Free Traffic Legal Advice

OP, are you the Registered Keeper?

If so, are the name and address details on the V5C (logbook) correct?

and just updated my v5 at the beginning of the week (receiving the SJP triggered me to do this). I have received my new V5 and driving licence with the updated address too.

So, at the time of the offence, your car was registered to your old address?

Yes it was

So that's why you didn't receive any previous notifications - you hadn't updated your address in January when you should have done...

But wouldn't they have gone to my old address? I still get my mail from there because my ex husband lives there and my children visit 2-3 times a week. They always bring any mail I have home.

The police have fulfilled their obligation by posting them to your last known address. That’s all they have to prove. They cannot be expected to rely on your mail being passed on. If you went to trial on that basis you would almost certainly  be convicted of "Failing to Provide Driver's Details".

It is a particularly nasty conviction carrying a hefty fine and surcharge. If you are found guilty following a trial you will be ordered to pay prosecution costs of around £650. As well as that you will receive six penalty points and an endorsement code (MS90) which will see you insurance premiums rocket. It is to be avoided at all costs.

…and of the second one, although I was there at the time I really have no recollection of speeding,

Because you don’t recall it does not mean it didn’t happen. Your speed would have been captured by an approved device and the police would be able to produce evidence of that (in fact, you should already have been served with it, along with the SJPN).

Providing you were the driver at the time, the way to deal with this with minimum damage is to respond to the SJPN by pleading not guilty to both charges. In the “mitigating circumstances” section, state that you are willing to plead guilty to the speeding offence on the condition that the “Failure to identify the driver” charge is dropped. This is a common procedure well known to all court users and is almost always successful.

Before the pandemic it was necessary to attend court to do this “deal”. However, during the pandemic courts were keen to restrict the numbers attending court in person to as few as possible and arrangements were made for the deal to be accepted without a personal attendance. Many courts have continued with that arrangement.

If the OP's ex, the OP's children and the OP all give credible evidence to the effect that *all* post addressed to the OP was handed to her, and that there was no NIP or reminder received, then she will be able to rebut the presumption of service.

The speeding charge is of no relevance unless she opts to do a deal. Similarly the evidence or lack thereof is irrelevant either way. Either the OP does the deal, in which case no evidence is needed of the speeding offence, or she defends the s. 172, in which case the speeding charge will go nowhere because they have no evidence that she was the driver.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the OP moved house without updating the address on the V5C, and [claims that she] didn't receive the NIP. The court are somewhat unlikely to accept that it must have been lost in the post en-route to the previous address, rather than either lost after being served (delivered to the last known address), or not lost at all.

The choice is either to defend the s. 172 charge, or do the deal and take the hit for the speeding.

If the OP's ex, the OP's children and the OP all give credible evidence to the effect that *all* post addressed to the OP was handed to her, and that there was no NIP or reminder received, then she will be able to rebut the presumption of service.

The speeding charge is of no relevance unless she opts to do a deal. Similarly the evidence or lack thereof is irrelevant either way. Either the OP does the deal, in which case no evidence is needed of the speeding offence, or she defends the s. 172, in which case the speeding charge will go nowhere because they have no evidence that she was the driver.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the OP moved house without updating the address on the V5C, and [claims that she] didn't receive the NIP. The court are somewhat unlikely to accept that it must have been lost in the post en-route to the previous address, rather than either lost after being served (delivered to the last known address), or not lost at all.

The choice is either to defend the s. 172 charge, or do the deal and take the hit for the speeding.

I can see that these are my only two options, so which one is the least risky option to take? (I get a little bit of anxiety and in all honesty I just want it all done and dusted with minimal charges please)

I'm not looking to be a hero or prove the justice system wrong etc, I just want to do the smartest option. I've never had any kind of letter like this or had to deal with the courts before.

Thank you to everyone who's replied.

The least risky is probably to plead guilty to the speeding so they drop the s 172 offence.

I agree.

As Andy says, you would have to convince the court that all your post was passed on to you and that no NIP and request for driver's details was amongst it.

Whilst your family may be able to testify on the first point, they cannot say what was passed on to you (unless they opened it all). That second point would rely on your testimony and that's really no different to you saying you didn't receive it (if there were no issues with your address). Whilst that defence is successful from time to time, I would suggest it fails more often than it succeeds.

Of course if it does succeed you walk out with no conviction for anything - that's the upside. The downside is that if it fails you are likely to see a bill of more than £1,000 and the nasty endorsement I mentioned. Pleading guilty to speeding will see a bill of perhaps a few hundred pounds (if you have a net income of £600pw it will cost you £370). You will also have only three points and a far less damaging endorsement code.