In relation to s172, in general most police forces prosecute the company and not the Directors for failing to identify the driver as this leads to a conviction and fine without any effort. Each case must be considered on its own facts to determine whether or not s148 applies. Motoring Offences and the Importance of Time Limits. This is an onerous test to pass as it is generally fairly easy for a company to have a system in place which identifies the driver of a company vehicle at any given time, for example a log book kept in the vehicle which allows any drivers to enter the details of his or her journey. Other cases on drivers' hours include Vehicle Inspectorate v Southern Coaches and Others [2000] RTR 165. The Notice of Intended Prosecution must specify the nature of the alleged offence and the time and place where it is alleged to have been committed. There is a clear public interest in prosecuting offenders. Although the offence was not one of strict liability, "permitting" in section 96(11A) was to be given a wide meaning of failing to take reasonable steps to prevent contraventions, to be governed by the objective standards of a responsible employer. Additionally it may not be in the best interest of the court to prosecute Directors (solely to get points put on a licence). if evidence of excess alcohol has been adduced at the Crown Court trial, it is more than likely that it will have been taken into account for the purpose of sentencing (this will obviously be so in the case of a trial for a section 3A offence); where a defendant has been convicted of an offence contrary to sections 1 or 3A RTA, a summary offence should not normally be restored if the defendant has been disqualified for a period at least as long as the obligatory period for the summary offence; the lapse of time between the date of the offence, the Crown Court trial and the likely date of hearing for the summary matters; if the defendant has been sentenced to a period of imprisonment, restoration of a summary offence will seldom be appropriate. As far as management responsibility is concerned subsection (5) of the act says that where a director or senior manager of the company caused or connived with the failure to identify the driver, that person is also guilty. Very exceptionally, a prosecutor may feel it appropriate to verify documents, but: Sections 173 and 174 RTA 1988 and sections 44 and 45 Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (VERA 1994) create a number of offences concerning forgery, fraudulent actions and false statements in connection with various road traffic documents. A. Totting Up Penalty Points. See also the decision in R v J F Alford Transport Ltd [1997] Crim LR 745 in which the Court of Appeal held that a secondary offender had to intend to do the acts which he knew to be capable of assisting or encouraging the commission of the crime, but that it was not necessary that he should have intended the crime to be committed. Attempting to or producing any document with intent to deceive may result in severe penalties. I cannot prove this ( I do have a couple of texts I sent around the time stating . Why You Shouldn't Ignore A Notice of Intended Prosecution I've received a Notice of Intended Prosecution Section 172 Notice. The time limit for a written warning is 14 days from the date of the offence. within 28 days you must complete the Section 172 notice declaring who was driving the car at the time of the offence. Making enquiries does not extend the 28 day time limit as stated on the NIP. whether or not it was the driver's intention to drive any further; the road and traffic conditions at the relevant time; and. A notice of intended prosecution can be served for a range of driving offences, ranging from speeding to careless driving. Assessment of the role played by each person in the company/operator in the case of large scale prosecutions; Whether there has been systematic flouting of the law resulting in widespread falsification of records endorsed by management. Further guidance can be found in Wilkinsons Road Offences (29th Edition Chapter 10). The following are the matters listed: (a) the age or physical or mental condition of persons driving the vehicle, The time limit for a written warning is 14 days from the date of the offence. This can be communicated verbally to you at the scene of the alleged crime, or it can be posted or served to you. driving after making a false declaration as to physical fitness (section 92(10)); failing to notify Secretary of State of onset or deterioration of disability (section 94(3)); driving after refusal of licence under section 92 or 93 (section 94A); failure to surrender licence following revocation (section 99); obtaining driving licence, or driving, whilst disqualified (section 103(1)); using an uninsured motor vehicle (section 143); making a false statement to obtain a driving licence or certificate of insurance (section 174); section 244 RTA 1960 (re offences under section 235 RTA 1960 and section 99(5) Transport Act 1968); section 47(2) VERA 1994 (re offences under sections 29, 34, 35A, 37 or regulations made under the Act); section 73 Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1982 (re offences under sections 65 or 66 of the Act). A NIP, or Notice of Intended Prosecution, is used to notify you that you may be prosecuted for a road traffic offence that has been committed. Offences against traffic signs and police signals are dealt with in Sections 35, 36, 37 and 163 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. 