Notice of prosecution not received so guilty or not guilty??

[moatmeister]

We live in a rural area with extended post code with confusing addresses and an unreliable postal service. My wife arrived home one day to find a hand written bailiff letter following a visit earlier demanding £1100 or threatening to remove goods. I tracked it back and it all evolved from a speeding fine some time ago that she new nothing about, not having received any of the paperwork. She had been found guilty in her absence and so the fine had expanded due to non payment and the offence being "upgraded" to failing to give the relevant information t the police along with points on her licence. She had to go and swear a statutory declaration and that put the bailiffs on hold, removed the points and has brought the matter back to court.

She is now in court against the police accused of the speeding alligation and failing to provide info in respect of the driver.

She will plead not guilty to the speeding but is she guilty or not guilty of failing to provide the info? Apart from presumably in the unreceived post, no one has ever directly asked her about it throughout this whole process..

We have put a pack of information together that demonstrates the jumbled up and confusing nature of the postal deliveries along with statements to the same from the neighbours

[des8]

Assuming there is no question of your wife having moved and failed to up date her address, she has a statutory defence to the offence of failing to provide the drivers details
The defence is that it has not been reasonably practicable to respond to the request for information within 28 days or as soon as practicable after the 28 days because proper service of the request has not taken place e.g. the notice was never delivered to the address and therefore it is not practicable to respond to something that was not received

Road Traffic Act 1988 sec 172 (7)
b)the person on whom the notice is served shall not be guilty of an offence under this section if he shows either that he gave the information as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of that period or that it has not been reasonably practicable for him to give it.

[wales01man]

Is your wife willing to give the drivers name if this returns to court?

[moatmeister]

Yes but as yet during many conversations with the police and the court or the magistrate ( this will be the 2nd visit) no one has asked or even got close to mentioning it.

[moatmeister]

Or even if she was driving. In my non legal but logical brain it seems the most obvious question

[des8]

You said your wife is pleading not guilty to the speeding offence.
Can you tell us the basis of her defence?

[moatmeister]

Yes

a) she never received any paperwork relating to the offence due to unreliable post at a shared and confusing address

and

b) she was not driving or even in the car at the alledged time and place

[wales01man]

If she names the driver they should get a summons if not she can be fibbed for failing to disclose driver that can attract a large fine and points

[moatmeister]

If someone has the gumption to ask she probably would but why couldn't someone have done that a year ago?

[wales01man]

You stated she never knew about any fine or case until the bailiff turned up ?

[moatmeister]

Yes correct

[des8]

As your wife appears to have received no post at all about this matter, no nip, no reminder, no court summons, no details about the case, no details about the penalty or points on her licence, I wonder if the DVLA have your address correctly recorded... (check details on V5)
I can understand that occasionally post goes to the wrong property, but a whole series of communications?
If wrongly received by a neighbour would they not bring the post to you, or return it to PO marked "wrongly delivered"
Our local postman (in a rural area) know where we all live and will correctly delivered wrongly addressed items.

I'm not questioning your veracity, but there may be a problem convincing a magistrate.

[moatmeister]

Been to court today wife pleaded her case and showed all her evidence of Misaddressed post. She never disputed that the documents may have been sent but they had not been received. Police tried to argue that she had not done enough to make sure post was being received and that the inability of the Royal Mail to deliver properly was her fault. Magistrate said she was leaving herself open to getting in trouble by letting other people legally drive her car and gave her a severe telling off. Made out it was our fault that post to 4 separate addresses gets misplaced or sent to other parts of the village or arrives at ours completely with the wrong name and address on. But how do you know if you haven't received something you disintegrated know you were meant to get?

Still no one asked if she new who was driving the car. Magistrate said was prepared to give the benefit of doubt on this occasion but would remember and take action if a similar situation presented it's self in the future, then dismissed the charge of not giving information. Police then dropped the speeding charge. Wife (and I) have really been through the mill with this but are pleased with the result. Thanks for all your help and advice

[wales01man]

Nice one

[des8]

Well done to your wife