NIP 14 day rule

mjgreen60

hi there

my wife has received a nip for speeding today. Letter is dated 22/6/26, but date of offence is 7/5/26. Clearly outside of 14 day window. No issue with address, privately owned vehicle.

No longer do a paper return and it’s all online (west mids police if it makes any difference).

Just wondering how we go about trying to get it written off given the timeframe?

many thanks

Mj

soolin

the regulars on here will be along to help you, but it is virtually unheard of for an NIP to be issued late, and this might well be a reminder. Whatever happens though you would still need to respond to the form.

Keep_pedalling

Is she the registered keeper? Is the address correct on the V5C?

Car_54

As above, are you sure your wife is the RK and the address on the V5C is correct?

If so, it is probably a reminder. You can phone the police and ask.

Whatever, you won't get it "written off". Your wife has to reply naming the driver, and the only way to challenge the "late" NIP is to decline any out-of-court settlements and go to court, where the onus will be on her to prove the original NOP wasn't received: how do you imagine she could do that?

mjgreen60

Hi. Thanks for all the replies.

Yes, she is the registered keeper and the address is correct. From looking at the NIP there is nothing to suggest that this is a reminder, not sure whether it would be explicit that it is, but reads as a first letter.

soolin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82054962#Comment_82054962

Again I’ll rely on definite answers from the expert regulars here, but a reminder will look exactly the same as the original, just with the new date.

However, try Ftla just be careful of their registration and posting requirements. There’s quite a few mentions of supposedly late NIPs there and although I’m not a regular there I don’t recall seeing any that were actually late. The most common one is a leased car where the original notification went to the lease company first, although I accept you say the documents show your wife and the correct address as keeper.

TooManyPoints

It does seem to fit about the right timeframe for a reminder.

If the original was issued on (say) Monday 11th May, she would have until 8th June to reply. The 22nd is two weeks after that.

I take it you haven’t recently acquired the vehicle or changed address?

If the police claim there was an earlier NIP (sent in time) your wife will have to decline any out-of-court offers (course or fixed penalty) and defend the matter in court. She will have to plead not guilty and convince the court that no NIP was delivered within the required 14 days.

It’s not an easy ask and failure will cost her in the region of £1,000.

Aretnap

From what people who have actually worked in ticket offices say, the system will generally not allow an initial NIP to be issued outside the statutory 14 day timeframe. Overriding this involves a manual process which requires a reason for the late issue to be logged on the system: a reason which has to be significantly better than "oops, we forgot".

So there will undoubtedly be a good reason for the apparent late issue. Assuming you are indeed the registered keeper of the car, have not changed address recently etc, the most likely reason is that this is a reminder.

As above if you can persuade the court that the original NIP was never delivered then you have a defence to the charge if surfing, but this is not an easy task as you are basically asking the magistrates to take you at your word with no other evidence of the non-delivery to back you up.

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82055235#Comment_82055235

I'm not doubting you, but but do you need to prove to the court the non-delivery? Would it not be up to the prosecution to prove delivery? Or do they assume that a letter (that can be shown to be sent) is delivered within a certain period?

Aretnap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82055336#Comment_82055336

It's explicitly for the defence to prove (on the balance of probabilities) that the requirement to serve a NIP had not been completed with.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/53/section/1

(3)The requirement of subsection (1) above shall in every case be deemed to have been complied with unless and until the contrary is proved.

soolin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82055336#Comment_82055336

Again Ftla are experts on these cases, but the NIP is deemed to have arrived 2 working days after posting and recipient would need to show this was not the case.