... The reason I was asking about the timescales is because I thought the speeding offence hasn’t been added because it is out of time.
If that is the case then there is question over the timescales for the FtF offence and whether that is also out of time.
Everywhere I’ve read there is no definite on when the 6 months timescales start and end.
Does it start with the first s172 request +29 days
Or depending on how many letters they send out they can pick at date off one of them?
It’s seems having read a few other instances that it’s normally the first - if I’ve been sent another letter and they’ve chosen that date to use isn’t that just them stretching the timescales in an effort to enable a charge saying that the speeding charge is out of time.
Then there is no info on where the 6 month timescale ends.
Is it that the SJPN has to be sent before the 6month deadline? ...
I don't think you understood what I tried to explain yesterday evening...
Please answer this: Are you the person recorded by the DVLA as being the Registered Keeper (RK) of the vehicle in question? In other words, do you have the car's V5C document in your possession, and does it correctly record both your name and your address?
If you are the RK
AND your address is correct then yes, it seems strange that you committed the failure to identify offence some 4 - 5 months after the original speeding offence. If that is the case then it might be worth your while to find out from the police
when the first NIP/s172 request was sent to you at your correct address.
If, however, you are
not the RK (and that sounds quite likely) then the 4 - 5 month delay can be easily explained and doesn't give you a get out.
For example, let's assume that you aren't the RK and a finance company is. The police will have to have sent out a NIP to the finance company within 14 days of the original speeding offence committed on 01 April 2023, and the finance company has 28 days in which to respond. Lets assume the finance company names a car leasing company. They in turn will get their own NIP/s172 request and have a further 28 days in which to respond naming the next person in the chain. Let's assume the car leasing company names your employer (it's a company car). Your employer gets their own NIP/s172 request and has a further 28 days in which to name you. Let's assume the police then send you your own NIP/s172 request at the end of July 2023. You don't get it and fail to respond. As far as the police are concerned, you failed to identify the driver by the end of August 2023 and that's when you committed the offence.
That's just one possible example and one possible reason to explain the apparently long delay between the original speeding offence and the failure to identify offence. Whether that particular example applies in your case we don't know as you haven't given enough detail.
So are you the RK, or aren't you?
To try to clear up your other queries:
1. Yes, the speeding has timed out, so if you've only been charged with failure to identify and not with speeding, you can't really do a plea bargain because you have nothing to offer the prosecution. You could try asking but it almost certainly won't be accepted.
2. AIUI, for the purpose of committing the offence of failure to identify, it's 28 days from the
first NIP/s172 served on
you that counts, and as I've tried to explain to you above, the
first NIP served on
you could have been several months after the original speeding offence. The police can't keep extending the 6 month deadline by reissuing requests to you. (And - in any case - you don't even appear to know for sure when the first request for information was sent to you... Perhaps you should try to find out?)
3. No, the SJPN does
not have to be sent to you before the 6 month deadline. What needs to be done within 6 months is the issuing of the
written charge which originates the SJPN. The SJPN itself can be sent outsde 6 months so long as the written charge was within 6 months.
4. I can't comment on whether your problems receiving post constitute a defence or not - with or without confirmation from your solicitor