Notice of Intent To Prohibit Letter

Even one ticket or 12-hour driving prohibition can start the process where you may receive a Notice of Intent to Prohibit letter from the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.

The Notice of Intent to Prohibit letter has a date on the top right hand corner. That date is very important because you have only 21 days from that date to have your submissions into ICBC if you wish to dispute the proposed prohibition.

The purpose of the prohibition is to protect the public. If you receive this letter from Victoria, your driving history has indicated to the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles that corrective action must be taken to ensure that you understand the rules of the road and will in the future be a safer driver. The Superintendent of Motor Vehicles has limited powers to correct your driving behaviour. Punishment, in the form of a driving prohibition, is the tool used to make you understand what a serious error it is to disregard the rules of the road.

Advocating to Protect Your Driving Privileges

Every day we help British Columbia drivers to deal with their Notice of Intent and to protect their license. Because we have a major focus on driving law, we know how to develop the right plan to deal with your Notice of Intent to Prohibit letter. We know the specific concerns to address to help you rehabilitate your driving history and clean up your driving record.

We are drivers too. We know how important your license is to you. As experienced driving lawyers with hundreds of successful cases under our belts, we can protect your BC driver’s license and get you back on the road as soon as possible.

Call us as soon as possible because the clock is ticking and we need to act now to get you the best result. There is no charge to call us or meet with us for an initial consultation. Although we are Vancouver lawyers, we act for clients from all across British Columbia when it comes to OSMV letters.

Your Driving History and Why You Received a Notice of Intent to Prohibit

Courts, the Superintendent, Police and ICBC can take away your driver’s license and prohibit you from driving, but they must follow certain rules. If you meet the requirements in law, you have a right to obtain a driver’s license. However, if you break the rules, you can easily lose your license.

Whenever a conviction for a traffic offence or roadside prohibition is registered on your driver’s abstract, your driving record is flagged for review. If you are in the Graduated License Program, i.e. an “L” or “N” driver, then any notation on your abstract will typically trigger a Notice of Intent to Prohibit or even a Notice of Prohibition.

If you have a class 5 or other category of license, the Superintendent will consider how long you have been driving, the nature of the notations on your abstract and the time frame. A pattern of disregarding the rules or an unusual ticket may cause a Notice of Intent to Prohibit letter to land in your mailbox. You have three weeks from the date of the Notice to make your submissions to address the Superintendent Prohibition. This is when you need the help of a lawyer.

An initial review of your driving history has already been conducted when the decision was made to send you the Notice of Intent letter. The Application for Review must be in the hands of ICBC within the 21 day period. A new review will then be conducted based on the material provided in a package usually prepared by your lawyer.

To obtain the best result, it is essential, therefore, to closely follow the advice of your lawyer in addressing the concerns that will arise on the review. One reliable way of knowing what issues will arise is to review the decision letters from previous cases to determine the most important points that need to be addressed, and where certain arguments may have the unintended result of damaging your chances.

Because we have helped hundreds of people deal with their Notice of Intent letters, we know what needs to be done to put you in the best place to get a fair result when it comes to the Application for Review.

Rejected on Your Review?

We are regularly contacted by people who have been rejected on the submissions that they made. Simply put, it is difficult to know what material must be provided in a given case if you are not experienced. It can be tempting to try to make the submissions on your own, but in our experience it is often ill-advised.

You have two options if your submissions have been rejected. You can go to Court to seek a review of the decision. This is usually not cost-effective or likely to succeed.

Depending on the duration of the prohibition, there is another option which we can employ in the right circumstances.

We have succeeded in having prohibitions lifted for clients who had been indefinitely banned from driving. If you need our help, give us a call.