NIP Details and Circumstances
What is the name of the Constabulary? -
Date of the offence: - May 2010
Date of the NIP: - 5 days after the offence
Date you received the NIP: - 7 days after the offence
Location of offence (exact location as it appears on the NIP: important): - westhorne avenue/ alnwick road e/b se12
Was the NIP addressed to you? - Yes
Was the NIP sent by first class post, second class or recorded delivery? - First
If your are not the Registered Keeper, what is your relationship to the vehicle? -
How many current points do you have? - 0
Provide a description of events (if you know what happened) telling us as much about the incident as possible - some things that may seem trivial to you may be important, so don't leave anything out. Please do not post personal details for obvious reasons - had new baby in the back of car screaming, turned head around briefly to make sure she was ok roads were empty except for car behind 6pm on a sunday including at junction where camera flashed me. lights seemed to change very quickly from amber to red . lights were activated by a pedestrian crossing at the lights she had already crossed before lights changed .didnt stop because i felt due to the timing of the amber to red it would have been to dangerous to stop

NIP Wizard Responses
These were the responses used by the Wizard to arrive at its recommendation:
Have you received a NIP? - Yes
Are you the Registered Keeper of the vehicle concerned (is your name and address on the V5/V5C)? - Yes
Did the first NIP arrive within 14 days? - Yes
Although you are the Registered Keeper, were you also the keeper of the vehicle concerned (the person normally responsible for it) at the time of the alleged offence? - Yes
Were you driving? - Yes
Which country did the alleged offence take place in? - England

NIP Wizard Recommendation
Based on these responses the Wizard suggested that this course of action should be considered:

• The law requires you to provide the information requested in the Section 172 notice within the 28 day period, naming yourself as the driver. If you are considering obtaining formal legal advice, do so before returning the notice.
  
  You should note that there is nothing to be gained by responding any earlier than you have to at any stage of the process. You are likely to receive a Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty (COFP) and further reminder(s). If you want to continue the fight, you should ignore all correspondence from the police until you receive a summons. You need to understand from the outset that while you will receive much help and support from members on the forums, you will need to put time and effort into fighting your case and ultimately be prepared to stand up in court to defend yourself.

Generated by the PePiPoo NIP Wizard v3.3.2: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:40:05 +0000

Not safe to stop is a defence to running an amber light, not a red light. Sorry.

Whilst you had turned round to look at baby, amber light would have been lit for 3 seconds (+/- .25 second) giving you ample time to stop. Thankfully there was no one on the crossing and you're not facing more srious charges.

IIMHO, no alternative but to pay up.

The amber phase should be about 3 seconds, if you really think it was short, go back and check. The amber means that you must stop unless it would be unsafe to do so, so that is when you have that discretion. The red means you must stop and it is an absolute offence, so if you crossed the stop line when the lights were red, you are guilty, although if you can show there is something wrong with the timing of the lights you might have an argument. that they were defective.

Your suggested mitigation might have the opposite effect, one way of reading it is that you were approaching the junction which was being used by a pedestrian, not looking where you were going because you were looking at the back seat, and by the time you turned round again it was too late to stop on the amber as you should have done.

Unless the amber timing really is faulty and you can prove it, you would do best to accept the fixed penalty, in my view.