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baney
Hi,
I was wondering if any of you could offer me some advice please?
I have recently been the unfortunate recipient of two NIPs in the space of two weeks,from the same camera van whilst driving a transit van.
I received the first notice saying i was doing 73mph on a dual carriageway,where the limit is 60 for transit vans.
As i work for an Agency and drive a number of vehicles i wanted to make sure i was definitely the driver before i admitted the offence.
I wrote and requested a look at the pictures which they sent me in due course and they are too dark and inconclusive.
What chance is there of successfully contesting this due to not being able to identify the driver?
The company i was working for at the time have paperwork saying i used that van on that day but is that good enough evidence that i was actually driving at that specific time without a clear ID of the photos?

I'm currently on 6 points and would surely be liable for a 6 month totting up ban if both of these were enforced.
With the photos they sent me a letter saying i must respond within 10 days.
I have yet to respond to the second NIP and have about a week to do so.
On both NIPs the exact location has been wrongly spelt,which i mentioned in my letter.
Obviously i'll lose my job if i'm banned so i have no option but to try and fight this and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
andy_foster
Please visit the READ ME FIRST section (Click Here), answer all the questions in the NIP Wizard (including the detailed questions reached by clicking on the Additional Questions button on the second page), and the Wizard will then post its output back here to enable us to help you.
Logician
It sounds as though the company have a record of you using the van on that day and no one else, therefore they have named you. That is not evidence that you were driving at that specific time, so cannot be used to convict you. However, you have now been sent a NIP, and you have been asked to identify the driver. If you fail to do so you will be charged with a s172 offence, which carries 6 points and a large fine. You can try to convince the court that despite your best efforts you are unable to identify the driver and do not know whether it was you or not, but it will not be easy. For a start, did you have charge of the van at the time, did any one else have access to it, did you go on that road? The location being wrongly spelt does not count for anything unless it causes confusion about where it actually was.

You could post up the photos to see if anyone can see anything wrong with the ping, scrub out the identity and post using the instructions on this site. Request photos for the other NIP and do the same. Fill in the NIP wizard for the offences and post the result up here, without any personal details. You have 28 days to respond, but clearly some time has already elapsed, which may be why they say 10 days. Asking for photos does not stop the clock running.

You also need to think of any exceptional hardship argument you may have to put up to avoid totting, remembering that any hardship to others counts far higher than to yourself. Who relies on your income, do you take anyone about, do you have to visit anyone and so on.
baney
NIP Details and Circumstances
What is the name of the Constabulary? -
Date of the offence: - May 2010
Date of the NIP: - 46 days after the offence
Date you received the NIP: - 48 days after the offence
Location of offence (exact location as it appears on the NIP: important): - A30 Launceston bypass (eastbound) junction with Trebursey
Was the NIP addressed to you? - Yes
Was the NIP sent by first class post, second class or recorded delivery? - Not known
If your are not the Registered Keeper, what is your relationship to the vehicle? - I am an Agency driver who was allocated that van on the morning in question
How many current points do you have? - 6
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 - To be honest,the first thing i knew about this was when the transport manager at the company where i was working at the time informed me of the NIP.
Worryingly,i have no recollection of seeing the manned camera at the alleged time of the offence.


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)? - No
Is the NIP addressed to you personally? - Yes
Although you are not the Registered Keeper, were you 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: Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:33:06 +0000
baney
Thanks for your advice,Logician.

I think i'm just going to have to bite the bullet on this as i can't see a way of successfully convincing the court that i wasn't driving the vehicle at the time of the offence.

The best thing i can think of doing now is to try and build a decent "exceptional hardship" case,i've got a few ideas.

In answer to your question,Willy-g i was unfortunately doing 79mph on the second NIP apparently.

I managed to miss the camera van on this occasion too,it must be very well hidden as i've been driving for a living for nearly 20 years and normally tend to spot them in time!


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