Guys/gals,

I am a newbie here. didnt know such a fantastic bunch of people existed, untill recently.
OK to my prob now.

Point A
1) My work mate and I were driving the company van on the night of the offence.
2) We are not sure who drove the van at the point of the offence. We both took turns to drive. it was a twleve hour night shift.
we visited many sites. some times driving on our own. sometimes both in the car.
3) the photo shows one person at the wheel. other seat seems empty, again its not clear. both my mate and me are of the same skin clour, body shape and built. it is immpossible to know who drove the Van at that time from the pics.
Point B
1) My company supplied my name to the police.
2) But the police have got my Surname totally wrong. All other details, including the first name address are correct.
3) The wizzard says i need to do NOTHING! as the NIP is not addressed to me and to sombody else.

I need your advice on points A and B.

Cheers

why did the company name you in pref to your mate

MY Mate was going on hols. was taking over from him form that night.
But we both worked on that night. (handing over). That prompted the companyto name me.

This is how my name is mis-spelt.
This is only an example. not the real name.

If my real name was, MEDHUKAR The NIP is addressed to MCDHULAR

the name is a side issue if you send it back, they will contact the company get the right name and send it again

what is very important is could you be considered as the keeper of the van, ie you had control of who drove

this changes your legal status dramatically

at the moment pending your answer, it looks like the firm have failed in there duty to try and establish who was driving or to name both of you

to be honest, we both had the control. my mate normally drives the van. i normally work at a site. that night he took me around other sites showing me how to do the job, before he left on hols. He is as unsure as me. the camera is front facing, i dont remember driving past and seeing a flash.

cant i just ignore the NIP, coz it is not addressed to me?

you can if you want

but the name in near enough that you opened it, if it smith instead of jones you would have returned it would nt you

the reason im asking about keeper is that there are two levels of duty attached to the driver info notice you have

registered keeper/ keeper you have to show reasonable diligence , ie investigate who was driving,

as anothr person ( non keeper, you only have to give info you have,

ie if you don't know who the driver is, then you dont know and its a lot lot harder to prosecuteyou

wait for confirmation from others tomorrow, but id send a letter naming both your self and your mate with an explanation and all details asked for. this will leave them with the choice of dropping it, trying to prosecute you ,( very very difficult ) or taking you employer to court for not filling it in properly in the first place

The reason your company named you is presumably they gave control of the vehicle to you and therefore named you in the s172 statement. Forms have been sent to you as the person who had control of the vehicle as identified by your firm. Your obligation is then to identify the driver of the vehicle if you were still in control of it, or if you had passed on the control, to identify the person you passed control to. If this offence was in a 'hand-over' period and you are unsure as to wether you had handed control over then it will be up to you to show to the court that you have taken all reasonable steps to identify the driver and having taken all reasonable steps, have failed to do so. Most companies will have log books in vehicles for the driver to fill in with their milage and times of use. If your company gas not put these steps in place then it may be that they have failed to take reasonable steps to identify who the driver of the vehicle was at the time of the offence. Only problem is, do you really want to land your boss in it! The spelling mistake is a non starter really, once they realise the mistake it will be corrected and the process will start all over again.

thanks for that guys. but if i dont reply to the NIP because it was not in my name, how will they know they have got my name wrong? and correct it later?

There are various things, like oing back to the original S172 request recipient, it's likely to be far harder to defend yourself later if you ignore this due to a minor typo - it establishes a mindset for you in magistrates minds!

I agree with jobo on this, write a detailed letter explaining how both of you drove over the duration of the shift, give all details requested for both of you and tell them you'll continue to try and ID the driver.

We need to be clearer if you are 'keeper' or not, is the vehicle only used for work, so you get to work, take it out and return at the end of the day, either driving as and when its sensible, whoever gets to the drivers door first, who is more senior, you or the other driver? If you are not the keeper and we can be sure, then you need to add something to the letter to establish that fact.

Simon