Usually this warning will be a document headed " Notice of Intended Prosecution ", called a NIP for short. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines 'road' as a line of communication for use of foot passengers and vehicles; while in Oxford v Austin [1981] RTR 416 it was said to be a definable right of way between two points. The production of driving documents at police stations will be enhanced if all agencies co-operate and fairly and firmly abide by the terms and spirit of this protocol. The time limit for service of the NIP is a very important aspect of a succesful prosecution therefore if there has been a delay you should get in touch with a solicitor and obtain case specific advice. . It is alleged a speeding offence took place on 14/07/2017. 08 October 2018 The above cases expanded upon the methods of proof outlined in R v Derwentside Justices ex parte Heaviside in particular allowing the prosecution to rely on similarity of name, date of birth and address. For those that attend court without having driving documents checked at a police station, the case is highly likely be put off so that you can take the documents to the nominated police station and have them checked there. The offence under section 1 of the Theft Act 1968, but only if it is the prosecutor's case that the offence constitutes low-value shoplifting within the meaning of section 22A(3) of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980. This guidance assists our prosecutors when they are making decisions about cases. A Notice of Intended Prosecution (also known as a section 1 warning) is a warning issued under section 1 of the Road Traffic (Offenders) Act 1988. . Usually NIPs are used by fixed cameras or the talivan overbridge guys who have zapped you with a laser speed detector. If that has been served late it does not give the driver an excuse for not replying to the requirement to provide driver details. If the prosecution is taken by surprise by the issue, an application to adjourn to call a witness can be made - see R on the application of. Despite the fact that offences involving falsification of charts have been both investigated and prosecuted as forgeries under the 1981 Act for many years, a combination of this decision and the Osman case demonstrates beyond doubt that false charts can constitute false instruments under that Act. As far as alerting persons to any alleged offence, notice can be given by different means. If a charge under s.2 RTA 1988 is sent to trial on indictment, the issue is for the trial court, unless the prosecutor decides that there has been a fatal non-compliance with the requirement. The law relating to tachographs falls into two categories: The rules governing the mechanical operation of tachographs are set out in EEC Regulation 3821/85 and that covering the hours permitted are set out in Regulation (EC) 561/2006. Prejudice to a defendant by the delay and the lack of early notification of the impending prosecution can be addressed by abuse of process proceedings and s. 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. It is not possible for you to have your driving documents checked at court. On appeal, the court did not accept that a prosecution could not proceed because of a lack of warning of prosecution where police become aware of the offence after 14 days had passed. Arrangements should be made for the relevant officer to attend at the adjourned hearing to inspect and note any documentation produced. In. For pelican/zebra crossings and puffin pedestrian crossings see the Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997 (SI 1997/2400). No notice of intended prosecution was served on the respondent within 14 days of the offence that had been committed over a year before police recovered the DVD footage. The owner of the car will be sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP), detailing the offence. Section 1 RTOA 1988 provides that a defendant cannot be convicted of certain road traffic offences set out in schedule 1 RTOA 1988 unless he or she has been warned that the question of prosecution would be taken into consideration. By post - Speed Enforcement Unit, PO Box 213, Bristol, BS20 1DR; evidence of a person who was present in court when the defendant was convicted on an earlier occasion and able to identify him as present in court. Following such a demand, no motorist who has not produced his or her driving documents at a police station should produce them to a court in answer to a charge or summons without having previously produced them at a police station for inspection. It is a mitigating or extenuating circumstance which is directly connected with the commission of the offence and which can properly be taken into consideration by the sentencing court. As self-balancing scooters are mechanically propelled they require registration and a vehicle registration licence (tax disc). This should inform the recipient that not only should the relevant documents, if they exist, be sent or handed to the court as required in the summons, but that before that date, the documents must firstly be produced at a police station for inspection and validation and for the police to note relevant details. Further a motorist who fails to produce the documents may commit an offence by their non- production. As a result, if an insurance policy contains a restriction (for example) that the driver must be aged over 21, that restriction may be void and a person aged under 21 who would otherwise have been covered to drive the vehicle may not be guilty of driving without insurance. Many factors must be taken