Speeding not heard back. Should I be worried

ivington

Anyway my fears have been realized and they must have lost the paperwork for the 2nd offence because today I received a pack from Essex Police that they are now prosecuting through the magistrates court and that I have 21 days to respond.
Is there any way at all that I can explain to them that I was more than happy to accept liability. That I filled in the paperwork and sent it back, but that they have somehow lost it. Like I said, I sent both in the same envelope. So if they received one they must also have received the other.
This is becoming a nightmare.

wgl2014

There's no automatic right to a fpn so if things are going to court there's not really much you can do.

If you plead guilty then there shouldn't be any need to actually attend court unless a ban is being considered.

ivington

So you're saying that although I'm going to court because they lost the paperwork where I was happy to accept the original speeding fine and, as a result I'm could receive a more severe penalty and/or fine, that there is nothing I can do.


That sounds fair.

ivington

And you say there is no automatic right to a fpn. So I presume that what you are trying to suggest is that they did not lose the paperwork and have decided to prosecute through the courts. That I find hard to believe as they offered me the option to accept the fine in the first place as long as I returned the form within 28 days. Which I did. Why offer the option? Please explain that. They have clearly lost the paperwork.

Car_54

ivington wrote: »

And you say there is no automatic right to a fpn. So I presume that what you are trying to suggest is that they did not lose the paperwork and have decided to prosecute through the courts. That I find hard to believe as they offered me the option to accept the fine in the first place as long as I returned the form within 28 days. Which I did. Why offer the option? Please explain that. They have clearly lost the paperwork.

There is no point in getting stroppy with posters on the forum. The fact is that you have been summonsed to court, for whatever reason, and you have to deal with it.


However, you MAY be able to persuade the court to fine you at the fixed penalty level. I'd suggest you post on pepipoo.com for more expert advice.

AndyMc.....

ivington wrote: »

So you're saying that although I'm going to court because they lost the paperwork where I was happy to accept the original speeding fine and, as a result I'm could receive a more severe penalty and/or fine, that there is nothing I can do.


That sounds fair.

Time was always against you given the length of time you took to get a log book. No wonder it’s gone straight to court.

wgl2014

ivington wrote: »

And you say there is no automatic right to a fpn. So I presume that what you are trying to suggest is that they did not lose the paperwork and have decided to prosecute through the courts. That I find hard to believe as they offered me the option to accept the fine in the first place as long as I returned the form within 28 days. Which I did. Why offer the option? Please explain that. They have clearly lost the paperwork.

If the paperwork had been lost your reply naming yourself as the driver would not have been processed and you would be changed with failing to provide the required information, I would suggest that it hasn't been lost.

Is the summons for the earlier offence? I wonder if this wasn't processed via fixed penalty due to the time from the offence? Police have six months to prosecute and so will have a cut off point where FPN's will be offered to prevent things timing out.

If you want a definite answer I would still suggest calling the forces ticket office and asking them.

DoaM

ivington wrote: »

Like I said, I sent both in the same envelope. So if they received one they must also have received the other.

That could well be your problem ... they'll not expect responses to two NIPs in the same envelope. (You should have sent the replies separately).

When I last got a NIP I sent my reply via the Post Office and got a certificate of posting for it.

Car_54

ivington wrote: »

Anyway my fears have been realized and they must have lost the paperwork for the 2nd offence because today I received a pack from Essex Police that they are now prosecuting through the magistrates court and that I have 21 days to respond.
Is there any way at all that I can explain to them that I was more than happy to accept liability. That I filled in the paperwork and sent it back, but that they have somehow lost it. Like I said, I sent both in the same envelope. So if they received one they must also have received the other.
This is becoming a nightmare.

Have you been charged with speeding, or with failure to nominate the driver? Or both?

ivington

Ok, so I've read through the court papers in detail and in particular the 'Process Timeline'. It does now appear that they did receive my acceptance but have decided to go through the court process because of:


'Insufficient time to process COFPN'


The original offence date was 08/01/2018 which would take things pretty close to (if not over) 6 months if they sent me out a 28 days to pay option.


The other offence took place on the 23/01/2018 which still allows time with 28 days to pay to fall inside the 6 months.


So now I understand why I have received the court option, though it still feels somewhat harsh. It was never my intention to avoid paying and the reason the car was not put in my name was the fault of the previous owner and not mine. Obviously I accept responsibility for the speeding, though, but feel a little hard done by because this is now going to cost more than it could have. If I had been aware of the 6 months time limit I would have sent them off immediately, but I was going away soon after and was worried that I could make things worse if something arrived on my doormat whilst I was away which required my immediate attention, so decided to leave it a bit later in the knowledge that I would be guaranteed to have returned before anything came back in the post.


Just a catalogue of events that has added up to an expensive conclusion.