Court Date for Failure to Notify Drivers Details

GwylimT

markr89 wrote: »

So I dont have a chance of notifying the proper drivers details now despite my email back in January? All because I waited to see the proper photos first?

Is there not anything I can do?

I had a similar situation a few years ago, shared a drive with a colleague and a few days later and letter arrived about speeding, the road was where we had pulled in to a service station to switch as it was around halfway into the journey.

It took almost 23 weeks to be sent the requested picture of the vehicle to see who was driving so like you I had to go to court and I had six points applied and a fine. Even the courts don't look at the photo (or didn't back then), when they arrived at my address two weeks after my court appearance it was my friend driving. As I hadn't been given the opportunity to properly identify the driver an the court hadn't given me access to the photo the points were removed and the fine riembursed as it was my friend who was driving.

Not long ago now I got another one, I thought I didn't recognise the road name but I also don't speed. That photo arrived much quicker, it wasn't my car and it of course had a different registration. Incompetent idiots.

Marktheshark

As said you should have read the 172 very carefully indeed and done exactly as it instructed.
You will now be receiving 6 points £400 fine and cost, if you fail to attend court or try any more E_mail stunts you will be arrested on warrant and held in the Bridewell until a court date can be set.

TonyMMM

If you were driving, then there is an option to attempt a plea bargain with the prosecution on the day at court.

Offer a guilty plea to speeding if they drop the much more serious failing to nominate charge. Prosecutors will almost always allow that - however, they don't have to, but as you have no real defence to the s172 charge it is worth a try.

markr89

@Marktheshark - surely they can't fully penalize me because of that alone - I'm pretty sure anyone who logged on to see the evidence I got would have done the same. I took 2 weeks alone for them to send a proper image in and mid conversation I sent the details to the police. They didnt even acknowledge them or reply at all - they had time to email back and tell me to fill out the form. Surely there must be SOME leverage?

@GwylimT - thanks so much, some reassurance. Sounds like I'll have to attend and give the full story there then hope for the best.

TonyMMM

The pictures supplied are to identify the car, not the driver. Nor do they have to be the evidential shots used to support the offence. You had no entitlement to any evidence at that stage so any argument about them not being supplied or being poor quality is not going to help much.

As the charge being tried is now failing to nominate, the details of the speeding offence (including any pictures) are no longer relevant at all.

All they have to prove at court is that a s172 requirement was made, and that you failed to send a satisfactory response ( written and signed).

But - the plea bargain route is open (usually) if you were driving.

Marktheshark

The image has nothing to do with the S172, you have to name who was driving the car on that date or that is a separate offence, yes they will prosecute you unfortunately.

markr89

Okay guys. I'll bare all this in mind, attend and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks everyone for the quick replies and honest advice.

The_grey_man_2

I think your only option is to attend court and try and plead your case to them. Take copies of all correspondence with you including emails etc. If the court believes your explanation and it is a clear case of miscommunication they MAY be lenient with you, if they feel that you intended to do the right thing.

I suspect that you are wasting your time conversing with the police as they have stated it is now in the hands of the court. I would concentrate on this now.

I think you probably need proper legal advice though, perhaps you have cover through a union/employer or even some bank accounts I believe.

AdrianC

markr89 wrote: »

I could have named the driver but I wanted to be sure the evidence they had was sufficient

They clearly had good enough quality images to identify the vehicle - else you wouldn't have received the NIP in the first place.

You were being asked to identify the driver at that time and location, not to make any judgements on the quality of the images. If the driver in question wanted to dispute the evidence, it is their choice to turn down a fixed penalty and go to court to do so.

Yes, you eventually identified the driver, but doing so through a non-official channel could easily be seen as a delaying tactic. You did not identify the driver in the way requested in time. And that's what you're being prosecuted for now.

It's your choice whether you plead guilty and lay your evidence as mitigation, or whether you plead not guilty and use the evidence to try to demonstrate that you were not guilty - but the one thing you MUST not do, is to fail to turn up and hope it goes away.

soolin

I suggest you post an accurate and clear time line on

http://forums.pepipoo.com/

And take their advice. As it stands you are now facing 6 points for failing to identify the driver within the time scale required, plus a large fine. You will also end up with insurance issues as a failure to notify charge is more damaging , insurance wise, than a simple 3 points for speeding.

With your apparent limited understanding of the process you should not be just taking this to court with your fingers crossed.