Lease Vehicles and Speeding In Scotland
When you lease a vehicle you are accountable for any road traffic offences committed whilst driving or in possession of that vehicle. In relation to speeding offences, the authorities can alert persons to potential prosecution by various means. Notice can be given to the driver by police officers who stop him or her or by way of a court summons served within six months of the commission of the offence or by a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP). The NIP can either be given verbally by a police officer at the time of the incident or, in the case of offences caught on speed camera, in writing within 14 days of the offence (a written NIP).
There is a lot of confusion over NIPs and leased cars, hopefully we can clear some of that confusion up, right now. A written NIP is a document that specifies the nature of the offence and the time and place it is alleged to have been committed. It requires the registered keeper (lease company) to provide the Police with the name of the person driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence. Providing this information is a legal obligation under Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The registered keeper is required to fulfill the terms of s172 or face a 6 penalty point endorsement and a fine.
When a lease company receives a NIP it is customary to identify the driver (or the company who leased it) from their records and forward it on to them accordingly. It is also normal practice for them to alert the Police to the fact that the NIP has been forwarded and charge the lessee an administration fee to do so.
It should be remembered that the driver or company who leased the vehicle do not need to be in receipt of the NIP within the 14 period as provided it was sent to the leasing company within 2 weeks of the offence it will still be valid regardless of when the lessee received it. Please note that a NIP has nothing to do with the alleged motoring offence as it merely requests the identity of the driver at the time of the alleged offence. Accordingly there is no point in writing to the police requesting documentation such as calibration certificates as this information will only be disclosed at a later stage if the "named driver" decides to contest the allegation.
Failure to provide the driver’s details within 28 days from the date of the NIP may result in prosecution and the punishment could be worse than the original speeding offence (normally 6 points and a fine). Certain exceptions will apply where it cannot be ascertained with reasonable diligence who the driver of the vehicle was, however this is an onerous test as it is normal practice for lease companies and the firms who lease from them to have in place measures which record the driver of a vehicle at any given time. There is a legal requirement to have such measures in place, it may be something as simple as a diary of vehicle use of a set of index cards or a computer record of use.
As far as penalties are concerned speeding offences are often disposed of by way of a fixed penalty of three to six penalty points and a £60 fine. Often the NIPs and subsequent Fixed Penalty Notices are dealt with within six weeks of the offence. The issuing of NIPs can be very fast. We have seen automated systems that allow the speed camera computer to obtain driver details and print off an automatic letter ready to be sent out on the day of the alleged offence. In more serious cases however, court proceedings may be initiated within six months of the incident. Fines on conviction are worked out in terms of your weekly wage after tax and national insurance and are subject to a maximum £1,000 fine if the offence is committed on roads other than a motorway and £2,500 if the offence occurs on a motorway. Points on conviction range from 3-6, with short term disqualification periods of up to 56 days. In Scotland short term disqualifications have not found favour with the Sheriffs and we tend to see them exercise their discretion in certain regions of the country with a disqualification of 6 months or longer. Some Sheriffs in Scotland have requested compulsory re-testing and considered forfeiture of the vehicle where the speed is grossly in excess of the speed limit.
In our experience it is always worth looking behind the whole process of prosecution in these cases and we often find that we can make a radical difference to the outcome by raising technical issues at the trial. The best advice is that you DO NOT start pestering the police and Procurator Fiscal for photographs, calibration certificates etc but leave the whole defence process to an experienced road traffic lawyer.
If you are in any doubt as to the validity of a speeding charge it is recommended that you obtain FREE legal advice from a Scottish road traffic law specialist such as Road Traffic Law Solicitors.
Written by Graham Walker, Road Traffic Law Solicitors.
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