I got stopped on the A74(M) Glasgow to Carlisle road at Lockerbie for driving 96.12mph in a 70mph zone on July 24th 09. I have just received the Citation, which gives me the option to reply in writing rather than having to attend court. I will obviously plead guilty as the policemen at the time showed me that they had evidence against me on camera, using a Provida speed measuring device and by means of a calibrated speedometer. I would like to know if I should write anything in the explanation part of the reply form that will help to minimise my punishment (points on my licence/fine)?

It was my first time driving on this road which is a 3-lane motorway. I was driving from Edinburgh to Stratford-upon-Avon near the south coast of England for a music festival which I had been looking forward to for months. In all honesty, I didn't even realise I was going so far over the limit. On such a continuous straight road, I felt as though i was just keeping up with the other cars in front. When i was pulled over, the policeman asked if the car was MOT'd, to which i replied 'yes', and went to get my MOT certificate out. It was then that I read on my certificate that the MOT had run out 11 days earlier on the 13th July. My car had been in the garage since the beginning of March for fairly major repairs, and had only got it back the day before (23rd). I had told the garage I needed it back for this trip and so it was fixed just in time. Because I had been without the car for over 5 months, I clearly didn't realise the MOT was expired, and definitely didn't expect it to have no MOT when it had just been fixed.

Anyway, this is my first offence, I am 20 years old. The driving conditions were good, in the summary of evidence it reads 'weather conditions were dry, visibility was good and the road surface was dry. Traffic flow was light.'