Its purpose is to inform the defendant that he may be prosecuted,for the offence he has committed, whilst the incident is still fresh in his memory.

Notice of Intended Prosecution 

Section 1(1) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 requires that a Notice of Intended Prosecution MUST be given for certain offences. These include:-

 Dangerous Driving
 Careless & Inconsiderate driving
 Leaving a vehicle in a dangerous place
 Dangerous cycling
 Careless & Inconsiderate cycling
 Failing to conform with the indication of a police officer when directing traffic
 Failing to comply with a traffic sign
 Exceeding temporary speed restrictions by s14 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
 Exceeding speed restrictions on a special road
 Exceeding temporary speed limit imposed by order
 Speeding offences generally.

There is an exception to this and an NIP is not required if the offence arises out a Road Traffic Accident.

It is important you thoroughly read the next section .

A  person shall not be convicted of an offence in which this section applies unless:-
(a) he was warned at the time the offence was committed that the question of prosecuting him for some one or other of the offences to which this section applies would be taken into consideration, OR

(b) within 14 days of the commission of the offence a summons (or, in Scotland, a complaint) for the offence was served on him, OR

(c) within 14 days of the commission of the offence a Notice of Intended Prosecution specifying the nature of the alleged offence and the time and place where it is alleged to have been committed, was:-

(i) in the case of an offence under Section 28 or 29 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (cycling offences), served on him;
(ii) in the case of any other offence, served on him or on the person, if any, registered as the keeper of the vehicle at the time of the commission of the offence.

 ‘Within 14 days of the commission of the offence’ - Subsections (1)(b) and (c) above means that the Notice must be posted to reach the defendant by ordinary post within 14 days of the offence.
It was decided in Groome v Driscoll (1969) 113 SJ 905, that a Notice of Intended Prosecution posted the day after the offence which failed to arrive within 14 days was deemed to have been served.  Conversely in Nicholson v Tapp [1972] 1 WLR 1044, it was held that a Notice of Intended Prosecution sent by recorded delivery on the fourteenth day after the offence was deemed NOT to have been served.

Service of the Notice of Intended Prosecution

Sections 1(1a), (2), (3) and (4) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 provide various methods of obtaining valid service of a Notice of Intended Prosecution. They state:-

1(1a) A Notice required by this section to be served on any person may be served on that person by:-
(a) delivering it to him;
(b) addressing it to him and leaving it at his last known address; OR
(c) sending it by registered post, recorded delivery or first class post addressed to him at his last known address.

1(2) A Notice shall be deemed for the purposes of Subsection (1)(c) above to have been served on a person if it was sent by registered post or recorded delivery addressed to him at his last known address; notwithstanding that the Notice was returned as undelivered or was for any other reason not received by him. NB - This does NOT mean the NIP is ineffective if served by first class post-it refers to legal presumptions should the case go to court 

1(3) The requirement of Subsection 1 above shall in every case be deemed to have been complied with unless and until the contrary is proved.  

The Notices do not have to be signed personally by the Chief Constable. It will suffice if, for example, they are sent out by an Office Manager, so long as it is obvious that it is being sent on the Chief Constable's behalf.  In a computerised age the name of the person generating the Notice may be a printed rather than having a hand written signature Arnold V DPP  

.

Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty

Overview 

 Conditional Offer- the Law

Section 75 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 provides for the issue of a conditional offer relating to a fixed penalty offence. relating to a fixed penalty offence.
 Where :

(a) a constable has reason to believe that a fixed penalty offence has been committed, and
(b) no fixed penalty notice in respect of the offence has been given under section 54 or fixed to a vehicle under section 62,

a notice under this section may be sent to the alleged offender by or on behalf of the chief officer of police or, if the constable is a member of the British Transport Police, by or on behalf of the chief constable of the British Transport Police.

A notice under this section is referred to in this section and section 76 and section 77 as a "CONDITIONAL OFFER".
Where a person issues a conditional offer, he must notify the designated officer specified in it of its issue and its terms; and that clerk is referred to in this section and sections 76 and 77 as "THE FIXED PENALTY CLERK".

 A conditional offer must:

(a) give such particulars of the circumstances alleged to constitute the offence to which it relates as are necessary for giving reasonable information about the alleged offence,

(b) state the amount of the fixed penalty for that offence, and

(c) state that proceedings against the alleged offender cannot be commenced in respect of that offence until the end of the period of twenty-eight days following the date on which the conditional offer was issued or such longer period as may be specified in the conditional offer.

 A conditional offer must indicate that if the following conditions are fulfilled, that is:

(a) within the period of twenty-eight days following the date on which the offer was issued, or such longer period as may be specified in the offer, the alleged offender:

(i) makes payment of the fixed penalty to the fixed penalty clerk, and
(ii) where the offence to which the offer relates is an offence involving obligatory endorsement, at the same time delivers his licence and its counterpart to that clerk, and

b) where his licence and its counterpart are so delivered, that clerk is satisfied on inspecting them that, if the alleged offender were convicted of the offence, he would not be liable to be disqualified under section 35,( ie "Totting up" procedure) any liability to conviction of the offence shall be discharged.

 

Next - Failing to Give Details (Section 172 Road Traffic Act 1988)