How long from NIP can the police prosecute?
Discussion
Hopefully not tempting fate here but I was tagged by a man with laser gun back in early October. I got the NIP through 4 days later. Fair enough.
Sent the NIP back immediately...and then diddly squat?
What are the rules here? I can't find anything particularly concrete out there. 6 months to prosecute is referenced a few times.
Sent the NIP back immediately...and then diddly squat?
What are the rules here? I can't find anything particularly concrete out there. 6 months to prosecute is referenced a few times.
For speeding, proceedings must be commenced within 6 calendar months of the date of the alleged offence.
This doesn't mean you must receive a summons, citation or postal requisition within those 6 months - that's simply the timeframe within which they need to get the ball rolling.
This doesn't mean you must receive a summons, citation or postal requisition within those 6 months - that's simply the timeframe within which they need to get the ball rolling.
Edited by SS2. on Thursday 30th March 19:49
As SS2 said, proceedings have to commence within 6 months of the offence. What this means is that the information regarding the case must be sent to the court within 6 months. The court then issue a summons which could take a few more weeks. It seems that most speeding cases take up most of the allowed time so if the speeding took place in the middle of October it could be early May before you hear anything.
That is for England and Wales; the rules are slightly different in Scotland.
Was the speed particularly high and is that the reason why it looks like it's going to court and not being dealt with by a fixed penalty?
That is for England and Wales; the rules are slightly different in Scotland.
Was the speed particularly high and is that the reason why it looks like it's going to court and not being dealt with by a fixed penalty?
As that speed should have been a straightforward £100 and 3 points fixed penalty this suggests that either this has "slipped between the cracks" or they didn't receive your reply. I don't suppose you kept a copy of the completed form or got proof of posting or proof of delivery? (And hindsight is a wonderful thing 
)
If you phone whoever issued the NIP and ask what's happening and they had lost the paperwork then you open yourself to the £100 and 3 points that might otherwise have "gone away". If you phone them and it turns out that they didn't receive your reply and are setting up a "Failing to Furnish" charge then you only pay £100 and 3 points instead of 6 points, a fine of about £500 (income dependent) and an endorsement code that insurance companies really don't like.
)If you phone whoever issued the NIP and ask what's happening and they had lost the paperwork then you open yourself to the £100 and 3 points that might otherwise have "gone away". If you phone them and it turns out that they didn't receive your reply and are setting up a "Failing to Furnish" charge then you only pay £100 and 3 points instead of 6 points, a fine of about £500 (income dependent) and an endorsement code that insurance companies really don't like.
Thanks. Is there no third option of they just didn't go ahead with the prosecution in the end?
I would have expected them also to have followed up in the last 6 months if there was a chance of failure to furnish - hindsight is great, yes, but this was my first time dealing with this stuff.
I would have expected them also to have followed up in the last 6 months if there was a chance of failure to furnish - hindsight is great, yes, but this was my first time dealing with this stuff.
Although it's possible that this has been quietly dropped it's very unlikely. If they had decided to drop things you would have received a letter telling you. Also, why would they drop it when they have a completed NIP from you? Generally these things are only dropped if challenged (and the challenge is for a valid reason).
It's certainly unusual not to hear anything if your NIP has gone missing in the post. Many forces issue reminders if they don't get a reply in time but there is no requirement to do so and not all forces do. If they didn't receive your reply and didn't issue a reminder the next stage would be to commence court proceedings so that fits with not hearing anything from them.
You have a third choice of what to do but it carries some risk.
You can do nothing at the moment and see what happens. If they have forgotten about you this means that you hear nothing further and you get away with it. The other possibility is that you are charged with Failing to Furnish. If this happens and you are also charged with speeding you plead not guilty to both charges and go to court. You turn up early on the day and seek out the Clerk of the Court and offer to plead guilty to speeding if they drop the Failing to Furnish charge. You will pay court costs and a victim surcharge but you ask that you get the same points and fine as if you'd been issued with a fixed penalty as you had returned the NIP and it got lost in the post. This will almost 100% be accepted. The risk is that you are only charged with FtF. You can then try the "plea bargain" but they are under no obligation to accept this so you end up with 6 points and a larger fine (and an endorsement code that insurers don't like).
You could try searching for similar cases on pepipoo.com. You could also ask the same question on there to check that my advice is approximately correct.
It's certainly unusual not to hear anything if your NIP has gone missing in the post. Many forces issue reminders if they don't get a reply in time but there is no requirement to do so and not all forces do. If they didn't receive your reply and didn't issue a reminder the next stage would be to commence court proceedings so that fits with not hearing anything from them.
You have a third choice of what to do but it carries some risk.
You can do nothing at the moment and see what happens. If they have forgotten about you this means that you hear nothing further and you get away with it. The other possibility is that you are charged with Failing to Furnish. If this happens and you are also charged with speeding you plead not guilty to both charges and go to court. You turn up early on the day and seek out the Clerk of the Court and offer to plead guilty to speeding if they drop the Failing to Furnish charge. You will pay court costs and a victim surcharge but you ask that you get the same points and fine as if you'd been issued with a fixed penalty as you had returned the NIP and it got lost in the post. This will almost 100% be accepted. The risk is that you are only charged with FtF. You can then try the "plea bargain" but they are under no obligation to accept this so you end up with 6 points and a larger fine (and an endorsement code that insurers don't like).
You could try searching for similar cases on pepipoo.com. You could also ask the same question on there to check that my advice is approximately correct.
GroundEffect said:
Thanks. Is there no third option of they just didn't go ahead with the prosecution in the end?
I would have expected them also to have followed up in the last 6 months if there was a chance of failure to furnish - hindsight is great, yes, but this was my first time dealing with this stuff.
Did you send the NIP back via recorded mail?I would have expected them also to have followed up in the last 6 months if there was a chance of failure to furnish - hindsight is great, yes, but this was my first time dealing with this stuff.
If it was me I'd probably confirm that they received it to make sure I wasn't done for failure to provide details...
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