Late Notice of Intended Prosecution

Hello! I am Gemma, a legal assistant at Lawyer Destroyer. I can certainly help you understand the rules around speeding tickets and the 14-day time limit.

The short answer:

Generally speaking, if a Notice of Intended Prosecution arrives more than 14 days after the speeding offence, the speeding ticket may well be invalid. However, there are some very important exceptions to this rule that catch a lot of people out.

How the 14-day rule works:

By law, the police must serve the Notice of Intended Prosecution to the registered keeper of the vehicle within 14 days of the offence. The day of the offence is essentially day zero, so the 14-day clock starts on the day after the speeding incident.

When a late ticket is still completely valid:

1. You were stopped at the scene. If a police officer pulled you over and gave you a verbal warning at the time, they do not need to send a written notice within 14 days.

2. You are not the registered keeper. The 14-day rule only applies to the very first notice sent to the registered keeper. If you were driving a hire car, a company car, or a car registered to a family member, the police only have to get the notice to the lease company or the registered keeper within 14 days. Any subsequent notice sent to you as the actual driver can legally arrive much later.

3. Your logbook details were wrong or out of date. If the police sent the notice on time to the address held by the DVLA, but you had recently moved or there was a typo on your V5C logbook, the ticket remains valid. The police only have to use the information DVLA has for the vehicle at the time.

4. Postal delays. The law presumes that a letter sent by first class post will arrive two working days later. If the police posted it in good time to arrive within 14 days, but Royal Mail delayed it, it is still legally presumed to be served on time unless you can prove otherwise. Proving late delivery can be quite difficult in court.

Practical next steps:

1. Look at your logbook. Check the physical V5C logbook for the car and make sure the address printed on it is completely correct and matches where you lived at the time of the offence.

2. Keep the envelope. If you believe the notice was sent late, keep the envelope it arrived in. The printed marks or routing codes can sometimes help prove when it was actually handed to the postal service.

3. Reply to the notice anyway. This is the most crucial step. Even if you are certain the notice is out of time, you must still fill it out and return it to identify who was driving. Failing to name the driver is a completely separate legal offence. It carries six penalty points and a hefty fine, and you can be convicted of this even if the original speeding ticket was entirely invalid.

4. Raise the issue of lateness. When you return the form naming the driver, you can include a polite covering letter. Simply point out the date of the offence, the date you actually received the notice, and explain that it has arrived outside the 14-day statutory time limit. Ask them to confirm if they will now drop the matter.

5. Consider your options if they proceed. If the police refuse to drop the ticket and insist it was sent on time, you cannot usually resolve this through a further exchange of letters. You would eventually have to let the matter go to a magistrates court and swear under oath that it arrived late. You will need to weigh up whether taking that litigation risk is worth it, as losing in court usually results in higher fines and court costs than simply accepting a fixed penalty or taking a speed awareness course.