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Notice Of Intended Prosecution: What Next?
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Notice Of Intended Prosecution: What Next?
You may receive a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) if your vehicle is suspected of being involved with a road traffic offence. Opening an envelope to discover this notice is likely to fill you with dread, and you’ll probably be wondering what you should do next. This can be particularly distressing if you have no knowledge of the commission of the alleged offence.
In this article, we’ll explain exactly what a notice of intended prosecution is, the potential consequences of the notice and how you should proceed.
You’ve Received A Notice Of Intended Prosecution
Receiving a notice of intended prosecution can be a daunting experience for any motorist. However, the most important thing is to stay calm and deal with the situation within the designated time frame.
If you’re unsure of the best way to respond to a notice of prosecution, we’d always recommend seeking expert legal advice from a solicitor who specialises in motoring offences. They will work with you to identify the most appropriate steps for your individual case.
What Is A Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP)?
A notice of intended prosecution sometimes referred to as a NIP or Section 172 notice, provides formal notice to a possible defendant that they may be prosecuted for a driving offence. This notice is issued by the police soon after the alleged offence has been committed.
The purpose of a NIP is to give the driver or registered keeper of the vehicle sufficient notice that prosecution is being considered for the offence. At this point, the offence should still be fresh in the driver’s mind, and the registered keeper should be able to remember who was driving the vehicle on the date and time in question.
The NIP is usually sent through the post, although it can be given verbally by police if you are stopped. However, a notice of intended prosecution must be served to the registered keeper of the vehicle within 14 days of the alleged offence. If you are stopped by police at the roadside and verbally provided with their intent to prosecute, there is not requirement for a S172 notice to also be served within 14 days.
The notice of intended prosecution requires you to nominate/provide details of the driver at the time of the offence. Filling in this section 172 request does not mean that you are admitting guilt to the alleged driving offence, only that you are admitting to driving the vehicle at the time/date of the alleged offence. You will still be granted to opportunity to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty at a later date.
Receiving a notice of intended prosecution does not mean that you will definitely face prosecution, or that you will need to attend court. It simply acts as a warning that you may be prosecuted for the alleged offence or an opportunity to nominate the correct motorist responsible.
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Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today
Message the team or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice
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What Driving Offences Require A Notice Of Intended Prosecution?
A notice of intended prosecution can be served for a range of driving offences, ranging from speeding to careless driving. Motoring offences which may lead to a NIP being served include but are not limited to :
- Exceeding the speed limit
- Careless driving
- Dangerous driving
- Disobeying traffic signs
- Failing to stop/report an accident
- Using a mobile phone whilst driving
- Driving through a red light
The notice of intended prosecution will provide the motorist with details of the alleged offence, including the type of offence for which prosecution is being considered, details of the vehicle involved, the location of the alleged offence and the date and time that the alleged offence was committed.
What if I am a Company Owner who has received a NIP?
If you are a company owner/director who has received a Section 172 notice/NIP, you must correctly nominate and provide driver details for the motorist at the time of the alleged offence. If you are a company that allows your employees to utilise company cars or employees are required to within the remit of their employment, we would always advice keeping a detailed log of who the driver is at all times. This will be of great of assistance if you receive a Section 172 Notice and are struggling to identify the driver. If the business is unable to name the driver, they can still be charged with fail to provide driver details. However, they would instead of part of their sentence being a penalty point endorsement, they would receive a large fine upwards of £1000.
If you are a business owner or director and are unsure on next steps, call a member of our motoring team for more advice.
How Will You Receive The Notice?
If you are stopped by the police at the time of the alleged offence, attending officers will likely provide you with notice of their intent to prosecution verbally at the roadside. However, if the vehicle is not stopped at the time of the alleged offence, the NIP should be served by post to the registered keeper of the vehicle, within the required timeframe of 14 days.
The section 172 part of the notice, places a legal obligation on the registered keeper to supply details of the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence. If you weren’t driving the car at this time, you will need nominate the driver on this form and provide their relevant contact details. The nominee will then be sent a new notice of intended prosecution in their own name. It is crucial that only the registered keeper or nominated person, completes the Section 172 notice.
What If You Move House And Don’t Receive A NIP?