56 Posts. Self-balancing scooters do not currently meet the legal requirements and therefore are not legal for road use. All offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 other than those under sections 35A(2) , 43(5) and (12) , 47(3) , 52(1) , 108(3) , 115(1) and (2) , 116(1) and 129(3) or those mentioned in paragraph 1 above. They are normally sent out when there is about 7 days of the original time limit remaining. Prosecution for a Speeding Offence - Richard Silver A person disqualified under s.36 RTOA 1988 until a driving test is passed commits an offence under s.103 RTA 1988 if he or she drives whilst disqualified otherwise than in accordance with any provisional licence issued. A Notice of Intended Prosecution must be served on the vehicle's DVLA registered keeper within 14 days after the date of the alleged offence. If the prosecution is taken by surprise by the issue, an application to adjourn to call a witness can be made - see R on the application of. Time Limit for a NIP (Notice of Intended Prosecution)|Roadtrafficlaw Certain exceptions do apply however where it can be shown that the keeper did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained who the driver of the vehicle was (S172.4). It is not necessary for the information to be personally received by a justice or by the clerk. All staff, including agents, and magistrates who deal with motoring cases should receive training so that they may be aware of the terms of this protocol. Additionally, the user would need a driving licence and motor insurance. A. Magistrates & Crown Court Trials. The Notice of intended prosecution or NIP can either be given verbally at the time of the incident or in writing (i.e. The following factors should be considered in prosecutions relating to drivers' hours, breaches or falsifications: Procedure where No Documents are Produced at a Police Station and Summonses for Apparent Offences are Issued, Defendants Attempting to Produce Documents at Court for the First Time, Notice To Persons Summonsed To Court For Either Not Having Or Failing To Produce To The Police Any Relevant Documents For The Use Of A Motor Vehicle On A Road Or Public Place, SCHEDULE 1 - OFFENCES PROCEEDINGS SPECIFIED BY ARTICLE 3(1). Under s.1(3) RTOA 1988 the requirements of that section are deemed to have been met unless and until the contrary is proved. This offence may often overlap with other statutory offences, namely: When considering the proper charge the prosecutor should consider the appropriate venue for trial. You may have heard that if you get a speeding ticket through the post more than 14 . There is a time limit for service of an Notice of Intended Prosecution and failing to abide by it can be fatal to the Crown case. In R v Derwentside Justices ex parte Swift, R v Sunderland Justices ex parte Bate [1997] RTR 89 a section 9 statement was admitted in evidence from a constable who stated that he knew the defendant and had been present when he had been convicted and disqualified for two years on a previous occasion. The prosecution do not have to call evidence that s.1 RTOA 1988 has been complied with unless the defendant proves, on a balance of probabilities, that no effective notice was given. In Skills Motor Coaches Ltd, Farmer, Burley and Denman (Case C-297/99), the European Court of Justice held that time spent on activities having a bearing on driving, such as time spent reaching the pick-up point for a tachograph vehicle, would affect his state of tiredness and must be regarded as forming part of 'all other periods of work' within Article 15 of Regulation No. This guidance is provided to provide an overview on procedure and charging practice that is not dealt with in the existing road traffic guidance being. You could be disqualified from driving if you build up 12 or more penalty points within a period of 3 . Your appeal may mean that the police send a report to the procurator fiscal. However under Subsection (6) the company must prove that as well as not being able to identify the driver using reasonable diligence it must show that it did not keep a record of who was driving the vehicle and that the failure to keep such records was reasonable. The letter is asking me to provide details of the driver of the vehicle. The Notice of intended prosecution or NIP can either be given verbally at the time of the incident or in writing (i.e. Usually NIPs are used by fixed cameras or the talivan overbridge guys who have zapped you with a laser speed detector. Sometimes a similar document called a 'postal requisition' arrives instead. However, that course can be taken where the other offences are serious and are liable to result in a substantial term of imprisonment or period of disqualification, or the defendant has already been sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment in any event. R. 16; and Olakunori v DPP [1998] C.O.D. This should be done with the approval of the court and in order to assist in determining the question of disqualification. Note that the 6 month time limit in section 99(6) has no effect on the either way time limit and refers only to charts actually seized under this specific power, not to charts removed under the statutory powers. As a result, if an insurance policy contains a restriction (for example) that the driver must be aged over 21, that restriction may be void and a person aged under 21 who would otherwise have been covered to drive the vehicle may not be guilty of driving without insurance. Directions may also be given to remove the vehicle and, if applicable, any trailer to any place specified. Management Personal Responsibility. A person who drives a vehicle on a road while disqualified by reason of age, commits an offence under s.87 RTA 1988, which prohibits a person driving a vehicle on a road otherwise than in accordance with a licence authorising him to do so. The offence is equally serious, whether "use" or "causing or permitting" is involved. It should state the nature of the offence (for example Speeding) together with the time, date and place . Failure to produce your documents at the police station may well result in additional loss and inconvenience to you, and led to an application for additional prosecution costs for the extra work involved. This means that where an insurance policy purports to impose a restriction based on any of the matters listed above, that restriction is of no effect and the policy should be read as if the words containing the restriction had been struck out. Note that this offence requires an intention to deceive by misusing the seal in the manner stated in the section. This power to prohibit the driving of UK passenger and goods vehicles rectifies the previous anomaly whereby only the driving of foreign registered vehicles could be prohibited by virtue of the provisions of the Road Traffic (Foreign Vehicles) Act 1972. See also DPP v Vivier [1991] Crim LR 637, DPP v Neville [1996] 160 JP 758 and Cutter v Eagle Star Insurance Co. Ltd, Clarke v Kato and Others [1998] 4 All ER 417. SCHEDULE 1 Offences to which sections 1, 6, 11 and 12 (1) apply. By post - Speed Enforcement Unit, PO Box 213, Bristol, BS20 1DR; Speeding Fines, Tickets And Penalties Explained - Which? Arrangements will then be made for the court to be informed about this. Notice of intended prosecution - FightBack Forums - PePiPoo Definition, see Wilkinson's Road Traffic Offences (28th edition) 15.52. Section 8 warrants authorised under PACE and s.7 warrants authorised under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. If you do not complete and return the NIP/S172 notice correctly within the 28 day time limit, you face a separate charge of failing to notify driver's details, which is a 6 penalty point offence with a fine of up to 1,000. The duty to stop means to stop sufficiently long enough to exchange the particulars above: (Lee v Knapp [1966] 3 All ER 961). Zholia Alemi forged N, The CPS Areas, CPS Direct, Central Casework Divisions and Proceeds of Crime, Information for prosecuting advocates including Advocate Panels, Annual reports, business plans and strategies, Code for Crown Prosecutors - Public Interest Considerations, Restoration of Summary Offences after Trial on Indictment, Self-balancing Personal Transporters - Segway etc, Driving/Obtaining a Driving Licence Whilst Disqualified, Charging Practice - Forgery and False Information, etc, Offences in Contravention of the Regulations - s.96, Falsification of Driver's Hours and Records - s.99(5), Power to Prohibit the Driving of UK Vehicles - Section 99A, Tachograph Cases and Public Interest Criteria, Annex A: National Protocol for the Production and Inspection of Driving Documents, Annex B: Specified Proceedings (Offences), Road Traffic - Drug and Drink Driving Offences, The prosecution of traffic offences is vital to the enforcement and promotion of road safety and the protection of the public, and. When determining the public interest in prosecuting minor road traffic offences, it must be borne in mind that: Public interest factors which relate to particular offences will be dealt with below. No mens rea is necessary (see Hill v Baxter [1958] 1 All ER 193). . The Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) will ask the registered keeper of the vehicle to name the driver or rider at the time of the alleged offence; they'll be the same person or a family member in most cases, but sometimes it won't be so straightforward, and it'll be an unknown 'friend of a friend'. The NIP must be served on the registered keeper of the vehicle within 14 days of the offence otherwise the offence can't proceed to court. If necessary, the case should be adjourned for validation to be carried out by the police. . Keep your fingers crossed. The notice should also state that production for verification cannot be made at court and that any attempt to do so will result in expense and delay for that person as the court will still require their prior production at the nominated (or locally agreed) police station. Because self-balancing Personal Transporters do not meet the