Help! Police computer harassing me

lolly5648

We sold our car a year ago - part exchange at a Mazda garage - and notified the DVLA.

In the last 6 months we have received numerous notices of intended prosecution for speeding. We have filled in the forms and enclosed copies of letters from DVLA and Mazda confirming that we sold the car and that it is no longer registered to us at Swansea but still the forms arrive.

There is no phone number on the forms and it is taking time and money to fill in the forms and send them back. We keep asking for an acknowledgement but never get a reply.

Any advice on what we can do?

Bokken_2

A NIP that is sent to you should have the Police force's address on it to show which force area that it comes from and contact details of their traffic process office.
if you find a suitable address or identify the Force that is seding you the NIP's then send a suitable letter of complaint to the ACC(Assistant Chief Constable)of that Force and that should be the end of the matter as the ACC will forward it to the correct department with his reconmendments on it.
There does appear to be a line of enquiry at the Mazda garage,Who did they sell the car on to ?As this could be the person commiting the offences.
Make sure you keep all relevant paperwork to the sale of your previous vehicle.
If you can prove you have sold the vehicle before the NIP offence dates then you have nothing to worry about and cannot be prosecuted.

daft_ada

You don't say in your message whether you received confirmation in writing from DVLA that they had noted that you are no longer the owner of the vehicle. You have to obtain this letter as confirmation that they have updated their records; in fact by law you must obtain this confirmation.
The Police will approach DVLA on each seperate occasion for details of the owner of the vehicle- they do not keep the details of ownership on Police computers, so in this case it is DVLA that are giving incorrect information not the Police.
What often happens is that on selling a vehicle to a garage, the owner hands over the logbook and the garage say they will deal with eveything. This is not correct - the owner has to contact DVLA using the bottom part of their logbook document. They then get 'receipt' letter. Have you checked with DVLA what details they hold?
If you do have the letter from Swansea, then all you can do is keep returning the information the Police ask for, a pain I know! If you don't give them the information then they can prosecute for failing to give the information!

Bokken_2

daft_ada wrote:

If you don't give them the information then they can prosecute for failing to give the information!

This is a very remote possibility unless it was a serious road accident very few people get prosecuted for failing to supply the correct information.
Any way this isn't going to happen as you can provide the information.
There we are back at the beginning if you have the Force details send the information requested back to the ACC along with a letter of complaint and request a suitable update from the ACC as to what his Force are doing about it.

lolly5648

Thanks Bokken. As I said we have confirmation in writing from DVLA that we are not the registered owners. Mazda say no-one has contacted them. It is the Essex and Herfordshire Police force who keep sending these notices so I suppose our details are on their computers from when the offences were first committed and they havent updated.

It is a very good idea to write to the ACC with a letter of complaint and that is what I will do.

taxiphil

daft_ada wrote:

You don't say in your message whether you received confirmation in writing from DVLA that they had noted that you are no longer the owner of the vehicle. You have to obtain this letter as confirmation that they have updated their records; in fact by law you must obtain this confirmation.

I don't wish to sound rude, but how on earth can it be your legal duty to obtain a letter? If the DVLA don't send it (and let's face it - DVLA are hardly renowned for their competence) or the Royal Mail lose it, then it's hardly your fault. Supposing the DVLA keep ignoring your request for this confirmation letter? The law doesn't expect you to keep writing to the DVLA ad infinitum in the face of their incompetence.

Your legal duty only goes as far as notifying the DVLA, and you have done this. You have got more than enough evidence on your side in the form of receipts, copies of letters, etc, to prove that you disposed of this vehicle before the speeding offences happened. Let them go ahead and prosecute you for speeding, and then produce all this evidence in court. The police and crown prosecution will be made to look like inept fools, you will be fully vindicated by the court, and you will be able to put in a claim for your own costs.

daft_ada wrote:

If you don't give them the information then they can prosecute for failing to give the information!

For you to be prosecuted for failing to notify the DVLA of a transfer, the burden of proof is on them to prove that you didn't post off the relevant part of the V5C form (innocent until proven guilty) - and I'd love to know how they will go about proving a negative!

Bossyboots

Bokken wrote:

This is a very remote possibility unless it was a serious road accident very few people get prosecuted for failing to supply the correct information.

Do you know that for a fact. This is something our area is extremely hot on and they are prosecuting regularly people who fail to complete the NIP properly.

vwman_3

Bossyboots wrote:

Do you know that for a fact. This is something our area is extremely hot on and they are prosecuting regularly people who fail to complete the NIP properly.

As a retired Police Officer I can say the same, if you fail to fill in and return the NIP forms it results most of the time in a prosecution.

Bokken_2

Yes.
There you go regional varations stacked up against large Metropolitan force needs,work load and CPS 's
willingness to use "not in the public interest".

In this case the point is negated as lolly5648 has documentation to prove the sale and would never get to the NIP and court stage.
If they are sending NIP's willy nilly to lolly5648 it shows a lack of fundemental investigative skills on their part.

vwman_3

Bokken wrote:

Yes.
There you go regional varations stacked up against large Metropolitan force needs,work load and CPS 's
willingness to use "not in the public interest".

In this case the point is negated as lolly5648 has documentation to prove the sale and would never get to the NIP and court stage.
If they are sending NIP's willy nilly to lolly5648 it shows a lack of fundemental investigative skills on their part.

It's a good little money spinner.......not so good for the motorist as per usual..........dont start me off on the CPS, Crown Persecution Service.........

lolly5648

Oh dear, I seem to have started something.

My original point was that we have received around 10 NIPs from two police forces and have sent them back with info filled in and a copy of a letter from the DVLA. My husband is getting very worked up when he receives yet another one so thats why I want it to stop and hopefully a letter to the two ACCs will work.

By the way, the DVLA were very helpful on the phone and couldnt understand why the police kept writing to us as we were not shown as the registered keeper and were quite happy to send us a letter confirming this.