It is an offence to fail to identify the driver if you are the registered keeper of a vehicle, or a potential driver of that vehicle, alleged to have committed an offence and you receive a form asking you to name the driver.

As the registered owner of a vehicle, you may receive a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) if your vehicle was used to commit an alleged motoring offence. If you are not the registered keeper of the vehicle but have been identified as a possible driver, you may also receive an NIP. The NIP will usually also have a form asking you to identify the driver. This is known as a section 172 notice.

You must receive the NIP within 14 days of the alleged offence in order for you to be prosecuted in the matter. However, the 14 day limit only applies to the registered keeper. Therefore, if the NIP has been sent to the registered keeper in the requisite time, the Police do not have a time limit regarding sending the driver an NIP.

However, we may we able to successfully argue that you did in fact exercise due diligence, which is a defence to this allegation, in trying to ascertain who the driver was at the time. For company vehicles however, the companies should keep a log showing who is driving the vehicles at all times.

If you have received an NIP/section 172 form, you have the time limit set by the request for you to name the driver.

If you receive an NIP and choose to simply ignore it, then it is very likely that you will be summonsed to attend court for failing to identify the driver.

Defences

1. That the NIP was not served within the 14 day time limit.
2. That the section 172 notice was responded to correctly and in the time limit set.
3. That you cannot name the driver despite making all reasonable enquiries.

Penalty

If you are convicted of an offence which took place before 24th September 2007, you will accrue 3 penalty points. However, offences after this date carry an endorsement of 6 penalty points. The court will also impose a fine of up to £1,000. The court has the discretion to disqualify for this offence.