Found my way here having used Pepipoo for parking fines years ago. I have researched posts on this forum relating to a speeding offence issue my wife now has and would really appreciate any advice.
Driver: My wife. Age: 40+ Licence: Full, 5+ years, clean (always), no recent address changes.
Vehicle: 14 year old Astra, her car - she is registered keeper. Logbook correct, no recent address changes.
11/06/24: Caught speeding by camera van, 31 in a 20, Local Traffic Order. West Yorkshire Police.
13/06/24: NIP/172 received by my wife.
15/06/24: She reviewed photos online, nominated herself as driver online and gave full licence details.
Nothing further heard of it for 5 months, until:
16/11/24: SJPN received by my wife! Charge date 14/11/24. Statement of facts includes:
"....The defendant has responded to a request under S172 of RTA 1988 which was sent on 13/06/2024 and provided an admission to being the driver at the time of the offence. Retraining Course offered but not booked or taken. Conditional Offer - no record of licence details or payment being received by HMCTS"
No offer or any other correspondence was received. No question of this. We are very organised and nobody else has access to our house.
We HAVE had postal delivery issues previously.
1) We are number "X" on our street with next door number "Xa". They are the only "a" on the street. They've had our post and us theirs a few times in the 3 years we've been here. Haven't been on the best terms with them in the last year or so, but I'd hope they would still pass on any wrongly delivered mail as we do.
2) 2-3 letters have not arrived to us previously and we've received 2-3 cards/letters addressed to street with a similar name which isn't too far away.
However, my understanding is that the police need only demonstrate proof of postage which we assume they will be able to. As we have nothing documented to evidence our previous postal issues it seems not worth trying to argue any of this to sway the "balance of probability" that nothing was delivered.
Is this correct?
Should she now just plead guilty by post?
Should she include / not include anything specifically (assume attempted mitigation) in the section "What do you want the court to consider about your guilty plea(s)?"
Is outcome likely to be?
- 2/3 to 1 weeks net salary - potentially reduced by 33% for guilty plea
- Victim Surcharge of 40% of the fine
- Prosecution costs of £90
- 4-6 points on licence
Can she now at all avoid this much bigger financial penalty and more points vs if she had received the initial offer and taken a speed awareness course....or even chosen a £100 fine and 3 points?
Total cost of the penalty appears to be roughly equal to the value of her car and assume will further impact through higher insurance costs. All very hard to accept given the situation here which she could have done nothing to avoid.
