Failing to Provide Driver Information Solicitors

If you are being prosecuted for Failing to Provide Driver Information, also known as Failing to Furnish Information to the Police, our specialist Driving Offence Solicitors can represent you at Court and can help protect you from a Driving Ban.

Contact one of our experienced motoring offence solicitors by completing our Enquiry Form or call 0345 222 9955 for a No Obligation Initial Telephone Consultation about your case.

Our Solicitors and Barristers have successfully defended numerous Failing to Provide Driver Information prosecutions throughout England & Wales.

Why Kang & Co Solicitors for A Failing to Provide Driver Information Charge?

We are a specialist niche Driving Offences law firm with offices at 1 Victoria Square, Birmingham and 5 Chancery Lane, London and offer our services throughout England & Wales. As a law firm with highly skilled and experienced Solicitors and Barristers, we are regularly instructed for the most serious driving offences such as Death by Dangerous Driving and Death by Careless Driving, through to offences of Speeding and Careless Driving.

We are a law firm committed to providing a truly bespoke service and guarantee all our clients a meeting at our offices in Birmingham or London along with the following:

As a solicitors firm with offices in Birmingham and London, we are frequently appointed by clients living and working in Birmingham, Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Nuneaton, Leamington Spa, Tamworth, Lichfield, Sutton Coldfield, Coventry, Kidderminster and London and all its surrounding areas to represent them in Court for a Failing to Provide Driver Details Charge.

Statute – What is the law?

The legislation relating to the Offence of Failing to Provide Driver Details is contained within Section 172(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

A prosecution for Failing to Provide Driver Information is also referred to as a:

• Section 172 Prosecution
• Failing to Furnish Information Prosecution
• Failing to Provide Driver Identity Prosecution
• Failing to Provide Police with Driver Details Prosecution
• Failing to Give Information on Drivers Identity

Venue

The offence of Failing to Provide Driver Details (Section 172 Prosecution) is a ‘Summary Only’ Offence, this means that the case can only be heard in the Magistrates’ Court.

Sentencing Powers for Failing to Provide Driver Information

If you are convicted for the offence of Failing to Provide Driver Details or if you plead guilty to this offence, the Magistrates’ Court will:

• Endorse Driving Licence with 6 Penalty Points
• Impose a Fine of up to £1,000

If a Limited Company is being prosecuted for Failing to Provide Driver Details, the Magistrates’ Court cannot impose penalty points upon the Limited Company and a fine is the only available penalty. However, if a Limited Company is found guilty of Failing to Provide Driver Details, and the offence occurred because of negligence or connivance of a person within the Limited Company, that person can also be held individually liable and subject to penalty points and a fine.

How the Offence of Failing to Provide Driver Information Arises

In most circumstances, a motoring offence has been committed (usually Speeding or driving through a red traffic signal) and the vehicle involved in the offence has not been stopped by the Police. A Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) will be posted to the Registered Keeper of the vehicle within 14 days of the alleged offence being committed. If the Notice of Intended Prosecution is not issued within 14 days of the alleged offence, the Police will not be able to secure a prosecution against you or your company.

The Registered Keeper is then under an obligation to complete and return the Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) within 28 days and is required to clearly identify who the driver was at the time of the alleged offence. Failing to Provide Driver Information is a strict liability offence and you may be convicted even if you do not receive the request for information.

It is vital that you speak with one of our Driving Offence Solicitors before your complete and return the form so that we can advise you on how to correctly complete the form. In certain circumstances, prosecutions have been brought because the form was not properly completed, the prosecution may still class an incorrectly completed form or a response on anything other than their form as a Failure to Provide Driver Information.

Failing to Provide Driver Information Defences

There are two Statutory Defences to the Offence of Failing to Provide Driver Information:

• Reasonable Diligence Defence
• Not Reasonably Practicable to Respond to The Request Within 28 Days

Reasonable Diligence Defence

This defence is applicable when the Registered Keeper has used ‘reasonable diligence’ to try and identify who the driver was at the time of the alleged offence. For the defence of Reasonable Diligence to be successful at Trial, it must be supported with evidence to demonstrate the precise steps the Registered Keeper took to identify the driver of the vehicle. What amounts to Reasonable Diligence is a matter for the Court to decide.

The defence of Reasonable Diligence is not usually applicable to a Limited Company, because a corporate entity should be keeping records of drivers. A Limited Company can only rely upon this defence if the Limited Company can demonstrate that it was not reasonable to keep records of who was driving the vehicle at the time of the offence.

If this defence is applicable to your circumstances and you would like advice from an experienced Driving Offence Solicitor about the defence of Reasonable Diligence, complete our Enquiry Form and one of our Motoring Law Solicitors will respond to your enquiry.

For this defence to be successful your case will need to be prepared by one of our experienced Solicitors or Barristers and appropriate evidence will need to be obtained in advance of your Trial. It is not simply a matter of attending Court and raising ‘Reasonable Diligence’ the trial is likely to take half a day and the Prosecutor will Cross-Examine your evidence and seek to identify weaknesses in your Defence. A Defendant is extremely unlikely to succeed with this Defence without appointing an experience Motoring Law Solicitor to prepare the case and represent them at Court.

Not Reasonably Practicable to Respond to The Request Within 28 Days

This Defence to Failing to Provide Driver Information is usually applicable when proper service of the Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) has not taken place. This would arise if the Registered Keeper never received the request for driver details and is, therefore, unable to respond to the request because the Registered Keeper has not received the request.

If this defence is applicable to your circumstance call us on 0345 222 9955 for Free Initial Advice on how our lawyers can prepare your Trial and represent you at Court.

Contesting a Failing to Provide Driver Information Charge

As mentioned above, there are two Defences applicable to Failing to Provide Driver Information, if either of those Defence is raised, your case will be listed for Trial.

Another way in which a Failing to Provide Driver Information Prosecution can progress to Trial is because the information was provided to the Police, and the Police may not have received the response. If there is a Trial on this issue, evidence will need to be produced to support that the request was complied with.

Our Solicitors have successfully defended cases on this ground if you have provided the response to the Police and are being prosecuted for Failing to Provide Driver Information, complete our Contact Form to receive Free Telephone Advice about your case.

Can I get a Driving Ban from a Failing to Provide Driver Information Charge?

A conviction for Failing to Provide Driver Information alone will not result in a Driving Ban, because the Court will impose 6 penalty points for this offence. However, if you already have 6 or more active penalty points on your driving licence, a conviction for Failing to Provide Driver Information may result in a driving ban because you will be classed as a ‘Totter’.

If you plead guilty to the offence of Failing to Provide Driver Information whilst having 6 or more active penalty points, you may avoid a Driving Ban by appointing us to make an Exceptional Hardship Application to the Court.

If you would like more information on this offence, call us on 0345 222 9955, or use the contact form below.