A friend of mine has been caught for speeding. Caught on camera 14 December, notice arrived 2 January. My understanding of the law is that it should ahve arrived by 29 Dec at very latest.
Also, he's gone and paid the fine and taken the points. Is there any hope of avoiding the penalty in this case?
Rob
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They have to give notice within 14 days of the offence, as far as I know.
Appeal.
Although - he has paid. Silly-boy!
Stone the local police station . . . . . . . . . . . naked.
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Rob,
try
www.speed-trap.co.uk/
It's pretty comprehensive as I recall.
Lee.
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What Section 1(1)(c) says is :- A notice setting out the possibility of that prosecution *must have been sent* to the driver or registered keeper of the vehicle within 14 days of the offence.
Section 1(1)(b) says:- The defendant *must* have been served with a summons, or charged within 14 days of the offence.
There is a subtle difference in the wording here. (b) is quite clear about the service of a summons within 14 days.
(c) gives some leeway to the prosecution (damn nearly typed persecution) within the actual wording. Whether this is in the spirit of the act or not is open to debate.
Hope that is DVD's view as well !!
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I have discovered, that when passing a gatso at 120 mph, it doesn't snap you!
Sure you have to have the car (and the brakes) but so far for some 6 mths, this theory and notice seems to work.
I get caught in a Micra at 80 mph but not in my Merc doing 110-120.
Anyone else noticed this as some further stress testing might be required, as I can't be sure that the cameras were working!
ta
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Rob.
Section 1 (c)(ii) Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 basically states that a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) must be served within 14 days of the commission of the offence of speeding and this can be by Registered Post, Recorded Delivery, or 1st class post. The 14 days does not include the day of the offence committed. So offence on 1st Jan, NIP to be served by last post on 15th Jan.
Service is not complied with if a NIP arrives outside the 14 day period because it was posted late - eg the 14th day - that the NIP could not be expected to arrive within 14 days in the normal course of the post.
Nicholson v Tapp 1972
Stewart v Chapman 1951
BUT
Offence on say 4th, NIP posted following day but not delivered until 21st has been held to have been served properly by a Divisional Court despite a Mags Court earlier stating incorrect service.
Groome v Driscoll 1969
AND
Police may swear on evidence, and this would be accepted as correct service, NIP posted well within time despite late receipt.
What to do? Now complicated as offence has been accepted and FP paid. If it was me and I had been speeding, shrug my shoulders and accept it. However, depending on how I felt at the time and the envelope that the NIP came in was dated so that normal post could not achieve service in 14 days, then run it yourself by writing letter to Magistrates Clerks Office where fine paid pointing out the error and the first two stated cases, with copy to whoever is administrating the Camera, either C of P or L.A. You may just be lucky. To do this through a Solicitor may not be economical unless you are approaching 12 Points on the D.L. and drive for a living. His charges (sorry PU) may cost more than the £60 FP.
DVD
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Maybe one of m'learned friends could explain why Britain has a 14 day 'statute of limitations' on these things?
Here the things can catch up with you up to 6 months later... and you still gotta pay!
14 days seems a pretty arbitrary figure, given that in December, I'd expect that with crap weather, Xmas post, holidays etc etc etc, you can expect a delay in the postal service... (I don't know what their excuse is for the other 11 months, but there you go...)
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We Brits are thick and lose our memory of anything that has happened, on average, further back than 14 days.
Handy huh?
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In general, under British law, unless the provisions of the contract vary this, an item is considered "delivered" at the time when it is posted, usually evidenced by the franking on the envelope.
Under those circumstances postal delays become irrelevant.
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Except with a SORN notice. Proof of postage or even proof of receipt is not valid. Only when some DVLA bod has entered the details on the computer is it valid.
British Justice???
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Well, I wonder about that one. A pal of mine was able to extract a substantial unfair dismissal settlement because the letter mailed to tell him he would be terminated at the end of his contract arrived after the expiry of same. In the intervening period he had carried out several duties for his employer unaware of this and thus claimed his contract was renewed by default. His attorneys then demanded a payout for a full three years and he got it.
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Ian (Cape Town)
The 14 day rule re NIP is to bring to the notice of an offender the possibility of proceedings being taken against him and to 'refresh ' his memory.Generally those offences where offender is not stopped and reported at the time such as speeding or careless driving, where not reported at scene, but from statements taken later, a case can be made out.
Limitation on proceedings themselves, totally different - for summary offences generally is 6 months, or 6 months from the offence coming to notice and not more than 3 years.
As to Ram Beck. I would not brag. That plain looking car parked ahead just might have a Vascar working and bingo at that speed a certain court appearance and disqualification.
DVD
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