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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Speeding ticket!

89 replies

earlydoors42 · 01/05/2019 06:35

My friend had a speeding ticket in her name and at her address, but it was a time and place that she was not at (she was at work elsewhere) AND in a car she has never owned!

She denied it was her but now has to go to court. She doesn't know how to prove she never had this car (hard to prove a negative) - but thinks if she just goes to court she can sort it out.

AIBU to ask if she needs a solicitor?

OP posts:

Original poster

earlydoors42 · 02/05/2019 15:53

Ok I will check if she has been named as the driver or the keeper. That is a good point.

She had no post to her address saying the car had been registered in her name or anything. Never heard of it before. It is a secure post box, a house she lived in for a long time. So I don't think it could be a car previously registered there.

However, she has moved out earlier this year. She got the court summons in her forwarded mail so you would think she would have also got the previous letters, even though she moved.

@DGRossetti I know you are saying the system doesn't work like that, however that is what has somehow happened. She didn't receive anything before the summons. So unless it got lost in the post, there has been an error somewhere.

She also told me today she wasn't in work after all, but she did have a house viewing, so hopefully the estate agents have a record as she was there to let the viewer in.

OP posts:

DGRossetti · 02/05/2019 15:56

However, she has moved out earlier this year. She got the court summons in her forwarded mail so you would think she would have also got the previous letters, even though she moved.

Is it just me, or is this new and compelling evidence ?

Original poster

earlydoors42 · 02/05/2019 16:02

I just asked if it is claiming she is the registered keeper or just the driver. She says she will check but doesn't think it says either way as it is "literally just a court summons" :-/

OP posts:

Original poster

earlydoors42 · 02/05/2019 16:03

@DGRossetti I didn't want to make the OP too complicated! She has had all the rest of her post redirected. And didn't move out long ago. So I wasn't sure of relevance!

OP posts:

DGRossetti · 02/05/2019 16:10

I didn't want to make the OP too complicated! She has had all the rest of her post redirected. And didn't move out long ago. So I wasn't sure of relevance!

No skin off my nose - it's only the internet

Ah, but now, all of a sudden there's a possible explanation about documents going missing/not being delivered.

I'm not a lawyer (but I think some posters are ) but from memory (when I've had them ) court summons specifically state they are not to be redirected ???????

Original poster

earlydoors42 · 02/05/2019 16:40

That's even weirder then!

I have at least prompted her into action and suggested she tries CAB, let them get to the bottom of it!

OP posts:

Oliversmumsarmy · 02/05/2019 22:04

It sounds like the original letter to ask who was driving got lost in the post and if you don’t reply to say you were driving or someone else was then regardless of who was driving you get a court summons.

This is further complicated by the fact your friend doesn’t own the car.

I would contact the dvla and tell them you don’t own this car.
Although they can’t rectify any mistake they can put on the file that you don’t own the car. This might help with proof she doesn’t own the car. Otherwise report the car stolen. If everyone is telling her that this car is hers then she needs it in her possession.

Newnewnewnames · 02/05/2019 22:25

Hmmm, maybe the new house owners used her name and their new (her old) address to bring their insurance cost down / do a shady car deal - they could just open her post, after all. Redirection can be a bit hit & miss IME.
Plus, it was speeding locally...

Oliversmumsarmy · 02/05/2019 23:24

That is a good thought Newnewnewnames

Any chance of her nipping round to her old house to see what cars are parked in the driveway of her old house

WeeDangerousSpike · 03/05/2019 15:16

It does sound like she's been named as the driver by the keeper. Although I think you still get a photo - I think DP had a photo with the letter when he was named by his boss as the driver of a works van.

Alternatively it's a summons for failing to respond to the original (lost?) letter asking who the driver is. But that seems less likely as it doesn't solve the not her car part of the issue.

You can get registered keeper details from dvla for a couple of quid. It might shed some light if she's been named as a driver by someone she knows who's got a grudge against her.

DGRossetti · 03/05/2019 15:44

It does sound like she's been named as the driver by the keeper.

But then the OP would have recieved an NIP of their own ...

Although I think you still get a photo - I think DP had a photo with the letter when he was named by his boss as the driver of a works van.

When I was done , no photo. The car is in DWs name, as she is the PIP recipient (and can't drive now . So she got the first NIP, which she completed (well, I completed for her) and then I received a subsequent one in my name, which I accepted.

As far as I know, it's only when the NIP goes unanswered that a summons is issued. The initial offence being failing to respond to the NIP, plus the original traffic offence on the back burner, so to speak.

The main problem is the system has been largely automated by the sorts of geniuses that supply all the other shit software the government seems to specialise in finding. So the are more ways for something to go wrong with it than you could shake a stick at.

Redirection can be a bit hit & miss IME.

I'm pretty certain the NIPs we received were clearly marked "Do not redirect". Royal Mail won't redirect a lot of scary-important stuff from government agencies.

BarbaraofSevillle · 03/05/2019 15:59

In my experience, mail redirection is carried out by hand at the local sorting office by the most illiterate person they can lay their hands on, so I wouldn't expect any kind of accuracy or attention to detail.

winepls · 04/05/2019 07:25

@BarbaraofSevillle Agreed. I got a new bank card once, in redirected post, clearly marked 'do not redirect'.

Original poster

earlydoors42 · 08/05/2019 08:02

UPDATE!!!!!

She still wasn't taking this very seriously, but then my colleague said it is £1000 fine for not providing the name of the driver.

She then rang the DVLA yesterday and the twist is... It wasn't a silver Honda car (which she has never owned) but was the silver Honda motorbike she had last year! She didn't recognise the number plate as she didn't have it long and sold it (The court paperwork says "motor vehicle"). So it actually was her!!! And it happened well before she moved so she should have received the speeding notice too - though still says she doesn't remember getting it.

She is mortified. She says she has emailed the court as obviously she doesn't want to plead Not Guilty any more as she knows it was her!

So mystery solved :-D Sorry for the wrong info, I was working with what she gave me!

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