Hi all,
Appreciate this is a lengthy post but want to be clear so get some advice please!
NIP last year for speeding (3 points + £100 fine) date of offence was a Friday, which I always work. I work on site and due to how we park, the lads will often borrow each others cars if parked behind each other etc. (believe everyone is fully comp so able to drive other vehicles with permission of driver). The speeding was at 1pm, our usual lunch time and a lad I worked with often always went out to get everyone’s lunch. When the letter came through I said it was him, he agreed. I therefore filled out the paperwork, nominating him as the driver with the details he gave to me.
Then, a month later I received a letter from the police saying that after several checks, the driver is not listed on the current insurance policy and therefor, if I wish to continue with the nomination, to provide his driving licence, copy of insurance that allowed him to drive the vehicle and a household bill in their name, aswell as a statement of how I know him and for what purpose did he require to use my vehicle. The letter also advised that the file would remain in my name, and wouldn’t be updated until the supporting documents were received.
I contacted him to obtain this info (he since moved jobs) and kept saying he’d send over soon. He didn’t, and then in all honesty, I completely forgot. I know this is my fault, I had a lot going on personally and a recent diagnosis of ADHD (not that it’s relevant but it’s relevant to me).
Then, this week I have received a SJP for the original speeding offence plus failure to give information relating to the identification of the driver when required. I contacted the lad again and he said he has double checked and doesn’t think it was him. I’ve therefore looked into this further, checked photos, bank statements and realised that I was on annual leave that day, and went out for the day with my partner, so it was obviously me. The reason for the error was as I have described above, being a Friday but also it was a road that I go down everyday for work.
How is it best to approach this… I am obviously happy to accept the speeding, I have no points so in the grand scheme of things 3 points and £100 fine is manageable (and I certainly would have taken this in the very beginning to avoid it getting this far) however, do I have a leg to stand on to contest the failure to give information? Getting 9 points is less than ideal! My thoughts are:
Go guilty to the speeding and not guilty to the failure to give information, on the basis I did respond to the original NIP within the required timeframe (and admit to the error and confusion regarding the nominated driver)
OR
Go not guilty to both, and in mitigation say I am willing to go guilty on the basis of the failure to give information being dropped (and not mention originally nominating a different driver atall).
As I said, I am happy to admit the nomination error, however in the SJP evidence pack there is no mention of me nominating someone else, or a copy of the letter the police sent me asking for more info, the evidence just shows photos of the car speeding, a copy of the original NIP addressed to the lease company, a copy then sent to me at my home address (as they would have nominated me) and then a final reminder letter addressed to me. So it reads as though I just have never responded and therefore why I have these 2 charges. Therefore, I’m thinking am I implicating myself by even mentioning the error in nomination. Although I’d imagine this does happen and if you’re being honest and accepting the charge, surely this is seen as favourable!? Appreciate the law doesn’t always work like this though and sometimes a tactical approach is best… open to thoughts!
