Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Speeding and other criminal offences => Topic started by: GA2026 on July 16, 2026, 06:38:00 am
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The original NIP is presumed to have been “served” on you two working days after posting. All the police have to do is to satisfy a court that it was properly addressed, paid for and posted (which they will probably be able to do without much difficulty).
If you want to defend the charge (and you haven’t mentioned what offence is alleged) it will then fall to you to convince the court that you did not receive it.
To determine whether you might succeed with such a defence is difficult because you do not have any information about the original NIP, where it ended up and who marked it “Return to Sender” (RTS). It’s unlikely that the police will have that information either. But even if they do, they do not have to reveal it to you unless you turn down any out-of-court offers they make and opt to be prosecuted in court.
It does seem odd that it has been marked RTS. If I receive any mail that has been wrongly delivered, unless it’s for somebody nearby, I just put it back in a post-box.
The decision for you is whether to decline the FP offer and defend the matter in court or to accept their offer. You should be aware that failure in court will attract prosecution costs of around £650 and that’s in addition to a fine and surcharge. If this is a low-level speeding offence, you are unlikely to see any change out of £1,000.
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What is the alleged speed & Limit? Do you have any other points or had licence less than 2 years?
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Hi,. I'm looking for a bit of advice about a speeding Notice of Intended Prosecution.
I receive a NIP 33 days after the offence, the Police are saying they posted an original NIP three days after the offence, but that it was returned by Royal Mail marked "Return to Sender". My V5C address was correct, I was the registered keeper, and I was living at that address. They haven't provided any evidence of the original notice or its return, but they've offered me a fixed penalty or the option of a court hearing.
Does anyone have any experience with this type of case, or would anyone recommend challenging it.