You might have seen this
About that driving record under my name
Richard Copestake on the driving without due care listing under his name: the day it happened, the hearing he never knew about, and the challenge now underway.
If you've Googled me, you've probably found a court listing with my name on it. Driving without due care and attention. Nine points and a six month ban.
I'd rather tell you what happened than leave you guessing.
On the morning of that day, my father in law died. By the evening I was in the car. I shouldn't have been. My head was all over the place and I wasn't thinking straight about anything, let alone driving. I got pulled over.
That's the part I own.
What came next, I didn't know about. After that stop I heard nothing. No letter, no summons, no court date. Life carried on the way it does after a death in the family: the funeral, looking after people, trying to keep work going. Meanwhile the case went to court without me, got decided without me, and ended with points, a ban and my name on a public record.
I found out afterwards. By then it was all done.
I've formally challenged it on the grounds that I never knew about the hearing and never had a chance to be there. I'm not asking for it all to disappear. I'm asking for the chance to stand in front of the court and answer it properly, which I never got.
I'm not going to go into the details here. That belongs in a courtroom, not on a blog.
I'm writing this because people look each other up, and a bare court listing tells you nothing about the day behind it. That day was one of the worst I've had. I made a bad call getting in the car. I'm not proud of it, and I'm not hiding from it either.
When there's an outcome, I'll update this page.
If you've got questions, ask me. I'd rather have the conversation.
Rich Copestake
September 2026