into consideration before the court even begins to consider exercising that discretion. GOV.UK is the place to find This is a summary offence. Section 3 (careless driving/driving without reasonable consideration), Section 22 (leaving the vehicle in a dangerous position), Sections 35 and 36 (disobeying certain traffic signs and police signals) And under the Road Traffic Regulation Act. It is a matter for police investigation. A Notice of Intended Prosecution (also known as a section 1 warning) is a warning issued under section 1 of the Road Traffic (Offenders) Act 1988. speeding) The time & date of offence. If you have been served a Notice of Intended Prosecution then you should contact our road traffic lawyers immediately. If the document is not listed, proceedings under regulation 7 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 for exhibiting on a vehicle anything which could be mistaken for a licence may be considered. The Codes of Practice under PACE apply to offences under this legislation as to any other. Legal Process, Loopholes & Time Limits. Age prohibitions on driving are set out in s.101 RTA 1988. You have been summoned to attend court for either not having one or more documents, as required, for using a motor vehicle on a road (or public place). A NIP can also be issued to limited companies and the requirement of disclosure is is also obligatory. In Skills Motor Coaches Ltd, Farmer, Burley and Denman (Case C-297/99), the European Court of Justice held that time spent on activities having a bearing on driving, such as time spent reaching the pick-up point for a tachograph vehicle, would affect his state of tiredness and must be regarded as forming part of 'all other periods of work' within Article 15 of Regulation No. All who deal with cases where document production is made should be alive to the current sophistication of fraudulently produced material. McCombe LJ said, delivering the judgment of the court: if the restriction is rendered ineffective by the operation of s.148 then the policy is to be read, as it seems to me, as if that restriction was treated as deleted in blue pencil from its wording.. In Cantabrica Coach Holdings Ltd v Vehicle Inspectorate [2000] RTR 286, the Divisional Court held that: Tachograph charts and other documents can be obtained in many different ways, for example: Care should be taken in checking the power by which police officers obtained the documents. Where a summons or requisition has been issued in respect of an offence mentioned in Parts 1 and 2 of the Schedule, proceedings for that offence cease to be specified when the summons or requisition is served on the accused unless the defendant is also served with a statement of facts and written statement/s. When it applies, proceedings must be brought within six months from the date on which sufficient evidence came to the knowledge of the prosecutor to warrant proceedings but, in any event, they must not be brought more than three years after the commission of the offence. You could be disqualified from driving if you build up 12 or more penalty points within a period of 3 . Records of all production of driving documents should be kept at police stations as a national standard to safeguard the needs of victims who may have a potential claim for personal injury or financial loss. The Notice of Intended Prosecution, although issued in terms of Section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, is often accompanied by a request to confirm the identity of the driver at the time it is alleged a road traffic offence has been committed. it was clear that in requiring the production of records the Community legislature took account of the need to ensure effective checking; while there was no express power to require the coach operator to hand over tachograph records to the Vehicle Inspectorate, the operator was nevertheless required to produce and hand over such records on demand if such a request was made to him; it was within the discretion of the authorised officer whether he chose to inspect the records at the operator's premises or take them away for more thorough and detailed analysis; the authorised officer should also permit the operator to take copies of any record he proposed to remove from the operator's premises. See also Restoration of Summary Offences after Trial on Indictment, below in this section. A public place is a place to which the public, or part thereof, have access. Here's everything you need to know and if you receive a Notice of Intended Prosecution. In either case, so long as it arrives at the relevant address within the time limit the . What is the charge? In Cantabria Coach Holdings Ltd v Vehicle Inspectorate [2000] RTR 286 the court took account of the need to ensure effective checking. App. The time limit for service . Summary offences should only be restored for hearing if it is considered necessary to meet the justice of the particular case. Section 65 Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 - the forgery or alteration of a licence, certificate or operator's disc issued under the Act, likewise the use with intent to deceive of anything resembling such a document. The term 'motor vehicle' is defined in section 185(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and section 136(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 as "a mechanically propelled vehicle, intended or adapted for use on roads". by Graham Walker | Jan 29, 2013 | Careless Driving, Dangerous Driving | Scotland, Road Traffic Law Scotland, Speed Cameras Latest Advice, Speeding. I cannot prove this ( I do have a couple