Safe Speed Forums

Hi folks, I was hoping one or more of you would be able to give a bit of advice on how I can bolster the information I already have to get me cleared of my summons, the court date is the 8th april so I am trying to gather as much information as possible..

Basically I revieved an NIP duplicate on the 10th November telling me I had 14 days to reply regarding an offence dated the 6th september, as this was a duplicate I assumed the first one had been lost in the post which was likely as other mail had gone missing around that time too - this was during the postal strikes.

I wrote a letter back that day after looking through my phone records and bank statements to see if I was out riding that day which I was, during september I was out for the majority of my few rides with a friend and on a couple of occasions we had swapped bikes for sections of the rides to 'test' them out. I asked my friend if he could remember being out that day but as neither of us recognised the road number or could pinpoint the time I decided to write the letter back to the police asking for a photo which would allow me to confirm the riders identity, I stated other items in the post had gone missing and requested this be sent recorded delivery to ensure safe arrival.

Christmas and new year came and went and I did not hear anything, I did not even think to check back with them because in all honesty I was rushed off my feet the whole period. Bear in mind I have been riding by 15 months at this stage so I am a bit naive on what is supposed to happen, I also have a clean license.

Anyhow, the back end of January I get a summons for failure to give information, no speeding is mentioned on the summons, after doing a bit of research it looks like they will try and give me 6 points which is revocation of my license and subsequently I will have to retake all my tests again, very costly on my part considering I didnt get any photo through the post, in the summons pack was information on someone elses speeding offence including photos of a car (I dont drive) so rather than try and do this alone I called white dalton (motor defence team)

After speaking to one of the solicitors he assured me there is a reasonable chance of winning this in court, he gives me the costs for them to represent me and I agree to that, I do not have the confidence or legal know how to convey my point in court but I do not want to plead guilty to failing to give information willingly as the fact the photo was not sent or went missing made me an unwilling party, I had after all requested recorded delivery in my letter.

Anyway, during my attempt to gather information on which items had gone missing I found even more had not arrived than I first thought, some of which were items posted first class that the sender had to refund me due to lost mail - I kept these 2 reciepts to clarify that they were posted and then refunded for this reason. I also found that a very important insurance claim document had gone missing, this in itself would have meant I would lose £3000 if I had not responded and because it was with the motor insurance bureau I was told it might take months to come through and as such had not expected it or chased it until I realised I was going to have to pay solicitors fees, in total there were 10 items I can state went missing between september 2007 and january 2008.

I am aware I have to prove due diligence in showing the rider at the time of the offence, my question though is what EXACTLY can I do to help this case? Obviously my solicitor is trying to get this adjourned on the technicality that the relevant documents didnt arrive to me in order to respond, I have the insurance document for the other rider in question that shows he is insured to ride my bike and my wife is also willing to testify that she has not at any point seen the photographic evidence requested in order to reply with the information, the police have stated the photograph was sent and around 2 weeks after the date on the summons the correct case file for my case arrived with a photo of me speeding so I can confirm it was me at the time, I can also say that if this was sent to me at the time I would have told them it was me. The speeding offence is timed out too so as far as my solicitor tells me they cannot drop the S172 and charge me with the original offence in its place.

In any case this has cost me £1395 in legal fees, I cannot and will not accept that I am guilty of the charge they have sent through, if found guilty I will either have my license revoked in which case it will be £1395 + court costs + cost of retaking all my tests, on the other hand they can give me 3 points but it still means £1395+ court fees for a case based on the postal system not working...

Please help with any advice you can that will prove I have shown due diligence in dealing with this before it got to S172 stage. As it is I have no faith in our police force after being burgled and they didnt send anyone to investigate, just a couple of local bobbies a couple of days afterwards to take statements, then I was involved in a near hit and run where a 4x4 forced me into a ditch after coming at me head on - they did nothing and told me they would not be able to find the car and finally my bike then got stolen from outside my house and they sent a victims of crime letter... Supposedly they sent the first NIP 2 days after the dated offence for the heinous crime of speeding and now they are screwing me totally...

cheers

leigh