Free Traffic Legal Advice

Good morning all,

We recieved a single justice procedure notice.

We had moved home but we're living separately whilst we were renovating our new home.

Our belongings were in storage. The car is registered in the wife's name.

We hadn't changed the v5 over to the new address as we had lost it.

I was driving and went over the limit for a moment, and realised at the time that we might get a ticket.

We had sold the old property where the car was registered, but I went to the dvla pretty much that week to try to get a new v5 sorted and a change of address.

The speeding ticket was sent to our old address with a follow up to the same address.

We recieved the letter this week to our new address with the SJPN.

I was the driver but my partner is the registered keeper so it's all in her name.

I'm happy to take the points but need to know how to move forwards to ensure it gets dealt with properly.

Any guidance is appreciated.

What offences are listed on the SJPN? (Most likely "failing to name" but may also be speeding)

The bad news is your partner will almost certainly have to plead guilty to the "Failing" charge, which is 6 points and a large fine.

When did you move out of the property to which the V5c was related to? Did you have postal redirection set up?

We moved out at the end of January, and no we didn't have a redirect setup as we had thought we had dealt with it all.

I really don't want her getting points or a fine due to my mistake

I'll see if I can talk to the local police and see what they say.

Is it more than six months since the speeding offence? If it is then there’s no legal way for them to prosecute you, no matter how much you beg them.

Enough less than six months that they can send a s 172 notice to you, you to sign and return it, and them to issue an SJPN?

No chance then.

So your partner CANNOT plead guilty to the speeding as you know it wasn't them driving, doing so could result in a perverting the course of justice charge. Since the authorities have no evidence they were driving, they will drop the speeding charge.

They could plead not guilty to the "not naming the driver" charge but forgetting to update the V5C won't be seen as a defence I suspect. Pleading not guilty and losing, will see an even larger fine and increased costs. By pleading guilty they should get a 33% discount on the fine and the costs are lower.

Thanks, the v5 had been lost and a replacement requested. A new v5 was recieved and then a change of address was requested, which occured on the 4th July, prior to the reminder being sent on the 9th July. So we're going to use that for mitigation purposes, and hope the magistrate understands that we did what we should have, albeit a little late.