relevant requirements for use on UK roads, and because there is no separate legislation here for public road use by non-EC type-approved vehicles, they cannot be registered and licensed for use on a public road. The Code for Crown Prosecutors is a public document, issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions that sets out the general principles Crown Prosecutors should follow when they make decisions on cases. Such alternative verdicts are permitted in relation to the summary offences of: Alternative verdicts under sections 4(1), 5(1)(a), 7(6), 4(2), 5(1)(b) or 29 RTA 1988 may be returned as appropriate, despite the fact that the six month time limit for those offences are likely to have lapsed. To assist victims in any future claim for compensation, a written record should be kept of all relevant details about the driving documents produced to the police. If the Police do not comply with the rules and time limits, they cannot prosecute. See also Restoration of Summary Offences after Trial on Indictment, below in this section. If a charge under s.2 RTA 1988 is sent to trial on indictment, the issue is for the trial court, unless the prosecutor decides that there has been a fatal non-compliance with the requirement. The defendant contributed to that failure by his or her own conduct. It needs to be made clear that this is separate and distinct from a requirement to identify the driver of a vehicle under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. by Graham Walker | Jan 29, 2013 | Careless Driving, Dangerous Driving | Scotland, Road Traffic Law Scotland, Speed Cameras Latest Advice, Speeding. You can check whether . They cannot be licensed for use on a road and they do not come within the categories of vehicle covered by a driving licence. What happens after a notice of intended prosecution? In deciding whether to rely on the extended time limit, the prosecutor should ensure that he/she is able to ascertain the date on which sufficient evidence to warrant proceedings came to the knowledge of a police officer investigating the incident, since this is a requirement of the procedure. A person who fails to comply with subsection (2) or (3) above is guilty of an offence punishable with a maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment. It is not possible for you to have your driving documents checked at court. Following such a demand, no motorist who has not produced his or her driving documents at a police station should produce them to a court in answer to a charge or summons without having previously produced them at a police station for inspection. In the Gidden case the High Court had to decide whether a notice of intended prosecution should be regarded as having been properly served where the notice was sent by first class ordinary post on a date that would normally lead to it being delivered within the 14-day time limit but where the court was satisfied that it was in fact delivered . It was clear that in requiring the production of a document or the handing over of records Article 14(2) of Council Regulation 3821/85 and s.99 Transport Act 1968 should be interpreted so that it was within the officer's discretion whether he chose to inspect the charts at the operators' premises or take them away for further analysis. Motorists, who have been unable to produce their driving documents on demand, following a lawful request by a police officer, should produce them for inspection within the required statutory period at a police station of their choice. If you receive a summons or postal requisition or Notice of Intended Prosecution in relation to a motoring offence, it is important to know whether the Police have complied with . Speeding fines: top tips on UK speeding tickets and how to appeal them The 'prosecutor' for the purposes of section 6 can be the investigating officer or the informant (see [1976] 140 JP Jo., 675; Swan v Vehicle Inspectorate [1997] RTR 187. It is regularly updated to reflect changes in law and practice. The term 'motor vehicle' is defined in section 185(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and section 136(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 as "a mechanically propelled vehicle, intended or adapted for use on roads". . . This may be by direct notification to the relevant police process office for transmission to the court or CPS office, and may include a written acknowledgement given to the person making production, which can be produced at court. Section 2(3) RTOA 1988 provides that a failure to meet the requirements shall not prevent conviction where the court is satisfied that: R v R [2012] EWCA Crim 2887 was an appeal against a terminating ruling that the requirements of s.1(1) RTOA 1988 were a bar to conviction on a count alleging that the respondent drove a motorbike dangerously. Section 161A Highways Act 1980 (lighting fires so as to injure, interrupt or endanger users of a highway); Section 131(2) Highways Act 1980 (obliterating or pulling down a traffic sign). Speeding in Scotland | The Road Traffic Lawyer The minimum penalty for speeding is a 100 fine and 3 penalty points added to your licence.

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