Speeding Ticket Advice

2 weeks ago the son got a NIP for speeding in the village from 19th
July. We filled in the bit that admits he was the rider of the bike &
returned to the the Police. Today we have back from them the intention
to prosecute with the plead guilty & get £60 fine & 3 points or plead
not guilty & risk £1000 & 6 points. They claim that he was doing 37mph
in a 30mph zone, however he was on a moped that as far as we are
concerned was not capable of doing 37mph. You could get about 35mph
indicated on the speedo going downhill, I say could because on the 4th
August the moped was stolen, reported to Police etc. The question is
what do we do,

A. Pay up & shut up
B. Plead not guilty & send a letter to court with the circumstances
C. Go to court & plead not guilty & submit a letter to the magistrates
at that time.
D. Open to suggestions

 

first off you need to see the evidence that the alleged 37 mph was
based on.

 

It could be worth a go with the 'it's a moped restricted to 30mph, so he
couldn't have been speeding'.

I was told recently by a local plod that to get away with a speeding
ticket, you return the form with an obvious error. It then takes so long
to deal with the return of the ticket that the time limit has expired.

 

Trevor emerged from their own little world to say

You should have received the NIP within 14 days of the offence. If the
offence was alleged to have been committed in July and you received the NIP
in Sept. then this obviously exceeds the time limit. There are exceptions
of course: se http://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/crimertonip.htm

I think your case merits a visit to a Citizens Advice Bureau. You have the
NIP time factor and the technical issue to raise. They may draft a letter
for you to return to the police/court which raises enough doubt whereby the
case is dropped.

 

Ask to see the evidence.

Challenge the amount of time it took - you should have been sent the NIP
within a fortnight of the offence (unless he isn;t the registered owner
and they sent the NIP elsewhere first).

 

I think we have been through this before, I am sure a google will pick it
out. If I recall, one of the members of this parish went with the
"recieved NIP more than 14 days after offence" bit was still done + costs
as all plod needs to do is "issue" the NIP within 14 days. If the post
delays it , it is not their problem.

 

YTC#1 emerged from their own little world to say

That's why I posted the URL that has plod's list of excuses for a delayed
NIP. The OP may be aware of an issue, such as a change of address, that
affected matters.

 

Do not admit guilt and ask for the evidence of their claim.
I have been done once.I have not been done since.I demanded the
photographs,"They" said they had and heard nothing more.

It's now obvious to me that as the,"Speed-Cameras" have become
automated and so has the system.The system is only geared for you to
say,"Yes" and pay.If you say,"No" then it cannot handle it and won't
bother you.

The police/government are picking on quiet and decent people who they
know still have good values.

 

A - 3 points is hardly the end of the world and since you feel the
need to ask you can't be feeling too strongly about the possible
'injustice'.

 

The bike at the time of the offense was registered to somebody else, the
V5C wasn't sent till after it happened as we had just got the bike. So
don't think we can use the 14 day rule.

 

He doesn't think he was going the speed they said he was going (but for
gods sake don't say you might have been going 34 rather than 37, they'll
do you anyway - as far as you can remember you were doing 30). It was
quite some time ago - they should show him the evidence so that he can
be sure he was speeding (and that it was him).

If they won't show him the photos, he is well within his rights, in fact
he must, plead "not guilty" - pleading guilty when you believe you are
innocent would be perjury, and a magistrate shouldn't take umbridge at
the fact it came to court if all this is explained.

 

It's a speeding ticket not manslaughter.