Failure to Name Driver

Are you looking for the best Road Traffic Solicitors to defend you on a charge of Failure to Identify Driver or Provide Driver Details?

When it comes to protecting your driving licence, we understand the potentially devastating impact of a road traffic charge on the reputation, livelihood and liberty of those we represent.

So if you’re facing what for you is the legal minefield of a charge of Failure to Provide Driver Details, tip the scales in your favour - Get in touch now.

What is the law on Failure to Provide Driver Details?

Road Traffic Act 1988, section 172

Many people will have heard of the ‘right to remain silent’ or make ‘no comment’ when it comes to police questioning a person suspected of a criminal offence. However, because of what is regarded as the strong public interest in maintaining road safety, that ‘right to silence’ does not apply if police exercise their power under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to ‘require’ a person to name the driver of a vehicle at a particular time.

In particular, commonly referred to as a ‘section 172 requirement’, the police have the power to require the registered keeper of a vehicle – or to require any other person – to identify or name the driver of that vehicle at the time of any alleged motoring offence.

Failure to comply with any such ‘172 requirement’ is an offence.

Given, therefore, the technical and legal issues arising from a charge of failing to provide driver details, it makes sense to protect your licence by obtaining early expert advice as to what can be done in your case.

What are the penalties?

In terms of your licence, the minimum penalty for failing to comply with a s172 requirement is 6 penalty points, though, depending on circumstances of non-compliance, there will be cases where the court may opt to exercise its power to disqualify from driving. There is also power to impose a fine up to a maximum of £5,000.

As has been seen from a number of high profile prosecutions in recent years, anyone who falsely names someone else as the driver, could well end up facing the much more serious consequences of being charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Given, therefore, the wide range of potential penalties, it makes sense to obtain expert guidance on what should be done to comply with a section 172 requirement or what can properly be done to avoid or reduce the penalties, if you have already been charged. 

How can we help?

You can count on our award-winning team to identify the right questions, provide the right answers and deliver the best solutions.

Here are just some examples of where our know-how often makes the difference:

• Received a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP)? If you have received a written Notice requiring you to name the driver of a vehicle, this will be because you are the last known registered keeper of a vehicle that was detected by a safety camera committing an alleged speeding or red traffic light offence; or because you have been named by another person as being the driver or person responsible at the time of such an offence. We can advise you on the validity of any such notice, any information you must provide and the timescales for doing so. We can also guide you on appropriate enquiries, such as whether it might be helpful to request copies of any photographic evidence.

• Accused of failure to comply with a Notice of Intended Prosecution?  You can count on us to guide you on the crucial issues, such as whether the prosecution can prove that the request or notice for information was sent and was not returned.

• Defence of ‘Reasonable Diligence’? Is yours a case where it can be shown that you did not know who was the driver and that you have done all you reasonably can to try to find out who was driving? If so, you may have a defence to a section 172 charge. At the same time, it should be noted that it won’t be enough simply to say that you cannot remember, or that you do not know who was driving: it will be necessary for to you make all reasonable enquiries to ascertain the identity of the driver. If necessary, make a point of asking the police officers requiring the information from you, for further time to make a proper enquiry.  

• Avoiding a driving ban? If you are considering a plea of guilty, you can count on our considerable forensic and tactical skills to negotiate the best possible plea with the prosecutor, to present the best possible case to the court, to secure for you the largest possible discount and, ultimately, the lowest possible penalty.

What are the costs?

Firstly, given the importance of you finding exactly the right lawyer to protect your driving licence, we have the confidence to provide every client with a first, diagnostic consultation, free of charge.

Thereafter, depending upon your financial position and the nature of your case, it may be possible for us to represent you under the Scottish Legal Aid scheme. If, however, Legal Aid is not available or appropriate in your case, whilst any fee chargeable thereafter will depend upon the complexity of your case, we are always happy to provide you with the certainty of a fee agreed in advance, and, if you prefer, usually the reassurance of a fixed fee arrangement, rather than fees based upon each item of work.

Equally, if you have a motor insurance policy or house insurance policy which provides you with cover for the legal costs of defending a motoring prosecution in Scotland, we would always be content to discuss acting for you on this basis. If you are in any doubt as to the terms of cover under any such insurance policy, again, we would be happy to examine the terms of any such policy at your first free consultation.

To tip the scales in your favour, get in touch now.

So, once again, why choose Adams Whyte Road Traffic Solicitors to defend you?

Here are just 5 reasons:

• We are already the trusted choice of thousands of clients who over the years have relied on the expertise of our motoring law solicitors to deliver for them the best possible result in road traffic cases right across the country.
• For the countless clients who, year after year, choose us to protect their driving licence, we have an impressively high rate of success and satisfaction.
• Those who recommend or instruct us include individuals from fields as varied as law and policing, to medicine and banking, to sport and entertainment.
• In fighting to keep you on the road, our specialist solicitors provide the highest standards of technical knowledge, forensic analysis, and courtroom advocacy, for example in exposing and arguing against any technical or legal flaws in the case against you.
• Given the importance of you finding the right lawyer to protect your driving licence, we have the confidence to provide every client with a first, diagnostic consultation, free of charge.

To give yourself the best chance of the best outcome, get in touch now.