Requesting speed camera photo evidence

Hello there. I am Gemma, a legal assistant here at Lawyer Destroyer, and I would be happy to help clear this up for you.

The straightforward answer is yes, you can ask to see the speed camera photos, but there is a massive trap regarding deadlines that you need to be very careful to avoid.

Understanding the process:

When a car is caught by a speed camera, the police send a Notice of Intended Prosecution to the registered keeper. Included with this is a legal requirement asking you to identify who was driving the vehicle at the time. You have exactly 28 days to reply to this request.

At this stage, you are not actually accepting penalty points. You are simply telling the police who was driving. Once the driver is named, the police will write back to that specific person with the options available, which could be a speed awareness course, a fixed penalty of points and a fine, or the option to go to court.

Asking for the photos:

If you are genuinely unsure who was driving, you are perfectly entitled to ask the police for the photographs to help you identify the driver.

Many police forces are very helpful with this. In fact, many of them now include a web address and login details on the letter they send you, allowing you to go online and view the pictures immediately. If they do not offer an online portal, you can write to them and ask for copies of the photos to assist in identifying the driver.

The crucial deadline warning:

This is the most important legal point to keep in mind. Asking for the photos does not pause or extend your 28 day deadline to name the driver.

If you ask for the photos, and the police take three weeks to reply, your deadline is still ticking away. If you miss that 28 day deadline because you were waiting for the pictures, you can be prosecuted for a separate legal offence called failing to furnish driver details. This carries a penalty of six points on your licence and a heavy fine, which is often much worse than the original speeding ticket would have been.

What the photos are actually for:

It is also worth noting that at this stage, the police will only provide the photos to help you figure out who was behind the wheel. They are not obliged to provide them to prove that the offence happened, or to prove the camera was working correctly. If you were driving and you eventually decide you want to formally challenge the speeding offence itself, you would normally have to reject the fixed penalty and take the matter to a magistrates court to demand all the evidence.

Practical next steps:

1. Check the letter the police sent you to see if there are login details for an online portal. If there are, you can look at the photos right away.

2. If there is no online option, contact the relevant police force promptly in writing to ask for the photographs. Make sure you clearly state you are asking for them to assist you in identifying the driver.

3. Keep a very close eye on the 28 day deadline from the date the letter was served to you.

4. Make sure you reply naming the driver before those 28 days run out, even if the police have not managed to send the photos back to you in time.