NIP for running a red light

[wildone63]

I have recieved a secondary NIP for allegedley running a red traffic light after being named by my employer as the driver of our company van at the time of the alleged offence.Although iam the main van driver at work,my doubts centre around the fact that the offence happened outside my normal working hours (no overtime recorded that particular day)and there were several other potential drivers of the van as opposed to myself.If i elect to return NIP quoting the above reasons and/or go to court,what route are the police likely to take?
Thanks.

[rewc]

If you were not the driver then you are not guilty of the offence. Return the NIP stating that you are not the sole driver of the vehicle and that you were not driving it on that date or time.
Have you a witness that you were elsewhere on the date and time of the offence? Where is the vehicle parked up when you are not driving it? Where are the keys when you are not driving it?

[wildone63]

rewc said:

If you were not the driver then you are not guilty of the offence. Return the NIP stating that you are not the sole driver of the vehicle and that you were not driving it on that date or time.
Have you a witness that you were elsewhere on the date and time of the offence? Where is the vehicle parked up when you are not driving it? Where are the keys when you are not driving it?

I cant be certain whether or not i was the driver,but i have no witness to prove i was elsewhere at the time of the offence,when iam not driving it the van is parked up either inside or outside of my workplace and the keys are left where other employees can get access.
My main concern is that if i deny being the driver after having being named so by my boss,how far are the police likely to take the matter? will they come to my workplace and ask questions? ask to see records or expect my boss to give evidence etc?
I would rather take the 3 points and fixed penalty than cause upheaval and ill feeling among my employer and workmates.

[gozomark]

"I cant be certain whether or not i was the driver,but .....I would rather take the 3 points and fixed penalty than cause upheaval and ill feeling among my employer and workmates."

if you are not certain, don't say you were - if they then prove you weren't, you've been caught lying !

did your boss only name you, or did he/she give a list of drivers, and yours was at the top ?

Edited by gozomark on Monday 2nd October 08:16

[mechsympathy]

gozomark said:

did your boss only name you, or did he/she give a list of drivers, and yours was at the top ?

Have a word with your boss. Why should you take the fall (and associated increase in insurance costs) if you didn't do it.

[justinp1]

gozomark said:

if you are not certain, don't say you were - if they then prove you weren't, you've been caught lying !

did your boss only name you, or did he/she give a list of drivers, and yours was at the top ?

Edited by gozomark on Monday 2nd October 08:16

Exactly.

I think this comes down to what is written betwen the lines.

If:

"I cant be certain whether or not i was the driver,but .....I would rather take the 3 points and fixed penalty than cause upheaval and ill feeling among my employer and workmates."

Then you can be a named driver on my car anytime!!!

Have a good think about whether it was you or not. If *I* were not guilty I would be saying so, and also I would be saying so to my boss. I would do it in a tactful way, explaining the situation honestly. Perhaps your boss may be able to show you the driving records of the van that would show evidence that you may be the driver? That might jog your memory.

However.... if the real question is 'I have been given an NIP for running a red light, its me, but if I just right back saying it wasnt, will it go away?' then please say so. Not saying that this is the case in any way but this forum is often frequented by new or newish posters asking questions starting 'A friend has received a NIP....' or after a number of people have taken their time to help we find that an important 'snippit' of information has been left out from the story to make it sound better, often the fact that the poster knows they are guilty. Although this may not seem important, there is a good chance in many of these cases that the poster will have to go to court and stand on the dock, so you need to know what you are prepared to do from the start...

There is a lot of very good, and free advice on here, but it will be a lot more accurate if the *exact* chain of events comes out earlier rather than later.

For example, in this scenario:

Do you *know* you were not driving? Would you be able to give this evidence in court?

If you honestly dont remember, then you need evidence that might help you decide. A credit card receipt from a shop shoing that you were in your car etc, or conversely the companied record of who had the car at the time.

Or... if you really have more than an inkling it *was* you, and you dont want to rock the boat, the choice is yours. I have heard of cases where the NIP gets pinged between a few people and then disappears and I have heard of cases where as no-one admitted to driving the MD of the company had to go to court and receive a fine for not keeping proper records of driving the van.

If you are an innocent man however, this should not worry you.

[wildone63]

My employer has named me only as the driver of the van,so he seems to have a better memory than me.
justinp1 wrote - "I have heard of cases where as no-one admitted to driving the MD of the company had to go to court and receive a fine for not keeping proper records of driving the van"
Is it now a legal requirement for companies to keep a record of who drives company vehicles at all times? if so its the first ive heard of it.

[justinp1]

wildone63 said:

My employer has named me only as the driver of the van,so he seems to have a better memory than me.
justinp1 wrote - "I have heard of cases where as no-one admitted to driving the MD of the company had to go to court and receive a fine for not keeping proper records of driving the van"
Is it now a legal requirement for companies to keep a record of who drives company vehicles at all times? if so its the first ive heard of it.

It is.

It is not a legal requirement to keep a record of who is driving a personal vehicle, but for a company the company must keep a record of who is driving pool vehicles for exactly this scenario.

[Flat in Fifth]

good posts there justinp1, very fair comment and points well made I think.

[streaky]

Ask your boss to show you the record that you were driving (not "the driver" at the time ... especially if you are not shown as working overtime. If he cannot, and you were not working overtime, then deny that you were the driver. Ask him if he can show that no-one else was driving at the time (e.g. other employees' overtime records, petrol receipts on other employees' cards). If he has a record that you were driving, ask for the overtime payment and fess up to the charge - Streaky