Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi,

I received a speeding ticket a few days ago- a notice of intended prosecution. I have 28 days to confirm I was driving, or name who was driving,

the problem is the offence was almost 2 months ago and we’re genuinely struggling to remember who was driving. We both use the car. It was also around the time that my dad was dying ( he died 6 weeks ago) so that whole time is s blur.

we’re 90% sure that wife was Driving but 90% isn’t enough!! The photographic evidence is useless and doesn’t show the driver as it’s dark.

if I don’t nominate a driver I’ll be summoned to court and potentially receive £1000 fine and 6 points.if I nominate dh there a chance I’m wrong in which case I’m perverting the court of justice!!! I’m stuck!!

neither of us are bothered about taking the rap. I just don’t want to create trouble for myself. WWYD

if I nominate dh there a chance I’m wrong in which case I’m perverting the court of justice!!!

Only if done deliberately  - naming the most likely (90%) driver is probably the way to go. But don't qualify your nomination by saying "probably" or anything similar.

Yo do have the option of defending the case at court, and try to persuade the bench that you couldn't "with reasonable diligence" identify the driver. A difficult task, and an expensive one if you fail, but not impossible.

What reasonable diligence have you performed?
Have you looked at mobile phone location services?
Card receipts?
Phone call logs?

Naming the 90% likely driver is fine, even if the answer is wrong and they can prove it (using material you can't say is 100% anyway) it wouldn't be PCOJ as it wasn't deliberate.

Thanks for all of the advice - much appreciated

We have mulled over it for the last two days and we are going to send the form back naming my wife. However... I have two questions....

1) If we've got it wrong and the Police produce other evidence that contradicts our nomination, would we just be asked to reconsider the nomination, or would it immediately escalate into a more serious issue?

2) I have 6 points already. I 'earned' these points fair and square. My concern is that the Police will see my previous 6 points and think that I am trying to offload the new 3 points to avoid getting close to totting up. just to clarify, this is NOT the case but I am concerned that this may appear to be dodgy!!

Am I overthinking this?

You are overthinking the whole thing. The police don't care you already have 6 points.

If you nominate someone and get it wrong the police can comeback and ask you to reconsider. Nothing more sinister will happen.

I have had experience of this happenning.

Cambridgeshire police, I was snapped in the wife's car driving to work. As she usually travelled to work at that time in her car, she responded identifying herself. What she forgot was that on that day, she had a day off so I booked my car in for a service and took hers instead.

Cambs just wrote back telling her the driver was Male and did she want to rethink her nomination. She was strangely not up for my suggestion of writing back asking them how dare they assume her gender. She re-did the form nominating me instead and they were fine about it.