NIP - Unable to identify the Driver

[jeffo]

In May, I took my family to Derbyshire for the day.

During the day my wife and I both took turns driving.

At some point we allegedly, drove 58mph in a 50mph zone passed a mobile speed camera.

 

I have received a NIP and sent it back requesting photographs of the vehicle in order to identify who was driving at the time. I received the photographs which are of the rear of the car, and do not dhow the driver.

 

I have written to the derbyshire police, and explained that I can not absolutely confirm who was driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence. (as we took turns driving and neither of us remember seeing a mobile speed camera, otherwise as would have checked our speed!).

 

I have offered to take the blame for the offence, as I do not think it necessary to waste the courts time. I will accept the fixed penalty (and points if necessary) however if I state emphatically that I was driving I may be committing fraud as I am not certain.

 

I have now received a letter "AS you are still unable to identify the driver at the time of the alleged speeding offence, the case papers will be passed to the Criminal Justice department for the consideration of instigating proceedings. As a result you may receive a summons to attend court".

 

Now going to court will mean time off work, which will cost me more than £60, I want to avoid court. Do I simply write back to them and accept full responsibility even though I don't know if I was driving?

 

Cheers

[rebel11]

Hi jeffo

 

They've taken there time issuing as it happened in May. I'm sure someone will respond shortly.

 

http://www.slowitdown.co.uk/F-A-Q.html

 

You took turns, but who did most of the driving? You could also point out that you've tried to safeguard other drivers by taking turns, but then to get court documents seems 'unfair'.

 

Do you qualify for a 'speed awareness course'?

Edited October 4, 2013 by rebel11

[Conniff]

If there is no definitive way to determin, then I see your suggestion as the only way out.

[Aretnap]

Your obligation is to identify the driver, not to "accept responsibility". A response which boils down to "I don't know who was driving, but I'll take the points if you like" doesn't identify the driver. If you want to "accept full responsibility" the only way to do it is to say that it was you driving - no ifs, no buts. Or you can say you don't know, but that will mean an automatic summons for failure to furnish, and if the magistrates don;t believe you didn't know or think you could have tried harder to find out you'll get 6 points and a fine of several hundred pounds - a penalty which is deliberately set higher than for most speeding offences to discourage people from trying to get off speeding tickets by claiming not to know who was driving. It can also mean a big increase in your insurance premium - the MS90 code on your licence makes insurers wonder what you did which was so terrible that 6 points and £500 was a better option than owning up to it.

 

Be warned that if the file has already been sent to court, it may be too late to avoid a summons, whatever you do now. You also have a problem with the fact that there's a clock which is ticking. To prosecute you for speeding information must be laid with the court within 6 months of the offence, so some time in November. Even if they accept a driver nomination now, they won't, or at least shouldn't, offer you a fixed penalty (ie 3 points and £60) after about 5 months, as you have a month to accept or reject it, and there'd therefore be no time to prosecute you if you rejected it. It's also much too late to take a speed awareness course now, even though the speed would have qualified you for one. They'd summons you for speeding instead... so you might end up with a court appearance whatever you do now.

[Guest funforus]

It's a 'strict liability' law, nasty as you are placed in a lose lose situation. If you are the 'keeper' the onus is placed on your to identify the driver. There is no onus on the Police or, indeed, your wife . . . . The Minister says it is very unfair when 'foreign' Police only have redress against the registered 'keeper' and that is why we didn't sign up to the European road policing measures this last Summer. he made a big thing about it reported by the Beeb. No one mentioned that it has been this way in Britain for several years. Yes, indeed, we have to prove ourselves innocent nowadays!

 

Derbyshire is notorious for this, they have a very mechanistic system. I know, I've been through it but in slightly different circumstances and there were valid reasons for the charges to be thrown out. You need to act quickly and settle the matter for once and for all if you are going to write to the 'Road Safety' Partnership and plead guilty . . . Contrary to what was said above they don't always send it to court immediately, you need to talk to them and to the CPS and point out that you are trying to save the time and costs of the court etc. etc. If they don't offer you the speed awareness course or the fixed penalty the magistrates will take that into account in mitigation, well, most of them will, and may well sentence you to what you should have had and add a verbal slap on the wrist for being tardy.

 

You could always 'do a Huhne' and make your wife own up. Of course that is risky as we now know!

[Guest funforus]

I didn't make that quite clear. Before the file goes to the court it is sent to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether justice / the public interest etc. is best served by proceedings. Call the manager of the Police outfit, 'CREST' in Derbyshire, and explain your intentions and ask for the CPS person / team dealing with it. Probably Derby, they cover most of the County. Follow up in writing to put discussion and whatever is suggested / agreed in writing.

 

If whoever was driving has no previous offences recorded you may, just may, strike lucky, get a sympathetic hearing and a speed awareness course. You might not, but it's always worth trying!