A notice of intended prosecution is sent to the registered address of the vehicle pursuant to DVLA records. These records are based upon the address recorded on the registration certificate for the vehicle.
Every driver has a legal obligation to inform the DVLA if they move address and to update their logbook respectively. Therefore, the NIP is considered legally served if it has been sent to the address recorded by the DVLA.
You will generally face difficulty contesting a failure to respond to a section 172 request, as a result of forgetting to update your address details after moving house.
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Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today
Message the team or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice
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What If You Don’t Receive The Notice Within 14 Days?
A notice of intended prosecution must be received by the registered keeper of the vehicle within 14 days. However, there are a few situations in which this may not apply, such as:
- If you are stopped by the police at the time of alleged offence, you may be given verbal notice of intended prosecution, rather than receiving a NIP through the post.
- If you were the driver of the vehicle but not the registered keeper, the 14-day limit does not apply. The notice may be received several months after the alleged offence took place and still be prosecuted. This is because the initial S172 notice will have been served on the registered keeper initially and then sent to you following nomination.
- If the vehicle involved in the alleged incident is a company vehicle. This is because the initial S172 notice will have been sent to the company/director/owner the vehicle is registered too initially and then sent to you following nomination.
- If the vehicle involved in the alleged incident is a lease/hire vehicle. This is because the initial S172 notice will have been sent to the company who owns the vehicle initially and then sent to you following nomination
If you receive a notice of intended prosecution after the 14-day window has elapsed, we would recommend seeking legal advice from a specialist motoring offences solicitor. They will be able to advise you on whether the matter is time barred and if it’s possible for the case to be overturned as a result of being served out of time.
What To Do If You Receive A NIP
It’s easy to panic if you receive a notice of intended prosecution. However, we have expert road traffic offence solicitors on hand to offer legal advice and talk you through the procedure.
First of all, you’ll need to respond to the section 172 request to identify the driver. Admitting to driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence does not mean that you are admitting to committing the offence, simply that you were driving the vehicle at the time/date referenced.
You’ll need to provide the requested information within 28 days of receiving the notice of intended prosecution. Failing to do so will likely result in prosecution for failure to furnish driver information, which often carries a more severe penalty than the original offence. We would always recommend obtaining proof of postage/sending response by recorded delivery and to keep a copy of your response.
If you respond to the notice of intended prosecution to confirm that someone else was driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence, the nominee will then receive a new NIP addressed to them. It is important to ensure that the information provided is accurate and that you always double check the details. Do not attempt to guess the driver of the vehicle if you are unsure. If you cannot determine who the driver was at the time of the offence; we would advise taking legal advice or responding to the NIP outlining the steps you took to identify the driver. In any event, we would strongly recommend not lying about who the driver is, as this can result in you being prosecuted for the much more serious charge of ‘perverting the course of justice’.
For more information on this please read our article; ‘The consequences of lying about who was driving when speeding’ – https://www.motordefencelawyers.co.uk/motoring-advice/lying-about-who-was-driving-when-speeding/.
If you return the notice of intended prosecution to confirm that you were the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged motoring offence, there are a few different courses of action which could be taken by either the police or CPS.
These include:
- Written confirmation is being sent to you, in order to confirm that no further action will be taken.
- A conditional fixed penalty is issued to offer you a penalty point endorsement and a fine. The can either be accepted or rejected.
- The offer of a speed awareness or driver education course.
- A Single Justice Procedure Notice, requiring you to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty and the option as to whether or not to attend Court.
- A Court Summons, notifying you of a Court date/time you will need to attend.
- Invitation by police to attend a voluntary interview or interview under caution.
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Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today
Message the team or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice
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What If You Don’t Know Who The Driver Was?
The registered keeper of a vehicle has a legal duty to know who is driving their vehicle at any point in time. If you don’t know who was driving your car at the time of an alleged offence, you’ll need to take advice from a solicitor who specialises in dealing with road traffic offences.
If you have any information about who was driving your vehicle, we’d always advise that you provide as much information as possible to the police, such as the names and addresses of potential drivers. Demonstrating cooperation could help you to avoid a charge for failure to furnish driver information.
