Notice of endorsement

jhaines

Hi,

I found an unopened letter dated the 9th September 2019 from West Sussex Magistrates saying that I failed to give evidence about a driver for a speeding offence and I in my absence I have been given 6 points and fined £800.

This is the first I have known about this and did not receive any letters prior to this.

I have two cars which I insured for both myself and my wife and we swap constantly.so even if one of us was driving I dont know who it was.

I have spoken to the local Magistrates and said I did not receive any letters and I am scheduled to go to court to say this and plead my case.

The Magistrates have still not given me any detailing for the original offence so dont know how to defend myself but dont just want to accept the punishment.

What are my options?

Thanks

sevenhills

jhaines wrote: »

I have spoken to the local Magistrates and said I did not receive any letters and I am scheduled to go to court to say this and plead my case.

You fail to mention how you came to find an unopened letter almost a month late. Assume you didn't state that for a reason?

lopsyfa

As above, if you are just seeing the letter for the judgement almost a month later, is it possible you could have 'lost' or not opened all communications about the offence.

You need to do something about not opening letters on time.

unforeseen

sevenhills wrote: »

You fail to mention how you came to find an unopened letter almost a month late. Assume you didn't state that for a reason?

There is one fairly obvious reason for this happening. Somebody disposing of the other letters missed one.

EssexExile

I assume you'll make a statutory declaration that you were unaware of the proceedings & they will basically start again. If that has changed someone will come along with more recent information.

SHAFT

EssexExile wrote: »

I assume you'll make a statutory declaration that you were unaware of the proceedings & they will basically start again. If that has changed someone will come along with more recent information.

No it's not changed.

The OP's problem will be he'll be back to square one as he can't name who was driving. It would appear a lot of post has gone "missing".

facade

Register at pepipoo dot com (you can't use a hotmail address) and post there for advice. They will want a lot more information, e.g. date of speeding offence, date of court case for the S172 offence, whether the car is registered to your address and the DOCREF from the V5.


One approach is to do a plea bargain at the court when the case is heard again, where you plead guilty to speeding if they drop the S172. You can't do this if it wasn't you driving. (they can't convict anyone of speeding if you keep your mouth shut, as they don't know who was driving, unless they have a really clear photo, but they can convict you for the S172, which is 6 points that the insurers really don't like to see)


Claiming not to know who was driving after all this time is a possible defence, but very very difficult to get it believed.

The_Rainmaker

Hmmmmmmmmm

AdrianC

unforeseen wrote: »

There is one fairly obvious reason for this happening. Somebody disposing of the other letters missed one.

Which begs the question of who's tampering with the OP's post, how, and why?

The chances of it being a postie with a vendetta are infinitessimal. So is the post just left in a shared area of a block of flats or shared house?

TBH...

jhaines wrote: »

I found an unopened letter dated the 9th September 2019

This suggests simple disorganisation, rather than external malign forces.

This is the first I have known about this and did not receive any letters prior to this.

Could they not simply have disappeared into the same black hole of clutter that nearly swallowed this one?

I have two cars which I insured for both myself and my wife and we swap constantly.so even if one of us was driving I dont know who it was.

Unlikely to be a good enough excuse, though. Assuming both are registered to the correct address, you'd have had the original s172 within 14 days of the offence. Given the time and location, are you seriously saying you couldn't have worked it out relatively straightforwardly?

But that's a separate question. This is about the MS90 failure to identify, not the SP30 speeding.

I have spoken to the local Magistrates and said I did not receive any letters and I am scheduled to go to court to say this and plead my case.

And that's the only way this is going away.

The Magistrates have still not given me any detailing for the original offence so dont know how to defend myself but dont just want to accept the punishment.

This isn't about the speeding.

If your defence to the failure to identify is accepted, the clock will be reset on the original speeding ticket. As registered keeper, it's thinking-hat-on time for the original speeding offence. And when that one comes back around - if you really, honestly, genuinely don't have a clue or any hints as to how you might figure it out, you are going to need to be very convincing about how hard you tried...

sevenhills

jhaines wrote: »

I have two cars which I insured for both myself and my wife and we swap constantly.so even if one of us was driving I dont know who it was.

You are being rather presumptive. If they told you the location, it could be near your work or your wifes work.

shaun_from_Africa

AdrianC wrote: »

Which begs the question of who's tampering with the OP's post, how, and why?

Could they not simply have disappeared into the same black hole of clutter that nearly swallowed this one?

Looking at the only other post started by the OP, it's quite possible that mail is getting lost or misplaced because of:

jhaines wrote: »

I am in the process of selling my property and buying another,

especially if they are packing up in preparation for moving or simply to store goods for a while.