Notice of Intended Prosecution

LionKing

Hi,

My girlfriend received a Notice for Intended Prosectuion for a sppeding offence. She replied to the notice and put my details as the driver (i was driving on the day)

We have posted back however on closer review of Notice it was sent outside of 14 days of speed offence.

I understand you can reject notice if outside 14 days - althhough girlffriend has sent my details can we still dispute as outside 14 days?

Thanks

bargepole

LionKing wrote: »

Hi,

My girlfriend received a Notice for Intended Prosectuion for a sppeding offence. She replied to the notice and put my details as the driver (i was driving on the day)

We have posted back however on closer review of Notice it was sent outside of 14 days of speed offence.

I understand you can reject notice if outside 14 days - althhough girlffriend has sent my details can we still dispute as outside 14 days?

Thanks

Your girlfriend has complied with the requirement under Section 172 to name the driver, which she has to do even if the NIP was served outside the 14 days.

As the original NIP is defective, there is no need to pay a fixed penalty on this, as any subsequent Court prosecution is bound to fail. If you check out www.pepipoo.com, you'll find a template RAC letter which you can send back with your form (you still have to confirm you were driving), to point out to the Police that the NIP is invalid, and they should take no further action.

Conor_3

You will get a notice now. As you're not the registered keeper, you're not afforded the protection of the statutory period of notification but whether or not the failure to issue the original within 14 days has a bearing on this, I don't know.

daveyjp

Are there any legitimate reasons why it was over 14 days late. It has to be posted within 14 days, not received, check the date stamp on the letter. It is sent to the registered keeper, is the car leased? It's sent to the registered keepers address, have you moved?

If none of the above you may have a valid defence - pepipoo have a questionnaire system to give basic advice.

Road_Hog

Conor wrote: »

You will get a notice now. As you're not the registered keeper, you're not afforded the protection of the statutory period of notification but whether or not the failure to issue the original within 14 days has a bearing on this, I don't know.

I think this will be the problem now, if it goes to court, it will be on the second NIP and Sod's law will say that this will arrive in the two week timescale.

It would have been better to ignore the first letter/send a reply letter stating it is outside of the two weeks and therefore the NIP should be cancelled.

Quite often they will ignore this and send you a reminder, hoping you will just pay up, with the threat of court.

Wig

Conor wrote: »

You will get a notice now. As you're not the registered keeper, you're not afforded the protection of the statutory period of notification but whether or not the failure to issue the original within 14 days has a bearing on this, I don't know.

Re: bold text quote - I don't believe that is the case.
Re: blue text quote - It does have an effect.

Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988
s.1 (1)...... a person shall not be convicted of an offence to which this section applies unless.....

(c) within fourteen days of the commission of the offence a notice of the intended prosecution specifying the nature of the alleged offence and the time and place where it is alleged to have been committed, was—

(i) in the case of an offence under section 28 or 29 of the M1 Road Traffic Act 1988 (cycling offences), served on him,

(ii) in the case of any other offence, served on him or on the person, if any, registered as the keeper of the vehicle at the time of the commission of the offence.

Wig

LionKing wrote: »

Hi,

My girlfriend received a Notice for Intended Prosectuion for a sppeding offence. She replied to the notice and put my details as the driver (i was driving on the day)

We have posted back however on closer review of Notice it was sent outside of 14 days of speed offence.

I understand you can reject notice if outside 14 days - althhough girlffriend has sent my details can we still dispute as outside 14 days?

Thanks

Date of offence?
Date of recieving NIP?
Any postal date on NIP or on envelope containing NIP?

Who is the registered keeper?
At what address? - in relation to the address gf recieved NIP at.

Road_Hog

Wig wrote: »

Date of offence?
Date of recieving NIP?
Any postal date on NIP or on envelope containing NIP?

What the dodgy constabularies do now is, finally get round to sending the NIP but realise it is a month old, so type up the paperwork dated about 3 days after the offence and then send it by franked/prepaid that doesn't have a date on it. So there is no date on the envelope postage to prove that they've sat on the NIP and backdated it.

Conor_3

Road_Hog wrote: »

I think this will be the problem now, if it goes to court, it will be on the second NIP and Sod's law will say that this will arrive in the two week timescale.

There is no two week timescale if you are not the registered keeper and are sent a NIP after the registered keeper named you as a driver. They have up to SIX MONTHS to send you a NIP.

Wig

Conor wrote: »

There is no two week timescale if you are not the registered keeper and are sent a NIP after the registered keeper named you as a driver. They have up to SIX MONTHS to send you a NIP.

Not quite, they have up to 6 months to lay papers before the court, which they can only do once they are satisfied they have enough evidence to prosecute - usually this would involve sending an NIP to the person named by the RK and asking her/him to confirm it was her/him driving.

bargepole

Conor wrote: »

There is no two week timescale if you are not the registered keeper and are sent a NIP after the registered keeper named you as a driver...

That's true, but if the original NIP wasn't served on the registered keeper within 14 days, the named driver should not be convicted in court, as per Wig's earlier post quoting RTOA 1988.

Of course, this won't stop the scammers trying to bully you into paying a fixed penalty, with dire threats of fines up to £1000 and 6 points if you lose in court.