If you wish to claim that you do not know who was driving you only have three options:

Option 1: Reasonable Diligence

Sub section 4 of Section 172 of the Road Traffic act allows the Magistrates to decide whether or not the person asked has used "reasonable diligence" to figure out who was driving at the time of the alleged offence. This means that if you are unable to identify the driver but you have done your best to figure it out, you will have a defence.

For example, a suitable defence would be if the driving was shared by more than one person and you cannot remember who was driving at the time.

However, it is not quite that simple as that. If it was, everyone would exploit it...the trick is a) in the presentation of the information and b) that it takes quite a bit of effort as you will need to prove you've made all Reasonable Diligence (effort) to try and figure out who was driving.

It's up to the owner of the vehicle to provide evidence of this Reasonable Diligence. This can include thoroughly questioning all possible drivers of the vehicle, looking at calendars, diary's, work schedules, school runs, social engagements, etc.

All this must be documented along with the name and address of all possible drivers. Remember, you should not have allowed an uninsured driver to drive the vehicle, so you may want to double check this before submitting the documentation to the police.

If done correctly the Police will drop the proceedings in most instances.

Option 2: Inbound Post

Sub section 7 (b) of Section 172 allows for the situation when you do not actually receive the request for information in the first place. It states that if it was not reasonably practicable for you to supply the information that was required of you, you shall not be convicted. Therefore if you do not receive the request for information (bear in mind the Police often send a reminder) and the Magistrates believe you when you say this under oath you will be found not guilty.

For this to succeed it will require effort on your part:-

You will need to contact each post office that the letter will have gone to from its point of posting to your front door, asking them about volumes of lost mail at their office (or nationally if they do not keep/reveal these figures). Be sure to also ask them if they can find your missing letter as well as any 'disaster' that may have happened at their offices (such as floods, strikes, fire, mass illness, etc) during the period of time that the letter would have been with them.

If you have had previous issues with missing post to your address you should make a comprehensive list of these as further proof of your case.

Despite spending many hours building a strong case it is very likely you will still get convicted if doing this yourself. Armchair lawyers and motorists trying to self represent are simply not experts in pulling these kinds of documents together. Speak to us!

Option 3: Outbound Post

Your final option is to argue that you did reply to the NIP requesting to name the driver, but your reply was lost in the post. Similar to the police, there is no requirement for you to send the letter by registered post.

You will again need to go through a similar process as described in Option 2 above, contacting the post office about volumes of lost letters etc.

We did hear a story of a driver going in to his local post office, ensuring he looked directly at the CCTV camera as he entered. He then proceeded to post a letter, however the letter he was posting was NOT to the police but to someone else. When the police stated that he did not reply to them he requested a copy of the CCTV footage and claimed the letter he sent in the video was in fact his reply to the police. His case was subsequently dropped. We of course WOULD NOT ADVISE THIS.

Just like Option 2 and 1, doing this yourself is not recommended as you are simply not an expert in pulling these kinds of documents together. Use our lawyers!

Any communication with the police from this point on is probably best to be done via recorded post to further corroborate your defence of lost mail.

With all three options above, it's much cheaper and safer for you to use one of our lawyers. If you're a Licence Shield member our lawyers are FREE!

Do not pretend that a friend who is resident outside the EU was driving. This is perverting the course of justice and can get you into serious trouble.

Do not ignore the NIP - you'll just end up in court anyway.

Do Not use web sites that sell you letters "guaranteeing" to avoid convictions. These often require you to pervert the course of justice or quote irrelevant laws. The courts have been saturated with the exact same or similar letter before and are immune to them. Our legal team have dealt with many people who have got themselves into really deep water by using these web site letters.
 
There is no replacement for using a real lawyer. Join Licence Shield and we can provide you with lawyers from just £39.99 a year.

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