Payment of speeding fine returned
 

Not sure whether anybody on here can shed any light on this but today i was sent through a fixed penalty cheque made out to me from an offence commited on Dec 11th 2005,basically saying i failed to meet with the criteria of the conditional offer.Now this fixed penalty was paid immediately i received the NIP but i never sent the paper part of my license off due to it already being held at DVLC to have points removed,i wrote them an additional letter explaining the reasons my licence wasnt enclosed with the fixed penalty.I heard nothing from this until now which is 4 months after the original offence.The letter goes on to say that the NIP no longer applies and is in the hands of the police,if the police proceed with the prosecution i will be sent a summons.Now surely if the fixed penalty was paid within 14 days of the offence and a corresponding letter was sent explaining about my license doesnt that put me in the clear? or am i missing a vital point

any sensible help would be appreciated

You'll be fine. IF the police come after you, explain the circumstances to them. They'll check with the DVLA and thats that. Even if you get a jobsworth that wants you in court, then the Magistrate will listen and accept your payment.

Never know, you might be able to claim for loss of earnings and even have the whole thing thrown out, if it goes that far...

If you've got copies of the letters/nip and copy of the cheque, the police will look complete mugs if they take this to court. There is a chance, that if the police dont summons you within the 6 month period after the alleged offence, it will be too late for a prosecution. I wouldnt rattle their cage, just incase it slips through the net

Andy


www.pepipoo.com

cheers for the replies guys,unfortunately i didnt think to take copies of the letter/NIP/cheque as i thought they would have had the sense to check with the DVLA and as i hadnt heard a thing for 4 months i thought that would be the end of it,but i will keep the letter they sent me stating that they have returned the payment just to prove payment was sent,i will also have copies of my bank statements which will show the cheque was cashed within the 28 day period.

This could be a tricky one as there is no place in the law for a point of principle. So, if the law stated that you needed to provide your licence and you failed to do this then there is no question that you would appear to have failed to meet the requirements of the NIP and that, therefore, papers would be laid with a view to prosecution. The fact that you explained to them that, basically, they already had your licence may not be considered sufficient.

So, in the strange way in which the law works I can see how they may consider themselves to have no option but to take you to court, in fact in purely legal terms they have a watertight case. However, even if they do take you to court you should have the option to plead guilty before you actually have to face the magistrates. The other point is that the magistrate is unlikely to dump much more than the £60 fine and 3 points on you, even people who defend the allegations rarely get much more than this, but you should be prepared to prove your position as the presumption of innocence is long gone in the case of motoring crimes.

As we keep getting reminded by some: If you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to fear.

did they return the original cheque?

did they cash your original cheque, and send you one of there cheques back?

type a new letter and backdate it (photocopy this to make it look original!)

no it wasnt the original cheque they sent back,it was a new one dated 11/04/06 so they obviously cashed my original cheque which surely puts them in the wrong :wonder: The way i see it,if they wernt happy with me not sending my license and ignoring the additional letter explaining that DVLA had it then it was up to them to return my cheque and send me a letter or summons within a few weeks not cash my cheque and then decide that its not satisfactory after 4 months and write me out a cheque for the original fine.
I guess i'll have to sit tight and see what happens

interesting, but not unknown,

i was cautioned and questioned for not producing a valid tv licence when requested by a tv detector unit. incedentally i didnt have one :) orr should i say i did have one,

i was following the conditional offer given to me by the govstapo at the time, stating that if i took my payment and form to the post office, it would be issued. Guess what, they wouldnt accept it at the post office, and i was told the only way to get it done was to post it. which i duly did.

I mentioned this fact to the jobsworth, who basicaly wasnt interested, and they left with the usual, we will report it to our superiors, and you may be prosecuted,, i told her to go ahead, i,d complied with there direction,s, and what more did they want tme to do.


ironically the licence arrived on my mat the next day, i phoned and told them, and heard no more.

if as tc states, she sent payment & covering letter, she has given evidence of why she cant comply with there directions. She cannot be held responsible for circumstances beyond her control. (dvla) if she can prove (i hate this you prove your innocence crap btw) that her licence was a way during this period, i doubt the beak would persue any additional penalty.


she could with a good brief, argue as to why they cashed the cheque, and then took so long to inform her of the concern, which would be outside the conditional offer. It could be argued, that by there inaction, she is facing agreater charge than the original offence.

Mart

You can PROVE that they cashed your cheque, you can PROVE that DVLA held your licence - I wouldn't cash their cheque just yet!!

By not cashing the cheque it may, by some quirk, keep the case in limbo!?

I don't think you need to worry as if you attend court the Magistrates will believe you, unless the prosecution has evidence contrary to your story.

Pete

Apologies for off topic but is PSL being serious? I cant see the wind up.Serious advice and also not of the "just take it on the chin" type?

Is he ok?

Good luck anyway!

speeding again Daren tut tut :D

:rolleyes:

Cheers again all,i'll keep hold of the cheque for a while and see what happens :thumb:

If you can't comply with the requirements of the NIP (for whatever reason) the case reverts to 'process', i.e. effectively a summons.

If you have been served with an NIP / Conditional offer then they have the 6 months to summons if you can't comply with the offer 100%.

The cashing of the cheque, etc will be neither here nor there in relation to the offence unfortunately.

I would imagine that you will get summonsed but the fine /points will be the same as it's hardly your fault ....

Unfortunately, the system with regard to tickets and conditional offers is totally inflexible due to our lovely legal system and people who can't comply for reasons such as yours or where they have, say, sent their licence in for no more than a change of address, suffer as a result.

I fail to understand why a licence can't be checked via the database that they have access to .... but they dont seem to! As I say, the wonderful legal system.

It's not the fault of the police - they are merely the ones who have to try and work it out .... many of our systems need change; the courts being top of my list!