Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi all,

I’ve recently received a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) for a speeding offence in the West Midlands. However, I believe the driver at the time was my sister, who was visiting the UK from the Netherlands. She borrowed my car during her stay, but I’ve run into some issues responding to the NIP.

The problem is that the West Midlands Police online portal isn’t working when I try to log in using the details provided. I emailed them to ask how I should proceed, explaining that I couldn’t respond online. I received an automatic reply saying they aim to respond within five working days, but it’s been longer than that (13 days), and I still haven’t heard back.

I have a few questions and would appreciate your advice:

What evidence do I need to provide to confirm that my sister was driving?
What should I expect next in terms of the process?
Do I have any grounds to appeal this or challenge the NIP based on the difficulties I’ve faced with their online portal?

I want to handle this properly and ensure everything is documented. Any advice on how to move forward would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

You don't need evidence of your sister's driving. You just need to name her with an address. If it's an overseas address, the police tend to be a bit sceptical, as it is seen by those less honest as a "get-out" from the speeding offence. To counter that, they are likely to come back to you asking for proof that she was insured to drive (unless she is a named driver on your policy, non-residents may struggle as her Dutch insurance is unlikely to cover driving other people's cars in the UK).

You can't challenge an NIP. Have/had you considered the old-fashioned method of completing the paper form and putting it in the post (with free certificate of posting from the Post Office - and don't forget to take a copy of the form)?

My sister was visiting from the Netherlands and has insurance coverage there, but we were unaware that her policy might not extend to driving my car in the UK. At the time, we didn’t realize it was necessary to arrange separate insurance for her to legally drive here.

This has left me unsure about the best course of action to take, and I’m worried about the potential consequences.

If your sister was driving at the time, your options are to name the driver, or commit the s. 172 offence by doing nothing. The former *might* win you 6 points for permitting, whereas the latter *will* win you 6 points. We cannot advise you to commit an offence, even an offence of omission, and there would seem to be little benefit in committing an offence to replace a likelihood of 6 points with an almost certainty of 6 points. If you were tempted to be a little "creative", there is a real chance of a custodial sentence if you get caught.

However, *if* after retracing your steps you remember that you were actually driving and that your belief that your sister was driving was based more on the presumption that you would avoid liability by naming a foreign driver than it was on fact, then again you should name the driver.

Thank you for your responses. It is really appreciated.

On a separate note, since I have been unable to access the online portal to view the photographic evidence of the speeding incident, despite reaching out to them via email, could this be considered a valid reason for any delay in responding to the NIP?

Essentially the NIP letter I had is ripped, and I do not know where or how to get another to send the NIP by post.

Any advice is appreciated.

No, the police are under no obligation to provide evidence at this point, and in any event the photo(s) they may provide are not necessarily those to be used in evidence.

Phone the police ticket office, explain you've lost the form, and a few days delay may not be an issue.