Discussion
My mate's sister has just bought a used Yaris about 4 weeks ago. Yesterday morning two Nips arrived in the post, one for easter sunday and the following for bank holiday monday. Both were for 5am. Now like most sane people she was in bed on both occasions sleeping off the beer from the night before. The registration number is correct but the car was safely locked up in the garage on both occasions. I have suggested that she requests Photographic evidence. What is her legal standing in this position. What if someone is driving around in a Yaris with the same plate on? Any help appreciated.
The addressee of the NIP should reply saying that it was not the registered car involved because it was locked up in the garage at home at that time. Photographic evidence should show what sort and colour of car it was and hopefully show that the driver was neither person who drive the garaged car.
This sounds like a case of cloning. News story in the Times today about a Chrysler PT owner who received bills totalling £2000 for allegedly speeding, using bus lanes, and London conjestion charges. Bib weren't interested and he had to do the detective work himself to find the culprit, and then puncture all his tyres to stop the car being moved. The registration number of an identical vehicle is used so that when checked with DVLA everything looks correct. In this case the number plates on the thief's car were adhesive and just peeled off.
I had the same problem a couple of years ago. Car identical to mine, but couldn't have been me as I'm sure I was at work 80 miles away.
I wrote letters to the police (Northants (M1 J15 northbound, surprise surprise)) and eventually they advised me to go to court. I then received notice that they were to prosecute me for not filling in the NIP, which of course only gives you the option of saying "yes it was me" or "I know it was XXX", but not "not my car, Guv".
At this point I got a solicitor, who went with me to court and convinced the prosecutor they couldn't convict me. However, even she said that if the police had "done their job properly" and prosecuted me for speeding instead of not returning the NIP, then she would have advised me to plead guilty even though it wasn't me, simply because of the photo.
Basically, it seems very hard to get let off on this basis, even though you can demonstrate at least to some extent that the evidence is not convincing. Compare that to other crimes and I find it sad and unfortunate, but that's life in Britain today I guess. Even though it wasn't me it certainly made me slow down just in case, and I never approach M1 J15 northbound (long downhill) without being very careful. Don't watch the road, watch the bridges!! :-(
BTW, going to court in response to that summons was only to plead guilty/not guilty. If the police had not withdrawn the case then I would have then had to have gone back again at a later date to have the case heard. Having one day's holiday for this sort of thing is bad enough, without using up more precious time just to prove innocence. The process is not "customer focused". And my solicitor said I should just be grateful, and not try claiming costs from the police.
I wrote letters to the police (Northants (M1 J15 northbound, surprise surprise)) and eventually they advised me to go to court. I then received notice that they were to prosecute me for not filling in the NIP, which of course only gives you the option of saying "yes it was me" or "I know it was XXX", but not "not my car, Guv".
At this point I got a solicitor, who went with me to court and convinced the prosecutor they couldn't convict me. However, even she said that if the police had "done their job properly" and prosecuted me for speeding instead of not returning the NIP, then she would have advised me to plead guilty even though it wasn't me, simply because of the photo.
Basically, it seems very hard to get let off on this basis, even though you can demonstrate at least to some extent that the evidence is not convincing. Compare that to other crimes and I find it sad and unfortunate, but that's life in Britain today I guess. Even though it wasn't me it certainly made me slow down just in case, and I never approach M1 J15 northbound (long downhill) without being very careful. Don't watch the road, watch the bridges!! :-(
BTW, going to court in response to that summons was only to plead guilty/not guilty. If the police had not withdrawn the case then I would have then had to have gone back again at a later date to have the case heard. Having one day's holiday for this sort of thing is bad enough, without using up more precious time just to prove innocence. The process is not "customer focused". And my solicitor said I should just be grateful, and not try claiming costs from the police.
Sounds like the car may have been cloned - I have a friend with an Audi TT thats been cloned - hes getting parking tickets, speeding tickets, congestion charges etc etc ...the cheeky sods even tried to order a new log book for it...but when DVLA rang him to advise himn that HE is reponsible for notifying them that the car had been sold (when it was sat on his drive) he reported it to the Police. The Police are still investigating ...as the tickets continue to drop through his door. I would get in touch with the Police.
Jezer said: News story in the Times today about a Chrysler PT owner who received bills totalling £2000 for allegedly speeding, using bus lanes, and London conjestion charges.....
This is the story; www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-661656,00.html
Peter Ward said: At this point I got a solicitor, who went with me to court and convinced the prosecutor they couldn't convict me. However, even she said that if the police had "done their job properly" and prosecuted me for speeding instead of not returning the NIP, then she would have advised me to plead guilty even though it wasn't me, simply because of the photo.
I would suggest you need a new solicitor! Never plead guilty if it was not you, you could prove you were at work 80 miles away so how could you have been guilty.
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