Free Traffic Legal Advice

A notice requiring information under s. 172 was sent to and deemed served at your last known address.
That information was not provided.
Subject to any applicable defence, the s. 172 offence was committed when the 28 days to provide the information expired.

For the purposes of the commission of the s. 172 offence, who owned, kept and drove the car is immaterial.

The closest to an applicable defence would be that it was not reasonably practicable to provide the information. Merely not receiving the notice is not in and of itself sufficient - the court must also be satisfied that there was nothing that you reasonably could or should have done to ensure that such notices were brought to your attention. I would suggest that that would also include things that you reasonably could or should have done to ensure that such notices were not sent to you at your Dad's previous address.

As you did actually receive the NIP in July, but seemingly chose to ignore it, this would tend to complicate matters further if it were not for the fact that you have no defence to complicate.

The good news is that the speeding charge has no legs - they have no evidence as to who was driving.

There is also a question of whether an English conviction will be of any concern to you as an Aussie.

"There is also a question of whether an English conviction will be of any concern to you as an Aussie."

I might plan to return to the UK in 2 or 3 years. So would prefer not to have the conviction on my record.

I don't earn very much, have no points and have never owned a car, so if the only penalty is 6 points and a fine, it might be worth taking it but if I come back in 2 years and decide to get a car I have read that my insurance premium will be much higher. Is this true?

I assumed he had changed the registered keeper.

The responsibility to do that is yours. Whilst you can devolve the task to somebody else, you cannot devolve the responsibility for doing so.

If I were not in the country during when the NIP was issued and after, would that not be "not reasonably practicable to provide the information?"

No. The courts take a somewhat broader view and accept that being the Registered Keeper of a vehicle involves certain responsibilities. One of those is ensuring you can be contacted readily when any matters concerning it arise. This was established in the case of Whiteside vs DPP:

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5a8ff73060d03e7f57ea95b1

If the driver were to admit to and accept the speeding, could I potentially get them to drop the failing to identify the driver?

That ship sailed long ago.

I doubt the police will take much notice of your representations. Once court action has been initiated they very rarely rescind that action. As well as that, the defence you are offering is not one they would normally consider themselves anyway (even if they had not begun court action). They would want the issues aired and examined properly in court where they can be challenged (i.e. “cross-examined”) by their prosecutor.

…so if the only penalty is 6 points and a fine, it might be worth taking it…

You should not see this as something over which you have a choice. If you are convicted you will face a fine and six points. You are correct that the resulting endorsement code (MS90) will have a significant impact on your insurance premiums in the UK for up to five years.

Is there anyway to find out if there are NIP I don't know about?

Not really.

Also, my visa situation in Australia is still pending. I applied for a partner visa in December last year and am currently on a bridging visa. As this will be a criminal conviction that could have an impact with that.

I doubt such non-recordable offences would have an impact.

1.The nature of my absence is different - Frequently absent abroad vs Permanently resident abroad

An even more important reason why you should have ensured that any correspondence relating to the vehicle would be properly and promptly handled (with the most reliable way of doing that being to change the Registered Keeper).

2.It was sent to their address vs my father's former address,…

The police have only one address to correspond with – that of the Registered Keeper - as maintained by him. They have no duty to send reminders or try to trace the RK if they do not receive a response. The principle being questioned in “Whiteside” was whether a notice sent to that address could be deemed “served” (and so satisfy the requirements of s172) even if it had not actually been seen by the intended recipient. The court ruled it could.

3.It was their vehicle and they were responsible for it…

But you were the Registered Keeper and as I said, you cannot delegate the Registered Keeper’s responsibilities.

4.I was unaware I was still the registered keeper and I was unaware of the status of the car…

That is entirely your fault. One of your responsibilities as RK is to ensure the DVLA records are changed when you are no longer the keeper of the vehicle (if appropriate, which in my view it was in your circumstances).

5. Upon discovery, I took positive, demonstrable steps…

But far too late.

The conclusion you seemed to have arrived at is that in your situation any number of offences could have been committed by a person driving a vehicle of which you were the registered keeper and no action could be taken against them (because the police did not know who they were) or you (because you had left the country). It doesn’t work like that.

Case law establishes principles, not rules which can be applied in every set of circumstances. I have little doubt that a court hearing your defence will be directed to "Whiteside" and asked to rule that the principles in that case apply to yours.

The options for you (if an approach to the police fails, as I imagine it will) are:

To either plead guilty (a fine of one week’s net income, a surcharge of 40% of that fine, £90 costs and six points). Or…

To plead not guilty and face a trial. The outcome in that case if you are convicted will be a fine of 1.5 weeks’ net income, the same 40% surcharge, around £650 costs and six points. Or, of course, nothing at all if you are acquitted.

Bear in mind that pleading not guilty and facing a trial will require your attendance in court (unless the court agrees to you sending a legally qualified representative, who you will have to pay for).

If the OP was to request further correspondence is sent to his Australian address (assuming he will be there soon), what would the court do?