Working with an expert motoring offences solicitor will help to minimise your chances of prosecution, as any correspondence sent to police may be used as evidence in future court proceedings.
Can You Ignore A Notice Of Intended Prosecution?
We’d never recommend ignoring a notice of intended prosecution. You have a legal duty to respond to a section 172 request for driver details, and failure to provide these details within 28 days will likely result in prosecution for failure to furnish information.
An MS90 conviction, also known as failure to furnish information, typically results in six penalty points being endorsed, along with a fine. This is usually a more severe penalty than the original offence, so it’s always good practice to respond to the NIP.
If you’re unsure of how to respond to a notice of intended prosecution, it’s best to seek legal advice from a specialist motoring offence solicitor, rather than ignoring the section 172 request. We would always recommend doing so at your earliest opportunity, to allow yourself sufficient time, should further steps need to be taken before the submission of your response.
What If You’re Innocent?
Whether or not you were driving the vehicle in question at the time of the alleged offence, you have a legal obligation to respond to any notice of intended prosecution that is addressed to you. It’s important to remember that nominating yourself as the driver isn’t an admission of guilt and you’ll be able to defend the allegation at a later date if required.
If you have been wrongly accused of a road traffic offence, you’ll need to seek legal advice from an experienced motoring offence solicitor. Caddick Davies can talk you through the options available to you, based on your individual case.
Does A Notice Of Intended Prosecution Mean Court?
When you receive a notice of intended prosecution, you’ll probably be wondering if it means you’ll be summoned to court. Most of the time, minor offences are dealt with through a fixed penalty (including a penalty point endorsement and a fine) or a driver education course such as a speed awareness course.
If you’re offered a driver education course or a fixed penalty and you don’t dispute the offence, you can accept these offers without the need to go to court.
If you disagree with the charge, you’ll need to respond to the fixed penalty by requesting a court hearing to defend the allegation. In this case, it’s advisable to consult an experienced motoring offence solicitor for expert legal advice.
In the case of more serious offences, the case may be referred to the courts in the first instance. If this happens, you will receive paperwork from the courts which asks you to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. This is called a Single Justice Procedure Notice. Again, we’d always advise you to seek legal advice from a specialist road traffic offence solicitor if you receive paperwork from the courts. In some cases, a Single Justice Procedure Notice can be dealt with by way of ‘written representations’, where your solicitor can submit representations without the requirement to attend Court.
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Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today
Message the team or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice
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Related Questions
Who Issues A Notice Of Intended Prosecution?
A notice of intended prosecution is issued by the relevant police constabulary. This informs you that the police are considering prosecution for an alleged motoring offence. Although this doesn’t always mean that you’ll be prosecuted, the police are legally required to inform a potential defendant that prosecution is being considered within 14 days of an alleged offence.
Can You Be Prosecuted For Speeding Without Evidence?
Evidence will be required before a driver can be prosecuted for speeding. This evidence can include a handheld speed camera, a speed camera fitted to a police car or a fixed speed camera. A notice of intended prosecution will not be sent unless there is evidence that the vehicle in question exceeded the speed limit. If you believe the evidence provided to be inaccurate, it is important to obtain legal advice on the appropriate action to take to challenge this.
_____________________________________________________________________
Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today
Message the team or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice
_______________________________________________________________________
Get Expert Legal Advice Regarding Your Notice Of Intended Prosecution
If you’ve received a notice of intended prosecution, you may be concerned about the potential implications.
If you were the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence, you may be concerned about the potential consequences of admitting that you were driving the vehicle in question. On the other hand, if you weren’t the driver of the vehicle, you may be worried about being prosecuted for failure to furnish driver information.
At Caddick Davies, we’d always recommend seeking advice from a specialist motoring offence solicitor. Whether you’re looking to defend an allegation of a road traffic offence or protect yourself from being charged with failure to furnish driver information, we are here to help.
If you’re looking for expert legal advice regarding your notice of intended prosecution, contact us today for a free consultation.
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I am a criminal lawyer with over 25 years of experience and specialising in the defence of Road Traffic (driving) prosecutions and the founder and Senior Partner of Caddick Davies Solicitors.
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