like the old days where the officer could hold back a paper ticket for a few days before submitting it.

I’d also point out that the OP was actually stopped for failing to yield at a stop sign and probably given the lesser charge as a bit of a courtesy. I don’t disagree that they should still try to resolve the matter with the Crown, but the chances of having it withdrawn outright might be diminished versus if simply not having their licence was truly the only offence they had committed.
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