Odd Speeding NIP bereavment situation - any advice?

SydBrainerd

HI,

Just wondered if anyone could offer any advice.

Situation is:
Person A is registered keeper of vehicle, who passed away recently.

BeenThroughItAll

Are you the driver concerned, looking for a way out of a ticket, by any chance?

Frozen_up_north

Be careful, the registered keeper needs to give permission for someone else to drive their car, otherwise they are taking without owners consent and driving without insurance. Out of the frying pan...

We had the issue of needing to move a deceased relative’s car and ended up having to enlist a garage to move it on trade plates, as we couldn’t get insurance cover!

missile

Were you driving the car?
Whomever inherited the car will inherit the deceased responsibility to respond to NIP?

Car_54

missile wrote: »

Were you driving the car?
Whomever inherited the car will inherit the deceased responsibility to respond to NIP?

Unlikely. It can be months or even years before the inheritance is settled.

The law refers to "the person keeping the vehicle" rather than the RK, which might be interpreted to mean the executor(s).

However, Section 172(2(b)) is a catch-all which can be used to require any other person to "give any information which it is in his power to give and may lead to identification of the driver."

Keep_pedalling

Was the offence before or after the keeper died? If before then the whole thing should drop once the executor replies to the nip enclosing a copy of the death certificate. If after then it could be tricky as someone has been driving an untaxed and uninsured vehicle, so the executor may have some explaining to do.

George_Michael

Original post.

HI,

Just wondered if anyone could offer any advice.

Situation is:
Person A is registered keeper of vehicle, after an exhausting battle with cancer recently passed away.

NIP arrives sometime after death, date of offence is after death so obviously A isn't responsible.

NIP explicitly states only A can complete form - obviously deceased can not do this! So sent relevant Death Cert to the authority.

Authority has informally asked via deceased email to help identify driver, they have this email as we queried what to do with NIP. Not received any formal written correspondence since receiving initial NIP or sending DC.

1. how is this likely to pan out?

2. Considering reg owner now not alive, is anyone under any legal obligation to help identify driver? or any future reg owner.

3. Does the authority have any power to collect info regarding anyone other than reg keeper under the circumstances?

Any advice or experience of similar issues would be enlightening.

There is no personal info that can be connected with anyone so why did you feel the need to edit it?
No one can give advice without the full details.

Car_54

[1. how is this likely to pan out?

2. Considering reg owner now not alive, is anyone under any legal obligation to help identify driver? or any future reg owner.

3. Does the authority have any power to collect info regarding anyone other than reg keeper under the circumstances?]

1. Since the alleged offence occurred after the RK's death, the offender is probably still alive, so the police are unlikely to drop the matter.

2. As already said, the law (RTA 1988, s172) applies to "the person keeping the vehicle". Whoever that may be is obliged to nominate the driver if asked.

3. Yes. Either as in 2 above or "any other person shall if required as stated above give any information which it is in his power to give and may lead to identification of the driver."

The RK's death does not provide the offender with a get-out. The longer it takes to name him, the more likely that any tax or insurance offences will come to light.

missile

This seems to be a real can of worms and OP may end up with more than just a speeding offence?

unforeseen

I suppose technically the executor is the 'keeper' as the official manager of the estate. The problem comes when the executor is not of the same household and everybody denies using vehicle.

I'm not sure what the position would be in this case notwithstanding S172.

AdrianC

unforeseen wrote: »

I suppose technically the executor is the 'keeper' as the official manager of the estate. The problem comes when the executor is not of the same household and everybody denies using vehicle.

I'm not sure what the position would be in this case notwithstanding S172.

There's not even any "technically" about it.

The car is an asset of the estate. If anybody is using it without the executor's knowledge and permission, then they are taking without the owner's consent.

The executor is liable, in place of the deceased keeper. One of his first duties should have been to deal with the car, transferring keepership to whoever is now responsible for it, if it's not being sent.

DVLA have a "sensitive cases" team who this should be referred to - but the s172 needs replying to, because it's not going away. The executor either needs to name who they believe was driving, or admit that they do not know.