Car owner was not the speeding driver

The defendant was charged with speeding, and with failure to complete a Section 172 Notice which required him to return details of who was the driver at the time of the speeding incident. He had not received the Section 172 Notice in the post, and was unaware of the speeding incident.

We represented a defendant who had received a Summons to attend Carmarthen Magistrates Court on an allegation of speeding and failure to complete a Section 172 Notice. He knew nothing of any speeding incident and had received no Notice.

The defendant had permitted his daughter to use his car to drive to and from college.

We wrote off for the photographs from the camera, and these clearly showed the defendant’s daughter driving the car at the relevant time. The prosecution therefore dropped the speeding charge, but proceeded against him on the failure to complete the 172 Notice .

The matter went to trial on 27th May 2009 and the defendant  gave evidence that he had never received the Notice. He told the Court that he had had previous problems with missing post, and that there was a similar address to his in the Neath area so post sometimes was misdirected. His wife also gave evidence giving a specific example of a letter she had been expecting, but had never received.

After hearing all the evidence the Magistrates acquitted the Defendant and ordered costs to be paid out of Central Funds.