Motoring Offences – Have you received a Notice of Intended Prosecution?
In the lead up to the Christmas and holiday period, Shaun Newey of our Criminal Department considers the importance of time limits in relation to motoring offences.
If you receive a summons or postal requisition or Notice of Intended Prosecution in relation to a motoring offence, it is important to know whether the Police have complied with certain statutory time limits.
If you are stopped by the Police and are not warned that you may be prosecuted for an offence, any postal requisition sent to you outside of the 14 day limit may not be valid.
You may not be stopped by the Police at all but instead receive a Combined Notice of Intended Prosecution and Requirement to Provide Driver Details. This would happen for instance if an offence is captured on camera i.e. most speeding offences.
The notice will set out the particulars of the offence alleged, the location, time and date and will require you to confirm that you were either the driver on the occasion in question or to say who was. Failure to provide this information within 28 days is an offence in itself which carries mandatory endorsement with six penalty points. It is important therefore that this document is completed properly, by you, and that it is returned in time.
Many motoring offences are summary only which means they can only be tried in a magistrates’ court. These are subject to an overall time limit within which to bring proceedings of six months. There are some statutory exceptions to this and this time limit may be extended for certain offences and in certain limited circumstances.
Where a statutory time limit is not complied with, proceedings will be invalid. If you are the registered keeper of a vehicle, you should always complete and return any section 172 notice since even if it is served outside the 14 day time limit, that will only prevent proceedings being brought for the offence identified within it and not the offence of failing to complete and return the notice itself.
If you are unsure how to respond to a section 172 notice or if you think a summons or postal requisition has been served out of time or if you would like to discuss any motoring offence, then please give us a call and speak to our motoring specialists who will be happy to assist.
Charles Strachan Solicitors have a legal aid franchise and if your means are below a certain threshold and your case is serious or complex in nature, it may be possible to secure legal aid funding to defend your case.
Contact our Motoring Specialists in our criminal department on 0121 704 3311 or info@charlesstrachan.com