of texts I sent around the time stating . The police must send the notice so that it can be expected to arrive within 14 days of the alleged offence. CPS and court staff are not trained in the detection of fraud. A person disqualified under s.36 RTOA 1988 until a driving test is passed commits an offence under s.103 RTA 1988 if he or she drives whilst disqualified otherwise than in accordance with any provisional licence issued. Legal aid Scotland may be able to help in your case, one of our lawyers will . A copy should be provided to all parties and to the court. The National Protocol for Production and Inspection of Driving Documents 2002, see Annex A below, provides guidance on production of such documents. Secondly, the classification of the journey undertaken must be determined in order to ascertain whether Regulation (EC) 561/2006 will apply. Bail should be considered for the period of any adjournment and the defendant encouraged to produce the relevant documents in the meantime. The prosecution argued that by plying for hire in Oldham, he was acting outside the terms of his insurance. Where a driver has obtained a policy of insurance by deception, the policy will be valid so far as liability under s.143 RTA 1988 is concerned until the insurers have taken steps to "avoid" it. The Notice of Intended Prosecution is a notification, usually by the police, that a prosecution is being considered against a person. third party insurance. In essence the Notice of Intended Prosecution is a document that specifies the nature of the offence and the time and place it is alleged to have been committed. All agencies should be alive to these cases in the interests of justice and respond as required, but no actions should be taken or departure from the standard procedure made where this might prejudice the future interest of any victim. if you get a ticket from a speed camera) and must be received within 14 days of the offence (or dispatched so that it would reach the driver within the 14 days within the ordinary course of the post). You have 28 days to appeal your recorded police warning. Driving a motor vehicle on a road whilst disqualified is a serious matter since it will usually involve the deliberate flouting of a court order. The exceptions include: Section 24 RTOA 1988 (as amended by the Road Safety Act 2006) allows a court which has returned a verdict of 'not guilty' to certain either way and summary offences, to convict for a specified alternative offence, provided that the content of the information or indictment amounts to an allegation of such an offence. The time limit applies to the notice of intended prosecution. Police officers had recovered a DVD that had footage of a motorbike ride. Periods of driving spent by a driver whilst performing a transport service falling outside the scope of Regulation No: 3821/85 before taking over a vehicle subject to that Regulation. On 22nd November 2017 a Notice of Intended Prosecution/Section 172 request was sent to Mr Brown that was dated 22nd November 2017 by Royal . If it is issued to you after the incident, it must be done within 14 days. Uninsured drivers pose a substantial risk to other road users. London, SW1H 9EA. As a general rule, if you're caught travelling in excess of 45% . This was confirmed in the case of Oldham BC v Sajjad [2016] EWHC 3597 (Admin). If the keeper is uncertain who was driving their vehicle they may still guilty of an offence unless they either provide the name of the driver or . You may get 6 penalty points on your licence and a 1000 fine . News. . However, that course can be taken where the other offences are serious and are liable to result in a substantial term of imprisonment or period of disqualification, or the defendant has already been sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment in any event. Customer: On page 1 of the Notice of Intended Prosecution it states Notice Issue Date: 23/02/2023. If you do in fact have any documents that would cover your use of the vehicle on the road at the time you were asked to produce them, you must, as soon as possible, take immediate steps to produce them at the police station you originally selected when the police officer asked you to choose one (this police station will be called the nominated police station from now on). A NIP, or Notice of Intended Prosecution, is used to notify you that you may be prosecuted for a road traffic offence that has been committed. This power to prohibit the driving of UK passenger and goods vehicles rectifies the previous anomaly whereby only the driving of foreign registered vehicles could be prohibited by virtue of the provisions of the Road Traffic (Foreign Vehicles) Act 1972. All offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 other than those under sections 35A(2) , 43(5) and (12) , 47(3) , 52(1) , 108(3) , 115(1) and (2) , 116(1) and 129(3) or those mentioned in paragraph 1 above. In relation to the controversial right to silence argument, the ECHR verdict in (halloran and francis) enable the British Government to continue to force motorists to incriminate themselves using S172 of the Road Traffic Act, which is almost always the only evidence of the drivers identity in speed camera cases I unexpectedly received a letter from the police who at the time intended to prosecute me for driving an electric scooter without insurance, and without a license. However, courts should be reluctant to disqualify offenders in their absence because of this potential problem. In the . If you've been caught by a policeman operating a radar . the possibility of danger to other road users (the most important factor). The offence under section 80 of the Explosives Act 1875. such proceedings must be properly recorded and the police informed; no action should be taken or departure from the standard procedure made where this might prejudice the future interest of any victim; Prosecutors must be alive to the sophistication of fraudulently produced material. But where a disqualified person has had his driving licence returned in error by the DVLA, the prosecution should take that fact into account in deciding whether or not to proceed. There are circumstances where you may not have received the NIP within 14 . The 'prosecutor' for the purposes of section 6 can be the investigating officer or the informant (see [1976] 140 JP Jo., 675; Swan v Vehicle Inspectorate [1997] RTR 187. Production of driving documents at the police station in the first instance must be encouraged. If you do not receive it within 14 days, any prosecution may be considered invalid. Subsection (3) makes it an offence for the keeper to fail to comply. If the points will take you over the 12-point maximum, leading to a minimum six-month ban, you may wish to pursue a plead of 'exceptional hardship'. NIPs can also be issued . The following are the matters listed: (a) the age or physical or mental condition of persons driving the vehicle, If you have received a notice of intended prosecution you may be wondering what it is, read on. A sample notice is attached at Annex A below. For this reason, it is best to seek legal advice before completing a Notice of Intended Prosecution. It is no defence that the driver failed to see the sign. The certificate is, therefore, likely to be signed by the appropriate police officer. Failing to provide drivers identity carries 6 penalty points on your licence and up to 1000 fine. I have received a NIP for speeding, however at the date and time shown on the notice, I am 99% sure I was at home with the car. Only official editions of the Federal Register provide legal notice to the public and judicial notice to the courts under 44 U.S.C. I was . These offences are directed at either the driver or the employer. In deciding whether to rely on the extended time limit, the prosecutor should ensure that he/she is able to ascertain the date on which sufficient evidence to warrant proceedings came to the knowledge of a police officer investigating the incident, since this is a requirement of the procedure. Ordinarily, the notice should indicate that production should be made to the police station originally nominated by the driver when the request for production was first made. Offences are either way, punishable by way of fine in the Magistrates' Court or by imprisonment (maximum two years) in the Crown Court. Motorists, who have been unable to produce their driving documents on demand, following a lawful request by a police officer, should produce them for inspection within the required statutory period at a police station of their choice. This should be done with the approval of the court and in order to assist in determining the question of disqualification. Please note, if the notice is sent to you by post, it should contain the following details: The details of the driving offence (e.g. The offences under sections 55 and 56 of the British Transport Commission Act 1949. Summons Time Limit The notice of intended prosecution has to be sent to the registered keeper within 14 days, however if you were pulled over by the police for speeding they will have given your notice of intended prosecution at the roadside. Below is a brief summary of their obligations, time limits, potential loopholes to avoid prosecution and common myths. Attempting to or producing any document with intent to deceive may result in severe penalties. Hence time limits are of particular significance since for various reasons substantial delay may occur before it is decided to institute proceedings. The law (Section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988) requires that, for a person to be convicted of certain road traffic offences, he or she must. . The notice of intended prosecution will be accompanied by a Section 172 notice, which you are required to complete to confirm the identity of the driver. When deciding whether to restore a summary offence, the following points should be borne in mind: Nevertheless, there will be circumstances where the restoration of a summary offence, usually for excess alcohol, will be appropriate if, for example, each of the factors listed above are outweighed by factors which favour prosecution in a particular case. Insurance cover is required for the use of a vehicle on a road or a public place. As far as management responsibility is concerned subsection (5) of the act says that where a director or senior manager of the company caused or connived with the failure to identify the driver, that person is also guilty. address the court, after the defence, on matters of law and should remind the court that there is a two stage process: first, to determine whether there are special reasons and, second, if there are special reasons, to consider whether to exercise the courts discretion not to endorse or disqualify (or to disqualify for a shorter period that the usual tariff of twelve months), Section 137 Highways Act 1980 (wilful obstruction of the highway), Regulation 103 Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 - (causing or permitting a vehicle to stand on a road so as to cause an unnecessary obstruction), Section 22 RTA 1988 (leaving vehicles in a dangerous position), Offences under the Criminal Damage Act 1971.