Notice of prosecution

juandstu

Hi. My son has been accused of a hit and run. His dash cam confirms he is innocent. Insurance assessor confirms no damage to his vehicle but he has now received this in the post.  He had previously contacted the police about this as was so worried. What can he do now as form requires driver details and car was at home

juandstu

To confirm he has received notice of prosecution letter. 

facade

Tell him to register at pepipoo dot com, (not with a hotmail address) and ask for advice there.

They will want to know what has happened.

At the moment, he has received an S172 request to name the driver of the vehicle at a particular date, time & location.  If he is adamant that the car was parked at home, (and is not trying to be clever about exact timings) then he has to say so, the S172 cannot be ignored.

Why did he know he was accused of a hit & run and get his car assessed? how does his dashcam prove he is innocent?

[Deleted User]

Just put "car was parked a (address) at the time in question and no one was driving it". That's the truth, no one was driving. State that you have evidence to prove it and ideally include it with the letter.

JamoLew

just playing devils advocate - be careful with your wording - what is your actual evidence for proving the car was parked ?
Your word WILL NOT suffice - you wont have dash cam footage (I dont think) to prove it was parked up, so how can you PROVE it ?

DoaM

Innocent until proven guilty?

JamoLew

Absolutely, couldn't agree more, but I was just suggesting that saying you can prove something when you can't, could cause a few issues if it does go any further.
Otherwise its just one persons word against another and you don't know what the 3rd party could "cook up" in the meantime

AdrianC

DoaM said:

Innocent until proven guilty?

No, not at all. I presume the NiP is for failure to stop after a collision, perhaps for careless driving.

If they offer an FPN, then acceptance of it includes admitting guilt.

If he wants to dispute guilt, he can - which involves refusing the FPN and going to court (or, more likely, an SJPN), where the evidence of both sides will be tested by a magistrate according to the usual criminal burden of guilt, "beyond reasonable doubt".

It's hard to see why they would even consider such a prosecution on just the word of one person... And, as has been said, it's very hard to see how a dashcam can prove that the car was at home. Even proving that the OP's son's phone was at home is not proof that the son himself was at home... and even if the son can be shown to be, it doesn't prove the car was.

One thing, though - OP, you cannot deal with this for him. He's the keeper of the vehicle, he's the one whose details are being asked for. He is the one who needs to put his big-boy pants on and do the adulting for himself. You can advise him, sure, but he is a grown adult in the eyes of the law. If he is trying to pull a fast one in some way, then trying to protect him from the consequences of his own actions could easily bite you both - and even if he does get away with it, he's not going to learn the important lessons about life as a result.

The_Rainmaker

Why has everyone mentioned parked up?  

The important sentence is "The dash cam prove it"  that suggests he was driving and was (possibly) at the location of the alleged hit and run, this further backed up by having contacted the police already.

The OP needs to provide further information, there is more to this story than meets the eye.

AdrianC

The_Rainmaker said:

Why has everyone mentioned parked up? 

Read the last few words of the OP. The car was at home, apparently.

TooManyPoints

If the vehicle really was parked at home at the relevant time he should simply return the request for driver's details stating just that. Don't provide proof (whatever that might be); don't get bogged down. He is being asked to provide the details of the driver of the vehicle at a specific time in a specific place. If the car was at home at that time that's all he can say. Just out of interest, was the car ever at the location mentioned?