Help with speeding ticket on stollen vehicle

bongo_boy

Please can someone help.
I was the the registered keeper of my vehicle.
I reported my vehicle stollen on 20th July 2020 - having last used it back in March/April pre covid/lockdown.
The vehicle was retrieved by police and scrapped on 28th July.
On 27th August I received a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP). Speeding camera - excess speed. 
Date of offence 7th June. This was most certainly the thieves - as was in an area I've never been - later found in the same area destroyed.
As the NIP was dated 27/8/20 for an offence on 7/06/20 rather than claim it was the thieves I asked to reject on the grounds the NIP was issued >14days since offence. 
The police reply was that the NIP was issued in time - and any subsequent issue has no time restriction.
This puzzled me as i'd received nothing. My father wondered if I hadn't updated my address with the DVLA since moving - but I have no way of checking (that I know of) as I subsequently scrapped the vehicle and so don't have the V5. Either way I have to trust the police are correct that the NIP was issued - even if lost in the post.
On the NIP - there is no means to reply that the bike was stollen - you HAVE to name someone as the driver or keeper.
I have also tried calling the camera unit (suggested on the form) - only to be cut off while on hold every single time.
I basically don't know what to do and this is causing me a lot of stress. I have a clean licence and I'm not willing to accepting points for something I didn't do.

Any Help / advice really appreciated.

neilmcl

So have you received a S172 notice, to identify the driver? If so you must complete this along with a covering letter and any evidence to support that the car was in fact stolen. However there seems to be a big discrepancy in your story that you reported the car stolen on the 20th July yet the offence occurred on the 7th June. So when exactly was it stolen?

Jonesya

Would be useful to clarify not only the date when you believe or know that it was stolen, but what was happening in the time between then and 20th July when you reported it stolen, which resulted in such a long delay in you noticing it had been taken and reporting it.

Typically most people know where there cars are and would know if it was stolen within hours, days or possible a few weeks if away on holiday. You're suggesting yours was stolen for at least 6 weeks before you reported it, which is a bit unusual that's a long time, so I'd also be getting together any evidence to demonstrate why it took you so long to notice it was gone and to report it.

AdrianC

Let's look at the timeline...

March/April - bike agreed to be in your possession.
7th June - speeding photo.
20th July - bike reported stolen.
28th July - bike recovered and scrapped with V5C.
27th August - s172 received.

And your first response isn't "Thanks for that - it wasn't me, because it had been stolen - and you've helped narrow down the date of the theft", but "Oooh, technicality! Too slow!"... even though you freely admit you simply don't know whether the address on the V5C was current, despite it only being a matter of weeks since you'd scrapped the bike and despite the police telling you the first s172 was correctly issued within 14 days.

Can you see why that timeline might raise their eyebrows a bit?

TooManyPoints

I'll ask the same question as you were asked on the other forum where you have posted your problem: where was the vehicle between March and 20th July and did anybody else have access to the keys during that time?

You can forget the idea about "rejecting" the NIP due to its lateness. First of all you cannot reject a NIP. It is simply a notice warning you that a prosecution for speeding is under consideration. But more importantly, speeding is not your problem. You will probably face prosecution for failing to provide the driver's details. Presuming you were "the person keeping the vehicle" on 7th June (and you will be hard pressed to convince a court otherwise)  your responsibility is to provide the driver's details. If you cannot do so you will have to convince a court that you did not know who it was and you could not find out using "reasonable diligence" (that is, your best efforts). There seems to be a big gap in your knowledge of the vehicle's whereabouts. Was it not in a place where you could check on it from time to time between March and July? Telling the court that you last saw it in March or April and then reported it stolen some six weeks after the date of the allegation is unlikely to prove successful. The offence carries a hefty fine, six points and insurance grief for probably five years. I think you have an uphill struggle to defend that charge.

Stratus

bongo_boy said:

I reported my vehicle stollen 

I know you can make a car out of spaghetti but this is the first I've heard about one made from cake. I'm guessing it was German.

Scrapit

This should be a piece of cake.

waamo

It will all be over by Christmas 

facade

In support of the OP, it was a 'bike. Mine could have been stolen at any point between November 2019 and June this year and I wouldn't have noticed.

Mine lives in a shed all locked up, (from Nov to June it was inside The World's Most Expensive Polythene Bag) and I have no reason to go inside unless I want to ride the 'bike or mess with it, in fact it could be stolen right now, the last time I looked in there was July.

onlyfoolsandparking

facade said:

In support of the OP, it was a 'bike. Mine could have been stolen at any point between November 2019 and June this year and I wouldn't have noticed.

Mine lives in a shed all locked up, (from Nov to June it was inside The World's Most Expensive Polythene Bag) and I have no reason to go inside unless I want to ride the 'bike or mess with it, in fact it could be stolen right now, the last time I looked in there was July.

I'd go and take a quick look if I were you   

facade

onlyfoolsandparking said:

facade said:

In support of the OP, it was a 'bike. Mine could have been stolen at any point between November 2019 and June this year and I wouldn't have noticed.

Mine lives in a shed all locked up, (from Nov to June it was inside The World's Most Expensive Polythene Bag) and I have no reason to go inside unless I want to ride the 'bike or mess with it, in fact it could be stolen right now, the last time I looked in there was July.

I'd go and take a quick look if I were you   

Just been and looked, still all chained up inside, optimate is green too