How long do they have to send you a summons?

[ric201283]

How long do they have to send you a summons to court or a speeding ticket?

[jeffreyarcher]

This question has been answered a gazillion times.

They have 6 months to lay the papers with the court. The court don't actually have to do anything, the papers just have to be laid. The summons and everything else can happen afterwards; up to 3 years.
Assuming, however, that there is nothing unusual in your case (e.g. that you have been out of the country), if the summons is served significantly over the six months, that may be an 'abuse of process'.
[Cue gone to deny it ]

[ric201283]

i thought they only had 14 days to send you a notice of a summons??

[pdV6]

No; that'll be the Notice of Intended Prosecution

[volvod5_dude]

jeffreyarcher said:

This question has been answered a gazillion times. They have 6 months to lay the papers with the court. The court don't actually have to do anything, the papers just have to be laid. The summons and everything else can happen afterwards; up to 3 years. Assuming, however, that there is nothing unusual in your case (e.g. that you have been out of the country), if the summons is served significantly over the six months, that may be an 'abuse of process'. [Cue gone to deny it ]

So in the case of a speeding offence then one could get a summons "out of the blue" anything up to three years later? Wouldn't the trial be sort of unfair?

[ric201283]

Would you get a letter saying that they maybe are going to summons you withing the 14 days

[KITT]

ric201283 said:

Would you get a letter saying that they maybe are going to summons you withing the 14 days

For a speeding offence they have to send you a NIP first within 14 days regardless of the speed you were doing. If it was a big speed then you'll fill the NIP in and then get a summons (within 6 months).

[Dwight VanDriver]

In a nutshell.

Warp factor 4----Flash.
Within 14days NOIP papers.
Conditional offer.
No response from offender or Court case requested.
File to Prosecutions Department (PD).
PD lay information about offence to Mags Clerks for summons to be issued.
PD, for offence exceeding WF4, have only 6 months from date of offence to lay information otherwise cannot take proceedings (called Limitation on Proceedings - some other offences have longer up to 3 years).
Once information laid then they can take as long at they want, to a degree, to issue and send summons to offender.
However an exceptionally long time delay can be criticised at Court.

DVD

[volvod5_dude]

So is the offender notified that information has been laid?

>> Edited by volvod5_dude on Friday 7th May 15:05

[Dwight VanDriver]

No. It is presumed that in a perfect world, say within a few days of the information being laid that a summons would be issued and sent out for service.

Any delay will fall to the FP Process Department (up to their gunnels responding to requests to name and shame/ photo's etc) and busy Prosections Department who deal with all Crime, Public Order, Motoring offences etc and all that entails.

.....and you know we don't live in a perfect world as if we did there would be no speed limits....



DVD.

>> Edited by Dwight VanDriver on Friday 7th May 15:25

[ric201283]

What i want to know is that, no matter weather i am gonna get a fine or court summans, will i get a letter within the 14 days? and do they have to dispatch this letter within the 14 days no matter weather im gonna get a fine or summans?

[KITT]

ric201283 said:

What i want to know is that, no matter weather i am gonna get a fine or court summans, will i get a letter within the 14 days? and do they have to dispatch this letter within the 14 days no matter weather im gonna get a fine or summans?

that's my understanding (unless you were actually stopped by the police in person in which case it could be 6 months before you hear anything)

[simonrockman]

OK. So if you were doing a big speed, and got stopped in person, but didn't hear anything, no NIP, nothing, for six months and 6 days, are you OK?

[deeps]

Dwight VanDriver said:

No. It is presumed that in a perfect world, say within a few days of the information being laid that a summons would be issued and sent out for service. Any delay will fall to the FP Process Department (up to their gunnels responding to requests to name and shame/ photo's etc) and busy Prosections Department who deal with all Crime, Public Order, Motoring offences etc and all that entails. .....and you know we don't live in a perfect world as if we did there would be no speed limits.... DVD. >> Edited by Dwight VanDriver on Friday 7th May 15:25

DVD,
If Mr Man gets the summons after say 7 months of the offence, is there a date on the summons that states when the papers were laid, otherwise Mr Man wouldnt know if the prosecutions dept. laid the papers in time?

[Dwight VanDriver]

A summons issued under S 1 Mags Courts Act, 1980 and Reg 98 MC Rules 1981 outlines the :

Mags Court
Date
Accused name and address

You are hereby summoned to appear on...at....a/pm before the Mags Court at.... to answer to the following information:

Alleged offence (s)
Prosecutor/Address

DATE OF INFORMATION

Signed/Justice of the Peace.

[Beggarall]

Can anyone give a guess at the sort of time it might take between declining a FPN and papers being laid with the courts?

[ric201283]

so if i got cautght speeding by a handheld gun but never got pulled up, most probly i would get a summons, do they have to send the summons out in the 14 days

[gone]

ric201283 said:

so if i got cautght speeding by a handheld gun but never got pulled up, most probly i would get a summons, do they have to send the summons out in the 14 days

If you did not get stopped, you must receive an NIP in the post. This has to be posted by the administration of justice dept within 14 days of the offence (not including the day of the offence so that makes 15 days).

There is no obligatiion in law that you should receive the NIP within 15 days of the offence.

