Free Traffic Legal Advice

To assume makes an ass out of U and me.

To all intents and purposes, unless her V5C shows her correct and current address, the date of any notice sent to an address other than the address on her V5C is irrelevant for the purposes of the requirement to serve a NIP under s. 1 RTOA 1988.

If you check the vehicle status on the DVLA's website, it will show when the latest V5C was issued. That should give a clue as to what address is showing on it - although we generally take the pragmatic view that unless the OP has the V5C in their hand, has checked the address on it, and confirmed the issue date, the 14 day rule does not apply to any NIPs sent to their current address.

Thanks,
so checking the date on the DVLA website states a V5 was issued the month we moved to our current address, suggesting its correct but we dont have one for this address and using this address on the DVLA website to request a new V5 results in an error. Using the old V5 with the incorrect address on it also results in an error but we get a little further.
I think we will need to contact the DVLA, find out the registered address and then see what, if anything has been sent there.

Whatever the outcome of that enquiry, the s172 request to name the driver remains valid: it is not subject to the 14-day rule. Do not fail to respond within the required timescale.

We have an old V5 for an old address (being sorted now) but it seems the vehicle is still registered there. We've been in touch with the people at the address (known and trusted to us) and it appears as though no correspondance has been sent there, suggesting the police are using our current address rather than it failing to arrive...

I'm not sure how best to respond? My partner is going to contact the police and request information on what address the NIP has been sent to and a date but is there anything else that could be done? the NIP states we have 28 days, presumably from the date on the letter not the date of the incident.

The issue with the late service of the NIP will only become relevant if somebody is charged with speeding. Unless and until a response to the s172 request is provided nobody can be charged with speeding. There are no time constraints on the service of the s172 request.

Your partner (assuming the request is addressed to her) must respond within the 28 days allowed, naming you. You will then receive your own request and you must do likewise.

The police may then make an out-of-court offer to you (a course or a fixed penalty) or prosecute you. Then you can worry about whether or not the police have complied with the law when serving a NIP. If you believe hey have not you will have to ignore the offers and wait to be prosecuted.

The police have only to show that they posted the NIP to the Registered Keeper's last known address so as to arrive within 14 days in the normal course of the post.

We aren't exactly sure where the car is currently registered (my partner has moved several times over the last few years and isn't great at keeping up with updating her v5).

^^^
In view of that I might be inclined to accept whatever was offered.