N.I.P Advice - Was not anywhere near location

[robinessex]

robinessex said:

When is your nervous breakdown due ? Send them a letter telling them why it isn't you. Simple

I'll repeat adfinitum until he does it. Talk about making life hard for yourself !!!!!!

[Mandalore]

Distressiong for anyone getting one through an error though. If it was two same make/model cars, it could be more difficult to prove from the photo.

[tapereel]

agtlaw said:

Somewhat academic as the OP should respond not before 14 days but within 28 days. If he didn't and was prosecuted for failure to respond, then his argument might be that the request wasn't validly made - he is neither the registered keeper of the car in the picture, or a person nominated by the registered keeper. Should he be criminalised for a mistake made by the ticket office? It's an argument, although perhaps not the strongest argument. Best to avoid a trial he may lose by responding.

He should indeed respond; not to respond is simply mad.
It matters not how soon he responds as posting the offence image on the World Wide Web gives plenty of time to rectify the mistake and issue the notice to the keeper of the correct vehicle.
It matters not whether the car the OP has is not the one in the image, he is the registered keeper of the car in the notice.

Red Devil said:

^^This^^

I don't know why the OP is getting his undergarments in a twist. All that is needed is to write back saying the picture clearly shows the offending vehicle is a Ford Focus **** JWV whereas his is a Ford Mondeo **** JWY.

RTA 1988 S.172 said:

(2)Where the driver of a vehicle is alleged to be guilty of an offence to which this section applies—
(a)the person keeping the vehicle shall give such information as to the identity of the driver as he may be required to give by or on behalf of a chief officer of police

(4)A person shall not be guilty of an offence by virtue of paragraph (a) of subsection (2) above if he shows that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained who the driver of the vehicle was.

If this goes any further, which is highly unlikely, sub-pararaph (4) gives him a cast-iron defence to a S.172 charge. He is not the RK of the vehicle in the picture, therefore he can't possibly be expected to furnish any driver information in respect of it.

If I have clocked the VRM correctly, as well as speeding that car hasn't been taxed for the last year and a half!

The OP has to supply information about the car detailed in the notice and that car is his car. The car in the image is not the car that the OP is being asked about and the image has nothing to do with the notice he now has.
S172(4) is not coming into consideration if the OP gives the very information he has freely offered to the world to the police, why would it?
The OP seems to be hard of thinking; all he needs to do is supply the information that the police have misread the registration. If he does this I am certain they will thank him, if he attempts to mess them about that is simply futile.

Edited by tapereel on Sunday 5th July 20:51

[cat with a hat]

agtlaw said:

You have 28 days to reply. Personally, I would wait at least 14 days before using signed for post to reply. If they are wasting my time because they didn't check properly then I would ensure that they lost revenue from the other driver. There is no "slip rule."

This gets my vote

[zarjaz1991]

Seems to be sorted.

I phoned the ticket office today and explained the situation. They looked up the two vehicles and confirmed it is a transcript error. They are going to send me a letter to confirm.

To cover myself, I have also sent the form back with a covering letter explaining things so I'm covered from all angles.

Although I'm not a huge fan of the police at times, I have no desire to deliberately mess them about. This is an error, it just needed rectifying.

Thank you to everyone who advised.

It may seem ridiculously simple to solve, but you can easily get caught up in these automated professes. One wrong move and you've actually committed an offence even though you are not the correct person, as agtlaw has alluded to. Best to handle it correctly.

Also, you never get anywhere in life trying to "get one over on people", especially the police

Edited by zarjaz1991 on Monday 6th July 09:58