Speeding - Notice of Intended Prosecution

[FlapR]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with regards to the following:

Letter came this morning to my parents address, with my name on it.

- The date and time given for the speeding offence makes sense and I was driving the car at the time.

- It's my parents car which I was driving, so that also makes sense as to why it would be sent their address, but why would it have my name on it to begin with?

The car is in my dads name, with my mum and myself also on the insurance. I was under the impression that the letter would addressed to the registered owner of the vehicle.

 

[FlapR]

i would have thought , your parents got the original form and put your name down and sent it back hence coming back in your name.

Nope, the letter came this morning to their address. The offence only happened 3 days ago. I was at my parents this morning when the letter arrived as I'd gone round to help with decorating.

 

[FlapR]

Who was it from?

Cheshire constabulary. Has a reference number, date/time of offence/location, and car registration number. Also says what the speed limit was and what I was supposed to be doing.

It's not asking for money or anything as of yet, it just has a standard set of areas to fill out based on who was driving etc.

Everything looks official to me. It's sent from "Central Ticket Office" on behalf of Cheshire Police, and has a phone number for them, which of course is only open Monday-Friday 10am-4pm

 

[FlapR]

Cheers for the input so far guys. I've scanned the letter so pictures of both sides are in spoiler tags below:

Side 1 -

Spoiler

Side 2 -

Spoiler

 

[FlapR]

Scam, you can ignore it

Really?

 

[FlapR]

Do you think you were speeding at the location the letter describes?

I was driving on that date at roughly that time. I do the same journey all the time though so have no idea how I could've been speeding, and the roads were busy as usual.

 

[FlapR]

Cheers opstrat. I'm mainly confused about the letter being addressed to myself and not the registered owner(my dad), as I have no idea how they could identify it as being me.

I'll ring the Central Ticket Office number at the bottom of the letter when they open on Monday and see what they say. I'm assuming its all official but I'll just be wary as I proceed.

 

[FlapR]

It is odd that it has your name on it if your name is no where on the registration document

Yeah that's the part I'm really confused about.

Technology is always moving forward, for all we know they have crystal clear images of a young man driving and after cross-referencing the databases they're levelling their accusation at the person they think committed the offence.

That's partly what I was thinking. 3 of us are insured to drive the car, my mum and dad are both in their 50s and I'm 25.

Maybe your dad give you a christmas present and put the car in your name?

The cars 3 years old and worth around £35k with the milage it's done at the moment so I'd hope not . No way I'd accept it.

If you have your doubts, it may be more sensible to find the number for the ticket office online from a verified source. If it did turn out to be a scam then calling the number on the bottom of the letter would be potentially a very bad thing to do

If you wanted to find a legit number, call 01244 350 000 and get the central switchboard to put you through.

The number at the bottom of the page is local to my parents but i'll have a look around.

 

[FlapR]

Looks legit to me. Google suggests that's the correct office for the CTO.

Can't explain why it came to you though, is the car definitely in your parent's name?

Yeah, seems legit based on the details its just confusing, the car is definitely registered in my dads name, I checked the V5.

Generally just annoyed with myself as I've never had any points or had any trouble before. There's an FAQ type sheet with it giving the speed ranges and requirements to qualify for a Speed Awareness Course, which I qualify for, so hopefully I'm offered that.

Is it worth requesting the photo/video evidence or should I just get on with it?

 

[FlapR]

Parents definitely haven't sent anything back. My dads not even at the country at the moment (hasn't been since the 5th) and I've spoken to them both about it.

- The offence is dated as the 7/01/15
- The letter is dated 9/01/15
- It arrived on 10/01/15
- I've checked the V5, car is registered in my dads name.

 

[FlapR]

Update:

Apparently they had a problem accessing the database to see who the owner was, but they could see there were 3 people insured so the fact it had my name on it is completely random.

Not a clue how they're still allowed to send them out like that but oh well.

 

[FlapR]

You got unlucky there, if you hadn't been to your parents' house for a few weeks then you might have got away with it

How so? It doesn't matter how long it takes him to open the letter, it was delivered in the required time.

Aye, not opening a letter isn't a defence