S172(2) alledged offence of using an electronic device whilst driving

LightFlare

Court proceedings only have to start within 6months of the date of the offence.

If you are 3 weeks away from that, you may find they have already begun or you may just be lucky and fallen behind the cabinet 

TooManyPoints

You need to ensure your response is posted so as to arrive within the 28 days (which begins on the date shown on the s172 request). Allow two working days (Mon-Fri) for it to arrive. Take a copy of your response and get aa free certificate of posting from the Post Office.

The police must then produce a "written charge" and a "Single  Justice Procedure Notice" which must be done before the six months is up. You would normally receive notification of proceedings within two to three weeks after that.

On another note (purely academic, I would suggest), I’ve had dialogue with an acquaintance who is legally qualified and specialises in road traffic matters.

His opinion is the same as mine. He goes further by explaining that whilst service of  NIP (for certain offences) is mandatory, its content – apart from the nature of the offence and the time and place where it occurred – is advisory. He expanded on my explanation by saying that the aim of the law is to enable the accused to identify and recall the incident in question while it is still relatively fresh in his mind, and to potentially enable him to gather and preserve any evidence that might assist any defence.

So ultimately it would be for  the court to decide if a NIP met the requirements of the law and his view is the same as mine – that a NIP which alleged a mobile phone was being used whilst driving would be sufficient if  a “catch all” charge was raised as a result of that allegation.

Okell

LightFlare said:

Court proceedings only have to start within 6months of the date of the offence.

If you are 3 weeks away from that, you may find they have already begun or you may just be lucky and fallen behind the cabinet 

Perhaps I'm missing something but how could proceedings already have begun against the OP if he is still within the reply window and hasn't yet repiled?  If he has not yet nominated himself as the driver how would they know who to prosecute?

Or are you suggesting that the relative's nomination of the OP would be sufficient to charge the OP?

Okell

Gerrard00004 said:

... The phone fell on top of the dashboard, I picked it up and tossed it onto the passenger seat...

If this were to get to court I think you are likely to be asked why you felt it necessary to move the phone at all - whether it fell on the floor, the dashboard or somewhere else.  Why couldn't you have left it where it was until you'd stopped driving?

Gerrard00004 said:

... As advised it maybe nonconsequential but if I have committed an offence then it is my expectation for them to deal with it, they laboured in the slow lane a few vehicles in front of me...

What the police vehicle did after it overtook you has no bearing whatsoever on any offence you might be alleged to have committed.  And they did deal with it - just not immediately.

TBH it's a bit odd that you tried to engage the police in correspondence over this after your relative received their s172 request.

Unless you want to chance being convicted of failing to identify the driver then yes, you need to nominate yourself within the 28 day timeframe.  I don't know how your insurer would evaluate this.  I'm sure you'll get charged significantly higher insurance premiums in future whether convicted of using a phone or of failure to identify, but I don't know if one is worse or better than the other.  I'd have thought identifying yourself would be the better option, but I'm not a lawyer and can't give you any reliable legal advice...

TooManyPoints

 I don't know how your insurer would evaluate this.  I'm sure you'll get charged significantly higher insurance premiums in future whether convicted of using a phone or of failure to identify, but I don't know if one is worse or better than the other. 

It seems that a s172 offence is about the worst offence in terms of effects on insurance premiums bar alcohol/drug offences and the very serious such as dangerous driving, causing death, etc.

From anecdotal evidence it is not unusual to see a doubling of premiums in the first year, and them remaining significantly loaded for all of the five years during which the offence must be declared. Certainly far more expensive than a mobile phone offence, despite attracting the same number of points.

Ectophile

Okell said:

Gerrard00004 said:

... The phone fell on top of the dashboard, I picked it up and tossed it onto the passenger seat...

If this were to get to court I think you are likely to be asked why you felt it necessary to move the phone at all - whether it fell on the floor, the dashboard or somewhere else.  Why couldn't you have left it where it was until you'd stopped driving?

If it's fallen out of a phone holder and onto the dashboard, then the next time you go around a corner, it's likely to slide off and fall onto the floor.  Possibly into the driver's footwell, where it could present a hazard.

Grabbing it off the dashboard and throwing it onto the passenger seat seems like a sensible thing to do.

Mildly_Miffed

Ectophile said:

Grabbing it off the dashboard and throwing it onto the passenger seat seems like a sensible thing to do.

Perhaps not while there's a marked police van next to you, though...

Okell

Ectophile said:

Okell said:

Gerrard00004 said:

... The phone fell on top of the dashboard, I picked it up and tossed it onto the passenger seat...

If this were to get to court I think you are likely to be asked why you felt it necessary to move the phone at all - whether it fell on the floor, the dashboard or somewhere else.  Why couldn't you have left it where it was until you'd stopped driving?

If it's fallen out of a phone holder and onto the dashboard, then the next time you go around a corner, it's likely to slide off and fall onto the floor.  Possibly into the driver's footwell, where it could present a hazard.

Grabbing it off the dashboard and throwing it onto the passenger seat seems like a sensible thing to do.

Yes - but I wanted to hear what the OP's answer was rather than to suggest a possible justification to him.

Mildly_Miffed said:

Ectophile said:

Grabbing it off the dashboard and throwing it onto the passenger seat seems like a sensible thing to do.

Perhaps not while there's a marked police van next to you, though...

Quite.  The OP obviously doesn't check his mirrors enough

Gerrard00004

Okell said:

Ectophile said:

Okell said:

Gerrard00004 said:

... The phone fell on top of the dashboard, I picked it up and tossed it onto the passenger seat...

If this were to get to court I think you are likely to be asked why you felt it necessary to move the phone at all - whether it fell on the floor, the dashboard or somewhere else.  Why couldn't you have left it where it was until you'd stopped driving?

If it's fallen out of a phone holder and onto the dashboard, then the next time you go around a corner, it's likely to slide off and fall onto the floor.  Possibly into the driver's footwell, where it could present a hazard.

Grabbing it off the dashboard and throwing it onto the passenger seat seems like a sensible thing to do.

Yes - but I wanted to hear what the OP's answer was rather than to suggest a possible justification to him.

Mildly_Miffed said:

Ectophile said:

Grabbing it off the dashboard and throwing it onto the passenger seat seems like a sensible thing to do.

Perhaps not while there's a marked police van next to you, though...

Quite.  The OP obviously doesn't check his mirrors enough

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

A defence I probably wouldn't use, but being honest on this thread, it was a natural reaction. It was in my line of vision and probably would have annoyed me. I picked it up without taking my eyes off the road, I was not using the device so I felt no need to check my mirrors as I was not doing anything wrong.

Gerrard00004

I tried to engage with the Constabulary/PC because it only just happened and didn't want it to continue through the whole legal process, where things are viewed more black and white and by people who were not present at the time of the alledged offence.