“Charged With No Drivers License And No Insurance, Had Both!”

Hi,

I was driving home with my girlfriend the other night at about 330am from a party. I was the DD, she had been drinking but was in the passenger seat. When we got to our apartment I got out of the car and left her the car keys to get inside while I used my keys to get in (she was on the phone and was fnisihing the call). I looked out the window about 5min later and saw the Police taking her out of her car and into the back of the police car. I ran down and was told she may be getting a DUI because the officer saw us change places, this is a lie as I was driving the entire time. But anyway, she ended up getting charged with "Driver Fail to Surrender License", "Fail to Change Address" for insurance and "Fail to Surrender Insurance Card." The issues with this are: She wouldnt need a drivers license being in the passenger seat and even still, she HAD her license in the trunk in her purse but the officers wouldnt let her get it. Next, she gave the officers the wrong insurance card as she had just changed companies but they wouldnt let her get the proper one from the glove box. Thirdly, she is a student here and lives elsewhere permanently, which is why the address on the insurance wasn't changed. It didnt need to be. These equal to about $275 in charges which she cannot afford, if we take this to court are we likely to win or does anyone have any advice? Thank you very much.

From what you've described she has a defence to the charges - she wasn't driving. The difficulty for you will be how to prove that. Obviously you and her can both testify, but the officer presumably has some evidence for believing that she was, in fact, driving.

As a side note, regarding the impaired, she could have been potentially charged with care and control if she was in the passenger seat but had a set of keys and the ability to set the vehicle in motion. I will not discuss that any further because that's a criminal issue and this is a provincial offences form, I just wanted to mention it.

More specifically, with respect to the fail to surrender licence and insurance card charges: it would be a defence to say that she had them but was refused permission to retrieve them, but you'd have to prove that and I doubt the officer will have the same version of the events as you on that.

With respect to the fail to change address charge, what is the act and section # she was charged under for that? Because it's not an offence to fail to change your address on your insurance card - only on your ownership and licence.

Thanks for the quick reply! Having just talked to a retired officer friend of mine, I had most of my questions answered. *edited* Does the fact that he lost sight of me from the road to where I parked change anything? If I made a video showing where he was behind me on the road, where he lost sight of me and proved that there was no way he could even see the car from the road when I parked, will that help my case? *edited*. And is it odd that after I said I was driving the officers ignored me, actually wouldn't talk to me, but am I not a witness? The tickets do not have the Witness box checked *edited*. Thanks again

items *edited* out for rant/soap boxing, only ask questions pertaining to the actual offence(s)

HTA Moderator HB

The witness box on the ticket is for when the crown needs a witness to prove the charge. It it's used when there are defence witnesses. As to losing sight of you, that is a problem for proving the charge only in so far as it prevents the officer from establishing who was driving at the time of the offence (in your case when the vehicle was being operated on the road).

For example, if the officer saw the vehicle but couldn't stop it, lost sight of it, and found it later when it was parked and nobody was in the driver seat, he may have a problem saying who was driving. But if he saw who was driving initially and later found that person outside the vehicle there's no problem. He can still demand ID from that person and charge them as the person who was operating the vehicle at the time of the offence.