The Admin of Justice Dept (AOJ) cannot issue a summons unless they know who to issue it to. After you receive the NIP you are required in law to tell the chief of Police the drivers identity on the attached notice. When/if the AOJ receive this information, they can then instigate the laying of the information in summons form before a court.

If you fail to notify the drivers details within 28 days of the posting of the NIP, the AOJ dept could lay an information for summons for failing to notify the driver.

Once the information is laid ( 6 months in most summary motoring offences, 3 years for no insurance or VEL offences) within the statutory limitations of proceedings as above, the summons is valid and can be served at any time after the 6 months.

Should you leave the country for several years after a summons has been issued and it has not been served on you,
1. Because you left before it was actually issued and could be served.
2. The Police have been unable to track you down because you moved from the area and then left the country...

It is quite possible even probable that on your return, it could be actioned against you if you were found again such as in the situation of being stop checked for any reason.

So.

1. NIP given verbally at the time or written within 15 days of the offence
2. Summons information laid before Magistrates within 6 months (unless 3 year statutory limit) of the date of offence.
3. Service at any time after that if you are slippery and cannot be grabbed for summons.

Hope that helps.

DVD's posts explain it very well!

[Beggarall]

gone - thanks for you full and informative post. Can you say a bit about the AoJ department? Do they lay the info with the courts and are they part of the Fixed Penalty Team or the CPS? How do the Fixed Penalty crew communicate with the AoJ Dept and do the AoJ department have any discretion about laying the info before the court (ie do they vet what the FP has been doing)? What is the time-scale of all this? I am trying to understand this part of the process - it has a bearing on how I might respond to a FPN.

[gone]

Beggarall said:

gone - thanks for you full and informative post. Can you say a bit about the AoJ department?

AOJ depts are ususaly staffed by civilian Police staff. They deal with the formalities required for the process of court files and legal procedures which need to be done when the Police report reaches them with a CPS decision.

They also cater for all the process of traffic offences from the officers written report or FPT which is put through the department. The AOJ is usually headed by at least a Police Inspector and quite often a Chief inspector. It is a legal requirement for an information to be laid by the rank of Chief inspector. It will be his information (outlining the circumstances of the offence) which is put in wrting before the Magistrate or in the case of a summons, Magistrates Clerk for authentication.

Beggerall said:

Do they lay the info with the courts and are they part of the Fixed Penalty Team or the CPS?

It must be the Chief Inspector who lays the information. AOJ teams are not specifically the same as the FPT team. They are seperate depts but they liase closely with them for obvious reasons.
FPT teams send out NIP's and deal with issued tickets that are either accepted by the recipient and paid or disputed and require onwards transmission to the issuing officer for his written report. This is then sent to AOJ for summons process.

In the case of Camera instigated tickets, when the films are downloaded and the relevant registered owner details are verified, FPT office send out Section 172 notices and NIP.

On receipt of the completed Sect 172 notice, a request for written report from the officer is sent or the payment and licence is processed. They then have nothing more to do with the process as AOJ take over from there.

Beggerall said:

How do the Fixed Penalty crew communicate with the AoJ Dept and do the AoJ department have any discretion about laying the info before the court (ie do they vet what the FP has been doing)?

This is usually done through internal mail and the usual communication devices available (phone, e-mail etc).
AOJ decision makers are Police Officers as stated before, usually Inspector or Chief Inspector rank. They decide whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed with an offence and whether the correct procedures have been carried out to enable a proper prosecution.
AOJ decision makers have the ultimate role in discretion!

Beggerall said:

What is the time-scale of all this? I am trying to understand this part of the process - it has a bearing on how I might respond to a FPN.

1. NIP issued within 14 days, either at the time if stopped.

2. If by Sect 172 notice on receipt of relevant information required, the offer of a provisional FPT is sent by Fixed penalty Office (FPO). This will normally be within the 28 day period so until now it will be around 32 days(ish)

3. If FPT is accepted by the person served with the notice and is payed, that is the end of the matter for FPO, other than dealing with the payment and licence to court for endorsement.

4. If FPN is contested, the FPT, NIP and Sect 172 notice are sent to the person who was responsible for the offence being recorded. This will either be the Camera operator or the Police officer. They then have to fill out a full written report about the incident.
This could take up to several weeks (especially if the officer involved is on annual leave/courses etc)
Now up to around 46 days.

5. Once the report is written and signed by the officer/Camera operator involved, it is then sent to AOJ who's decision makers read through the report and make sure that everything in relation to evidence and procedure is correct. They then make a decision on the case to prosecute or not. This could take up to 7 days depending on how busy they are.
Now around 53 days.

6. Once a decision to prosecute is made, the file is sent to the AOJ staff to issue the information on the summons form which is then sent back to the Chief Inspector to sign and then on to court for authentication. This could take another 7 days.
Now up to 60 days.

7. When the summons is issued and sent back to the AOJ, they arrange for the service of summons to take place and attach the copy of the signed summons to the court file. This could take up to another 7 days.
Now up to around 67 days.

All these times are purely approximate and depend entirely on the information and enquiries which have to take place to gather the correct information to proceed to the next stage.

In reality you should be looking for issue of a summons between 1 and 3 months from the time and date of the offence.

I hope that helps.