Free Traffic Legal Advice

I would be grateful for some guidance on my predicament.

I have received a SJPN for a speeding offence of doing 35 mph in a 30 zone - I accept that I did this. I have also been charged with the s.172(3) offence of failure to provide information.
When I received the original NIP I tried to provide my details using the online portal and it appeared as though my answer had been submitted and I anticipated receiving a further communication in due course.

In fact I received a further NIP and so again tried to provide the information via the online portal. This time it said my response had 'already been submitted'.  I therefore assumed that all was well and that I would be contacted in due course.  Unfortunately I did not take screenshots of either of these processes, which obviously I am now regretting!

I understand that the best approach is to plead 'not guilty' to both offences and then to say that I am prepared to plead guilty to the speeding offence if the failure to provide information charge is dropped.

In completing my plea online there is a box for each offence as to the reasons for pleading not guilty, and so this is how I plan to answer:

Offence 1 (speeding)
"I am willing to plead guilty to this offence on the condition that the "failure to provide driver's details" (offence 2) charge is dropped."

Offence 2 (failure to provide information)
"I am willing to plead guilty to the speeding offence (offence 1) on the condition that this charge is dropped.

When I received the Notice of Intended Prosecution I attempted to provide the driver details using the online portal via the link provided in the Notice.  This appeared to have been processed when I submitted the form, although unfortunately I did not take a screenshot.  I subsequently received a further Notice of Intended Prosecution, and I again attempted to submit the driver details via the online portal.  On this occasion a 'pop-up' message was displayed saying my response had 'already been submitted'.  I therefore reasonably believed that the information I had previously provided had been captured.

In these circumstances, if the court is minded to drop this charge and accept my guilty plea for the speeding offence, I would respectfully invite the court to consider sentencing me for the speeding offence at a level equivalent to the fixed penalty."

Please could you let me know whether in your view I have done this in the optimum way to achieve my aim of getting 3 points on my licence and the fixed penalty?  Or would it be better to leave the 'mitigating circumstances' bit for the next stage?

Thank you for your time.

Thanks for your quick and helpful response

I had read elsewhere that sometimes you cannot respond online to a NIP if you were the driver, but I am fairly sure that I would only have responded online if there was an answer that was pertinent to my situation i.e. that I was the driver.  Unfortunately and regrettably I did not screenshot any of the form, which is now very annoying!

I am 100% sure there was at the very least an online response option though, as I remember inputting the code provided (but not much else unfortunately).

My slight concern and reason for seeking your input was that I wanted to make it as simple as possible for the court staff to understand what I was saying/offering. Of course I can explain this to the prosecutor if I have to attend court but ideally it would be disposed of on paper (I'm not sure if this still happens - it was Surrey and I live in Kent, in case that helps.

If I do need to attend court and speak to the prosecutor do I need to have the conversation on a 'without prejudice' or any similar basis?  In other words can I speak relatively freely or do I need to be careful not to make concessions or incriminate myself? I am a civil solicitor and feel comfortable handling without prejudice negotiations but really have no clue on the accepted criminal process (it is some 30 years since I studied criminal law!)