McLeod v Scoular
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 07 November 1973 |
| Date | 07 November 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 6. |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
JC
Lord Justice-Clerk, Lords Milligan, Kissen.
Summary Procedure—Statutory Offences—Road Traffic Acts—Disqualification—"Special reasons"—Procedure for determining whether reasons established—Road Traffic Act, 1972 (cap. 20), sec. 93 (1).
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Sec. 93 (1) of the Road Traffic Act, 1972, provides that, where a person is convicted of certain offences, the court shall order him to be disqualified for holding a driving licence for a period of not less than twelve months "unless the court for special reasons thinks fit … not to order him to be disqualified."
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An accused having pled guilty to a charge of driving a motor car while unfit to do so through drugs, an offence to which sec. 93 (1) applies, her solicitor made to the Sheriff a statement of facts directed to establishing special reasons why she should not be disqualified. The Procurator-fiscal having had no notice that such a plea was to be made, had no information available to contradict this statement. In these circumstances the Sheriff decided to accept the statement as true, and, after hearing both parties on the question, decided that the facts stated constituted special reasons. He accordingly did not disqualify the accused.
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Held that the Sheriff ought to have ordered a further hearing, in order to allow the accused, on whom the onus of proof lay, to lead evidence in support of the facts alleged, with a right to the Procurator-fiscal to cross-examine and to lead evidence in rebuttal.
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Observations on the proper procedure for determining whether special reasons have been established.
Mrs Ruth Clark Or Scoular was charged in the Sheriff Court at Kilmarnock on a complaint at the instance of John Leslie M'Leod, Procurator-fiscal, which set forth that "on 7th May 1973 on a road…, namely Ardrossan Road, 100 yards west of its junction with Caledonia Road, Saltcoats, Ayrshire, you were, when driving a motor vehicle, namely motor car HAG 603E, unfit to drive through drink or drugs: Contrary to section 5 (1) of the Road Traffic Act, 1972." She pled guilty, and the Sheriff (Stevenson) fined her £25 and ordered her driving licence to be endorsed, but did not disqualify her for holding a driving licence. At the request of the Procurator-fiscal he stated a case for the opinion of the High Court of Justiciary.
The case, having set forth the charge and the plea of guilty, continued:—"The Procurator-fiscal Depute then lodged the notice of penalties and explained that the respondent's car had been observed at 2.30 A.M. on 7th May 1973 by the police wobbling as it was driven along Ardrossan Road. When the said car was stopped, it was observed that the respondent was the driver, was alone in the car and, although she did not smell of drink, was apparently under the influence of drugs. Two bottles containing drugs, one containing a drug for nervous disorders and the other containing a drug to induce sleep, were found in the said car. Thereafter the respondent was taken to the Saltcoats police office and examined by the police doctor...
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