S.172 Notices
Most speeding offences will be started by the police by virtue of a notice of commencement of proceedings under Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
When a vehicle is suspected of being involved in a road traffic offence the registered keeper of the vehicle will be sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) detailing the offence along with a document called a Section 172 notice. This creates a legal obligation for the notice to be returned within 28 days declaring who was driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged motoring offence.
Failure to respond to a Section 172 notice is an offence and can lead to a summons being issued in the name of the registered keeper. Failing to send back the notice either correctly or on time could lead to 6 penalty points being endorsed on your driving licence or discretionary disqualification and a fine of up to £1000.
If the NIP is returned identifying the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence, a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) may be issued to the driver. This is a conditional offer of a fine and penalty points, usually £100, and three points on your licence. Alternatively, it may lead to the issue of a summons, called a SINGLE JUSTICE PROCEDURE (SJP) notice for the offence in question and legal advice may be required to assess how to respond or possibly defend the same. This allows Magistrates’ courts to deal with minor offences in a way that is quicker and more efficient.
You will need representation to avoid losing your driving licence and our experienced advocates will be able to guide you in how best to do this. See our TOTTING UP PAGE for further information.
If the you did not know about the proceedings or have a legitimate defence you should plead Not Guilty and pursue the matter to trial. The following information is designed to help you think about your case in more detail.
DEFENCES
The law stipulates that if the central ticketing office for your area can show that correspondence had been posted then there is a ‘presumption’ that the documents have been served. Put simply, this means the Courts will assume that the relevant correspondence and notice has been served just because it has been posted.
However, the truth is there could be many reasons for not responding to the notice which may give rise to a defence to the allegation.
Notice not received by the defendant, Section 172(7):
Notice not received by the police:
Not in your power to give the information, Section 172 (2)(b)
Reasonable diligence, Section 172(4):
Section 172(4) gives registered keepers a defence if the information requested cannot be provided, and it states as follows:
“A person shall not be guilty of an offence if he shows that he did not know and could not, with reasonable diligence, have ascertained who the driver of the vehicle was.”
This effectively provides a statutory defence commonly known as ‘due or reasonable diligence’. The defendant must prove that all practicable efforts have been made to identify the driver (e.g. checking diary dates / work commitments) and despite those efforts the driver cannot be identified. This could apply to a vehicle where the registered keeper is a company and there are multiple insured persons who could possibly have driven the vehicle.
What if I did not know about the Court proceedings?
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