How long will I have to wait to be prosecuted?

[JohnL]

I received a "conditional offer of fixed penalty" a couple of months ago. It said I had to accept within 28 days or they may prosecute me.

I reckon they don't have more than half a leg to stand on as the speed limit signs are iffy to say the least. So I'm willing to take my chances in court with a Not Guilty as I'm p'ed off about it ... rant ...

Anyway ... the conditional offer didn't say what to do if I didn't want to accept it, so I ignored it.

So the question is, is there a time limit by which I have to receive a summons, or can I be kept in suspense indefinitely?
And, is there a minimum time between the summons and the court hearing? I'll have to do a bit of research if I'm going to court.

[JohnL]

Thanks -
And if the police do pass the info to the Fiscal then do they have a time limit to get to me?

Ie, could the police pass the info after 5.5 months, then a year later the PF decides to do something about it, and that's the first I'll hear of it?

[JohnL]

jeffreyarcher said:

... the plea entering diet.

The what?

I've lost over a stone in the last couple of months

[JohnL]

Ah, thanks guys.

Oho, within 6 months of the alleged offence, rather than the expiry of the conditional offer? Their time's running out ...

[JohnL]

Sounds like it doens't it!
This is bringing back some memories from long ago at school - in Scotland there's a time limit in general law for prosecutions to be brought, in England not ... I may be thinking of the time you can be held on remand

My correspondence probably took a good three months as well - if I'd realised I could probably have dragegd it out for a bit longer
Then allow 1 month for not accepting the conditional offer.
That must have expired at least 6 weeks ago.
I must go and check out the dates!