Screwed by Royal Mail

rahiley
rahiley Posts: 1 Newbie
edited 22 June 2017 at 9:48PM in Campaigns corner
Last year (16/11/2016) I was caught speeding by a mobile camera. I should have received a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) after 14 days. I didn't and rightfully thought that I was ok. Later a summons was sent (30/12/2016), unfortunately I did not receive that either. On 2nd may this year I was sent another summons, which I did receive. I went too court. Was ordered to pay £165.00 in costs and fines and had 3 points added to my license. I wrote to the Royal Mail twice, after not getting a reply from my first email and the second basically saying sorry you did not get your post but that's not our problem, it's yours. I looked at their compensation payments and the most I am likely to be paid is £60.00. I would like to sue their [removed], does anyone have any ideas?
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  • Hasbeen
    Hasbeen Posts: 4,404
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    Don't Speed?:)
    The world is not ruined by the wickedness of the wicked, but by the weakness of the good. Napoleon
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,655
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    What difference would receiving the correspondence have meant? The offence had still been committed.
  • Tigsteroonie
    Tigsteroonie Posts: 24,954
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    What would be your basis for suing them? What contract made with you did they breach?
    :heartpuls Mrs Marleyboy :heartpuls

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  • What did the magistrate say when you explained in court that Royal Mail had failed to deliver two letters?
  • TBagpuss
    TBagpuss Posts: 11,198
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    pmduk wrote: »
    What difference would receiving the correspondence have meant? The offence had still been committed.

    I suppose OP could argue that if they had received the NIP they might have had the option of a Sped Awareness course instead of points, and presumably would not have had to pay the court costs.

    Whether that's realistic or not we can't know without knowing how much over the limit OP was, and whether they have previous speeding convictions.

    I would imagine that magistrates hear "I never received it, must have been lost in the post" a lot, and would probably treat it as 'the dog ate my homework' unless it is backed up by evidence such as proof that the OP had had an existing complaint with Royal mail over problems with delivery, or there was other evidence of a problem. OP have you been having problems with your post generally, or were these the only things which you didn't get? Have you checked that there isn't an issue such as an incorrect post code on your driving licence?
    All posts are my personal opinion, not formal advice Always get proper, professional advice (particularly about anything legal!)
  • gax23
    gax23 Posts: 205 Forumite
    So you've conveniently not received all three letters about your speeding fine and court summons? Has all your other post been going missing too, or just the ones you didn't want to see?
  • MABLE
    MABLE Posts: 4,077
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    rahiley wrote: »
    Last year (16/11/2016) I was caught speeding by a mobile camera. I should have received a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) after 14 days. I didn't and rightfully thought that I was ok. Later a summons was sent (30/12/2016), unfortunately I did not receive that either. On 2nd may this year I was sent another summons, which I did receive. I went too court. Was ordered to pay £165.00 in costs and fines and had 3 points added to my license. I wrote to the Royal Mail twice, after not getting a reply from my first email and the second basically saying sorry you did not get your post but that's not our problem, it's yours. I looked at their compensation payments and the most I am likely to be paid is £60.00. I would like to sue their [removed], does anyone have any ideas?

    My feeling is you should have been proactive and checked with the authorises to see if a notice had been sent out to you. Also RM would not even give you £60. The most you may receive would be a book of stamps but even that is not guaranteed. No doubt a hard lesson has been learnt.
  • phillw
    phillw Posts: 5,593
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    edited 13 August 2017 at 5:48PM
    gax23 wrote: »
    So you've conveniently not received all three letters about your speeding fine and court summons? Has all your other post been going missing too, or just the ones you didn't want to see?

    My dads letters are always going to the neighbour from hell next door, who used to wedge them in the bush separating the two properties but now that is no longer there they probably end up in the bin.

    It's been a while since I personally had a mis-delivered letter but it's possible and if you've got a useless postman then losing three is not outside the realm of possibility.

    If someone goes to court and pays the fine but says they would have paid earlier if given the chance, then I would generally believe them. It's not like there is any benefit to stalling (quite the opposite) and the people who do will not bother turning up in court.
    MABLE wrote: »
    My feeling is you should have been proactive and checked with the authorises to see if a notice had been sent out to you.

    Do they tell you if you ask? I thought they wanted to give you sleepless nights by having to guess whether you got caught or not. Data protection and all that. Plus they may be scared of saying no you were not caught and then it turns out that you were, as you may be able to use that as a defence.
  • Sayschezza
    Sayschezza Posts: 744
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    Consequential loss not covered unless the sender uses special delivery plus a premium for the CL.
    All that clutter used to be money
  • pogofish
    pogofish Posts: 10,852
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    What exactly is the OP's campaign?
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