Unable to identify driver

donsplash

Hi All, I just received a NIP showing that I was papped doing 29mph on the 20mph restricted Tower Bridge south approach. On the day alleged offense was committed, I drove my vehicle to a party with my friends. At the party I had too much to drink and I was not in a state to drive the vehicle back home. One of my friends who we attanded the party together drove the vehicle back home but I was asleep the entire time and I am not sure which one out of them drove the car. I am certain I was not the one driving at the time the contravention occured and I was not in the right frame of mind to identify who the driver might have been even though I was an occupant of the vehicle at the time.
- Is this an acceptable defence?
- Although my wife (who was not in the vehicle at the time) and I are insured to drive the vehicle, can I be penalised for a non-insured driver driving my vehicle?
- What if I am unable to identify the driver, am i obliged to accept all the responsibility for the vehicle
- If indeed my defense will not hold water, do I qualify to attend a Speed Awareness Course in place of a fixed penalty and points on my license.

Any help on this will be appreciated.

muckybutt

Hi Donsplash, seems like you have a wee problem !

Best advice would be to register on pepipoo and seek advice from those more in the know on the legal aspects of this sort of thing.

Do the nip wizard once you have registered http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?&autocom=nipwizard
Then start a new thread in http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=5

forgotmyname

If you allowed someone uninsured to drive and knew that you can also get done for allowing them to.

Your excuse sounds feeble, Were you asleep when you got in the car?
I think you need to own up who was driving or take the blame yourself.
making up stories could land you in deep trouble.

You will only know if its points and a fine or a course when it drops through the post.

Gavin83

donsplash wrote: »

- Is this an acceptable defence?

No, of course not. Being too drunk is never an acceptable defense and besides, what stops you from just asking them?

donsplash wrote: »

- Although my wife (who was not in the vehicle at the time) and I are insured to drive the vehicle, can I be penalised for a non-insured driver driving my vehicle?

Yes you can. In fact the punishment for this will likely be more severe than the speeding punishment. It's 6 points if you don't know.

In other words you may be better off accepting the speeding ticket.

donsplash wrote: »

- What if I am unable to identify the driver, am i obliged to accept all the responsibility for the vehicle

If you can't identify the driver the owner of the vehicle will be considered as default. "I can't remember" is no longer a suitable reply.

donsplash wrote: »

- If indeed my defense will not hold water, do I qualify to attend a Speed Awareness Course in place of a fixed penalty and points on my license.

Hard to say as it's up to the force providing the ticket. I'm not too sure what the cut off point is for 20mph but I'd assume your above it anyway, 50% more is quite a lot.

Happychappy

donsplash wrote: »

Hi All, I just received a NIP showing that I was papped doing 29mph on the 20mph restricted Tower Bridge south approach. On the day alleged offense was committed, I drove my vehicle to a party with my friends. At the party I had too much to drink and I was not in a state to drive the vehicle back home. One of my friends who we attanded the party together drove the vehicle back home but I was asleep the entire time and I am not sure which one out of them drove the car. I am certain I was not the one driving at the time the contravention occured and I was not in the right frame of mind to identify who the driver might have been even though I was an occupant of the vehicle at the time.
- Is this an acceptable defence?
- Although my wife (who was not in the vehicle at the time) and I are insured to drive the vehicle, can I be penalised for a non-insured driver driving my vehicle?
- What if I am unable to identify the driver, am i obliged to accept all the responsibility for the vehicle
- If indeed my defense will not hold water, do I qualify to attend a Speed Awareness Course in place of a fixed penalty and points on my license.

Any help on this will be appreciated.

Ever thought of writing kiddies novels, magistrates will love this one :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:best of luck, and please, please please, come back on and let us know the result, you will get loads of support.

Poppie68

Wondering why the OP cant' just ask which 'friend' was driving?

The_Slithy_Tove

Who did the OP hand the car keys to? Name that person, and it's then up to him/her to nominate someone else if they didn't actually drive.

Possible lack of insurance is an additional potential can of worms that may get opened in the meantime.

fivetide

Gavin83 wrote: »

Yes you can. In fact the punishment for this will likely be more severe than the speeding punishment. It's 6 points if you don't know.

And at least £200 fine to go with the points. And insurance companies are not fans of any penalty which is attached to no insurance so expect some increased premiums for the next five years if you go down this route.

Unless you own a minibus there must be a maximum of three to four people you need to check with. I'd start with the ones that live close to your house

5t.

lazer

The chances are high that the person was actually insured to drive though if they own their car and are over 25 - most insurance parties cover driving other cars.

I suggest you ask the other people who was driving!

AlexisV

You need to name one of them. Ask them who it was and if that fails, guess one of them.

If you weren't driving, you need to exonerate yourself.

HO87

AlexisV wrote: »

You need to name one of them. Ask them who it was and if that fails, guess one of them.

If you weren't driving, you need to exonerate yourself.

+1
Failing to supply the information required on the form (Notice of Intended Prosecution plus what is known as a s.172 requirement) will result in a hefty 6 points and a fine that is most frequently in the £300 plus bracket. The MS90 endorsement is as popular with insurers as brown floater in a swimming pool. Insurers have been known to rescind policies when they discover their insured has one of these endorsements, others will simply not entertain people with this conviction and premiums will be loaded considerably.

Providing an equivocal response will immediately attract police attention. They will almost certainly take the view that you have something to hide - which is fairly obvious I'm afraid - and start to examine CCTV footage from the bridge and surrounding streets in an effort to establish if you were awake (which will sink your account) and pull up an image of who is driving.

At that point, if you were to persist with the version of events you've produced so far, you are likely to be looking straight down the barrel of a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Similar cases - and there have been plenty of them - always result in jail time.

I'd be concentrating really hard to see if I had some, even vague, memories of that journey and who was driving. That, or practising having a shower and learning how to pick up the soap without bending over.