Hi all

On 16 May my SO received a letter from the magistrates court asking for her plea in respect of failing to name the driver ( me ) in relation to a speeding offence in Dec ’16. We had no previous correspondence relating to the offence so she replied to the letter with a ‘not guilty’ plea stating that we knew nothing about the offence and stating that I was driving. The attached photo showed me driving. I have a clean licence so there’s no deliberately trying to avoid punishment.
Yesteday my wife received a Letter stating that a Magistrate has decided that the case should be referred to a full court hearing and thus received a court summons, for a Magistrates hearing in September, for 1.: Failing to give information relating to the driver & 2.: Exceeding 50mph speed limit in contravention of a local traffic Order.

Should we ( she ) be worried? why have I not been summoned or asked to give evidence? And in true STW style are we soon to be ‘breaking rock in the hot sun’?

Sorry mods wrong forum.

Firstly IANAL but found myself in a similar situation about 20 yeaars ago. I also replied not guilty and got given a court date but only for failing to name the driver (me) and not for the traffic offence.

I went to court and explained that I lived in a block of 16 flats and post was delivered to a communal area and that I had mail go missing several times. the prosecutor?? spent 10 minutes insinuating I was lying and then the magistrates found me not guilty.

I was never summoned for the traffic offence.

Just go to court and tell the truth. Good luck.

They appear to be getting your women mixed up for a start.

They normally have to submit the NIP within two weeks of the offence. They clearly think they’ve sent them previously due to it getting this far. You’ve definitely not received anything before?

Have you changed addresses before or since the offence was committed?

Out of interest, how much do they say you were going over the 50mph limit?

Personally I’d go to court, state the facts and let the court decide how they want to do this.

Also, pepipoo.com is very useful for getting proper advice.

I’m not a legal expert but I’d go with the same happening as mossimus

Again not a legal expert but …

1.: Failing to give information relating to the driver &
2.: Exceeding 50mph speed limit in contravention of a local traffic Order.

They have no-proof of #2 … In fact they know full well she wasn’t…

The way legal stuff works my guess is this gets dismissed and you get away with it. Even if this was something REALLY serious like you’d killed someone the person named is the only one being prosecuted for the offences listed.

You might get some good advice on peepoo or legal beagles… and them actually trying to do #2 might be enough that #1 is just dismissed…

Legally and unless a magistrate decides otherwise (which they can) proof of posting is proof of delivery.(bizarre as that may be with our postal service).. (I know this from doing a small claims track) but do they even have a shred of proof they posted.

My guess is its at least even odds the letter never got posted …

A not guilty plea automatically makes it a full hearing.

May not be applicable but I was asked for info re who was driving when my car was caught speeding. I asked for photo as both wife or daughter had driven along same road that morning. Photo wasn’t helpful so I couldn’t fill in the form properly as there wasn’t option to provide two names so I wrote a letter naming wife and daughter as possibilities. But because I hadn’t supplied their full names and addresses I was found guilty and fined £500 with 6pts. My advice would be don’t treat it lightly, give them every possible bit of info and follow their instructions carefully. But better advice might be to ask somebody that knows what they’re talking about – maybe a solicitor.