Evening,
It has been a while as admittedly I completely forgot about his case so the least I could do is provide an update, and fortunately it is a positive outcome. Despite having initial conversations with Northumbria CPS and an attempt to settle the issue before the court hearing, the CPS never got back to him so he took his chance and went to the plea hearing today.
In all of 3 minutes, the prosecutor attending the hearing complimented the witness statement and took the unilateral decision to drop the case, and that was that. Admittedly I did help him with the drafting of his statement to the best of my ability albeit it was short and his defence would have mainly relied on s7 of the Interpretation Act had it gone to a full hearing.
I wonder if this is another of those wrong stamp cases... OP ask your brother if he put a barcode stamp on the letters?
I did question my brother on this and he said it was possible that the stamp he used could have been the old stamp that's no longer used but could not be 100% certain. In hindsight I suspect he probably did use an expired stamp but that doesn't necessarily mean it was never delivered as he claims to have used the the same set of stamps at the same time for other post which was delivered.
Anyway, in an effort to give back, I am sharing the witness statement used in case it might help others in a similar situation.
WITNESS STATEMENT
(Criminal Procedure Rules, r. 16.2; Criminal Justice Act 1967, s. 9)
STATEMENT OF XXXXX
Age of witness: Over 18
This statement (consisting of 3 pages) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated in it anything which I know to be false, or do not believe to be true.
PERSONAL DETAILS
1. My full name is XXXXX and I reside at XXXXX, which is owned by my mother, XXXXX. I am XXXXX years old, and my date of birth is XXXXX.
2. I currently have one job, and my occupation is a groundworker in construction. This involves preparing grounds before, during and after construction projects. I sometimes do contract work throughout the country.
3. My contact telephone number is XXXXX.
THE CHARGE
4. I am charged with the failure to give information under s. 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (“RTA”). I believe I have fulfilled my obligation under s. 172 of the RTA and therefore it is my intention to plead not guilty.
PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS
5. I have no previous convictions.
ALLEGATIONS RELATING TO THE CURRENT OFFENCE
6. On 12 August 2024 I received a letter by post from Northumbria Police which I understood to be a request for further information under s. 172 of the RTA. The letter stated that I needed to complete the requested information on the reverse side of the letter and return it to the address provided.
7. On or about 14 August 2024 I completed the information identifying myself as the driver of the vehicle at the time in question and posted the letter to the address given in the letter using a first-class stamp. The letter was posted through my local post box at XXXXX.
8. On 7 October 2024 I received another letter from Northumbria Police which turned out to be another request for information under s. 172 of the RTA. I was surprised to receive this letter because I had already posted the information back to Northumbria Police back in August 2024. Nevertheless, I completed the required information and again identified myself as the driver of the vehicle at the time. I sent the letter by first class post, using the same address provided in the letter and posted it to the same post box as previous on XXXXX.
9. I did not hear back from Northumbria Police until I received a Single Justice Procedure Notice charging me with the failure to provide information under s. 172 of the RTA.
MITIGATION
I have nothing to say in mitigation because I am not guilty of this offence. For the reasons explained above, I fulfilled my obligation under s. 172 of the RTA by returning the documents via post.
COMMENTS ON THE PROSECUTION’S WITNESS STATEMENT OF XXXXX
10. In her witness statement XXXXX suggests that Northumbria’s mailing system is robust as if the system is perfect, but I would say that the system is not incapable of never failing or making mistakes.
11. It is a fact of life that post may get misplaced or otherwise lost from time to time and Northumbria Police are no exception. Given the amount of correspondence processed on a daily basis, which I would imagine to be in the hundreds if not thousands, it is not beyond all realms of possibility that the letters I sent to Northumbria Police could have been misplaced or for some reason, not uploaded into the system.
12. As far as I’m concerned, I have complied with my obligation to provide Northumbria Police with the required information, and the onus is on them to prove that the letters were not received.
13. I am an honest person and would reiterate that I have no previous convictions as well as a clean driving licence. There is no reason for me not to have sent the letters back to Northumbria Police especially since my mother had already informed them that I was the person driving the vehicle at the time. Since I use the vehicle for work daily, it was in my best interests to confirm to Northumbria Police that I was the driver of the vehicle, which is what I did on two occasions.
Signed: (witness)
Date: …………………………………………….
