David Potter

For over twenty years, David has been a criminal law specialist.  In that time he has successfully represented clients in all forms of motoring crime. 

In March 2011, David represented the proprietor of a car sales business who was charged with Manslaughter by Gross Negligence.  The Defendant was the operator of an Iveco 7.5 tonne car transporter that the Defendant had owned from new.  In February 2009 the vehicle was involved in a fatal road traffic collision outside Worcester.  The cause of the accident was the failure of the rear brakes due to a fractured brake pipe caused by severe corrosion.  The Defendant had been found by the coroner to have been grossly negligent in the maintenance and inspection of the vehicle.  The Prosecution called the vehicle a “deathtrap” and described the incident as an “accident waiting to happen”.  Despite the Prosecution calling expert evidence from VOSA, two accident collision investigators and a Doctor of Metallurgy from Sheffield Hallam University, the case collapsed after a defence submission of no case. 

In 2010, David was involved in three fatal road traffic Crown Court cases listed for trial.  In one particularly difficult case, in which he appeared as a Leading Junior, he advised the Prosecution that there were no reasonable prospects of a conviction for causing death by dangerous driving because two Consultant Cardiologists instructed on each side of the case both concluded that the Defendant was probably not in conscious control at the wheel of the vehicle she was driving as a result of syncope.

David has experience in other forms of motor crime, including:

• Construction and Use Prosecutions
• Tachographs
• Vehicle theft and large scale “car ringing”

In his spare time he continues his attempt to save his classic Fiat from the effects of time, the British climate and other road users. 

Email: potter@exchangechambers.co.uk