Intention to prosecute sent to wrong address

[tokyotom]

My brother has just received an intention to prosecute notice which says he was clocked at 93mph on the motorway. The letter says that he has to notify the police of who was driving the car at the relevant time within 28 days, and that a failure to do so will result in him receiving a conditional offer of 6 points and a £200 fine. The letter then goes on to say that this may be in addition to any points and/or fines applied in relation to the original offence.

The letter was dated 6 March this year but he has only just received it as it was sent to his old address and it's only just been forwarded to him. The car he was driving is a company car so he would normally receive parking tickets etc through his fleet manager, not at his own address - and in this case his fleet manager does not seem to have been notified about the speeding offence.

There's been no penalty charge notice and he can't be sure whether there may have been other letters sent after the original one which have not been forwarded.

I'd be interested to know whether you think he has a leg to stand on re the additional 6 points. Presumably he should have notified his work when he moved and then they (or he?) should have informed the DVLA. Is the fact that he or his work failed to do this a valid argument for challenging the additional points? He knows he's in the wrong about the original speeding offence and he's happy to accept the points for that but the extra 6 points could cause him real issues as he needs to drive in order to do his job.

Any views or experience you have on this would be gratefully received as he's understandably pretty concerned about this.

[mmm-five]

Did your brother inform DVLA of his change of address?

If not, then it's you're brother's fault that it went to the wrong address.

It's got nothing to do with the fleet manager - as he may have simply replied to the original NIP and given your name as the driver at the time, as requested.

He needs to reply and accept the offered penalty/points ASAP, otherwise (as the letter presumably says) it may go to court for not providing the info.

[agtlaw]

You should complete and return the form today using Signed For post; see s. 172(7)(b) RTA 1988.

[Red Devil]

OP, who is the registered keeper of the car: the company or your brother? If it's the company the fleet manager would have received the original S.172 request. If he nominated your brother at his old home address that suggests your brother failed to inform his employer that he had moved house. If your brother is the RK then he appears to have neglected to tell DVLA. Either way it looks like he has been a bit lax.

As agtlaw said, complete the paperwork pdq.

[tokyotom]

Thanks for the above - my bro is not the registered keeper, his company is. In the past with parking fines etc he's been given these via his fleet manager so obviously didn't realise that they had the wrong address on file. He's written a letter to the police explaining the circumstances and attached the post marked envelope that his forwarded mail was sent in together with the email correspondence he'd had with his ex-flatmate's mother who had arranged for the mail to be forwarded. He's also updated his employer as to his address. Hopefully this will fall into the "as soon as reasonably practicable after the expiry of the period" defence in s.172(b) RTA.

Out of interest, who is legally obliged to notify the DVLA of the change of address? For example, if my bro had mentioned it to HR at work but they had failed to update their system and notify the fleet manager would that be an issue for him or his company (as registered keeper).

Cheers

[TooMany2cvs]

tokyotom said:

I'd be interested to know whether you think he has a leg to stand on re the additional 6 points.

No.

tokyotom said:

Is the fact that he or his work failed to do this a valid argument for challenging the additional points?

Which was it? Did he notify his employer or not...?

tokyotom said:

He knows he's in the wrong about the original speeding offence and he's happy to accept the points for that but the extra 6 points could cause him real issues as he needs to drive in order to do his job.

If the FPN gets knocked back as out of time, and it goes to court, then he needs to tell that to the magistrate, with his employer confirming it and supporting him.

[Sheepshanks]

tokyotom said:

- and in this case his fleet manager does not seem to have been notified about the speeding offence.

They (or at least somebody else in the company) must have been - how else would the Police know who to send the S172 too?

tokyotom said:

Out of interest, who is legally obliged to notify the DVLA of the change of address? For example, if my bro had mentioned it to HR at work but they had failed to update their system and notify the fleet manager would that be an issue for him or his company (as registered keeper).

He is legally obliged to inform them for his driving licence.

The car is irrelevant - he's not the RK.