Had my day in court .....and won!

[towman]

Up before the magistrates yesterday on a charge of failing to respond to a NIP. My defence was that I had not received it, and Scamera partnership could only prove that it had been sent. (not received).

Found not guilty, but I may be sent a new NIP to identify the driver. However as I have seen the photographic evidence, this will not be possible as the driver cannot be identified.

[towman]

MrsMiggins said:

Am I correct in thinking that you gave testimony to the fact that you did not receive the NIP and they believed you?

Correct. What helped my case was that the last NIP I received was answered immediately.
Plus they cannot give me the points if I can`t identify the driver. The vehicle in question is one of my Taxis and I am not insured to drive it! Prosecutor got really snotty and lectured me on how to keep records of who was driving the car.

[towman]

bumpkin said:

my understanding is that it the document 'deemed' to have been received, it still legally has to be received to be valid, in this case Towman gave evidence that it hadn't been, pushing the burden of proof back onto the prosecution. since he was presumable credible they had no way to dispute his evidense, a certificate of postage is the wrong end of the pipeline, this is why most advice says reply with special delivery - when they say we didn't receive your reply you have the evidense to disprove.

I think that is what happened! There was a lot of talk between the Mags, the Clerk and the prosecutor which frankly went over my head (too much legalese). But RTA section 1 (2) was referred to and read out verbatim twice in order to get the correct meaning.

DVD - the offence was indeed failing to supply info (Sect 172).

I have since found out that the prosecutor normally works in Crown Court on serious trials and has very little knowledge of motoring offences.

Whatever the reason, I won, and one of my drivers had a lucky escape!

[towman]

DVD. Probably a dumb question, but are records kept of the court results and the reason for that result? Do I have access to those ?

[towman]

stone said:

Good for you Towman I don't think I'm going to be so lucky. I've just received a summons for failing to identify the driver. My car was clocked at an outrageous 67 in a 60mph section of dual carriageway in North Wales. I originally requested a photo which shows 2 blobs in the car. I then responded with names and addresses of those driving the vehicle on the day. They have left it for 3 months and then last week I received a summons to appear before the magistrates at the end of the month I'm not entirely sure what to do now. Any suggestions Is the verdict a foregone conclusion before I get to the court??

My suggestions (bear in mind I`m no expert !)

Go to court.
Show the photograph.
If you have had NIPs before and have responded, mention that.
Try and show you are not attempting to hide anything.
Offer the 3 names. Each will have the defence of "it wasn`t me - prove it" if summonsed.

Good Luck

Incidently, I was asked to step into the wirness box and swear under oath that I had made every effort to identify the driver.

Also I had one small victory - the prosecutor kept referring to the "Ferguson" and "Hamilton" defences. I took great joy in raising my hand and asking innocently if he could explain what that meant as I had never heard of it before.

[towman]

So was my "not guilty" lucky or justified.

Very interesting debate above. Thanks chaps.

[towman]

deva link said:

towman said: The vehicle in question is one of my Taxis and I am not insured to drive it! Prosecutor got really snotty and lectured me on how to keep records of who was driving the car. I'm amazed by this. Even if there's no strict legal requirement (which is the bit that amazes me) I still would have expected there are all sorts of reasons (not just motoring related; like tax, assault allegations etc etc) why a court would expect that you should know *exactly* who is driving your Taxi's at all times.

Look at it another way...

If a hire company rents out a car with a few additional drivers, should the hire co ask that records be kept of who was driving at any particular time?