Driving Offence Not Committed By Dh But Someone Stole His Identity, What Can We Do?

[RosieCornwall]

At the end of January 2014, my DH received a letter from DVLA asking him to send his licence in to have points added to it following being found guilty of running a red light in his absence. He called DVLA and they said that it related to an offence committed in June 2013 over 200 miles from our home. He told them that it wasn't him but they told him that regardless of who it was, he had to send his licence in. He contacted the Court that he was found guilty at and they told him to go our local magistrates court with proof that it wasn't him and swear a stat dec, which he did. A week after he swore out the stat dec, the original court sent a letter telling him that he had to pay £304 in fines or a warrant would be issued for his arrest. We wrote back to the Fines Office and explained about the Stat Dec. Nothing more was heard until last Tuesday when a big envelope plopped through the door. It was a postal requisition from the original court asking him how he wished to plead to the driving offence. Obviously not guilty! But this is where it starts to defy belief. Someone has given his name, a false address, his DOB and his drivers licence number and signed (as him but not his actual signature) to say that they/he was the driver of the vehicle and admitting the offence. We phoned the court and said again that it wasn't him and this document is forged but they aren't listening and said he either turns up to plead guilty on the day stated or sends back his not guilty in writing, in which case a date will be set for trial and he will have to prove it wasn't him! The facts of the offence are that the offence took place 207 miles (google mapped it) from our home address at 20.57 in the evening. He has proof that he didn't swipe out of work until 18.02 that evening and also his bosses have written a letter confirming his attendance at work all that week, as well as emails that he sent that day, the IT guy is arranging to show that those emails were definitely sent from the work IP address. I have told my DH that I am sure that the burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was him and the fact is that even if he left work and went straight to the train station and caught a train, that would take him to the centre of London and he would then have to make his way to where the offence was committed which is 42 miles from Euston station (where trains arrive from where we live). I don't think realistically, it's doable in the 2 hours and 55 mins available to him as he would then have to collect this car (that he's never seen or driven) and drive around an area that he's never been too in his life. However, we are worried about this, not least because of the cost of the fine and also the fact that he shouldn't have to have points on his licence for something he hasn't done.

Has anyone here got any thoughts, or advice? We did contact the police who initiated all this to say that document that they had received with his details was a forged document but all they said was that it was in the hands of the court now and the court would decide if this ID theft/forged document needed to be followed up, depending on the outcome of the case!

[RosieCornwall]

I would just also add, that the writing looks like my son's writing, who is on bail now for his harassment of us but even the police who are dealing with that case say there's nothing they can do as this was committed in a different police area!

[EDDIE51]

The only way is to go to the court for the case plead not guilty and prove it was not him. You have the proof but he will have to actually go to the court for the trial and show that proof to the court when he is in the dock and under oath.
Have you got a solicitor? if not go and get one tomorrow morning and tell them all you have told us here.

[RosieCornwall]

Thank you for your reply Eddie51. We haven't got a solicitor as we thought this might be something that we could do for ourselves as although we both work, we can't afford a solicitor as we are moving soon to escape the harassment so saving hard. Do you think that he will be found guilty then, if we don't have a solicitor?

[EDDIE51]

This is a complicated case, you are clearly not guilty and can prove it. But you need a solicitor to help and advise you. I am wondering how your OH came to be found guilty of the red light offence in the first place?
It must have been by a police officer or a camera that identified the number plate of the car that ran the light, how was that car shown as your OH's ?
It looks like someone has registered a car as belonging to your OH and possibly even got a driving licence in you OH's name. That needs to be sorted out as well as this case.
You could just go to court and take the proof you have, that will get you off this time but there needs to be an investigation into who started all this. Who ever did it has got away at present

[EDDIE51]

sorry hit submit too soon.
>> and may do it again , they need to be stopped.

[RosieCornwall]

From what we can gather from the papers that were sent by the court, the person who owns the car gave my OH's name and this address, which is where we don't live. The form got sent to that address and someone at that address filled out the form with the details of my husband's name, DOB and drivers licence having ticked the box to swear it was them driving the car. The DVLA wrote to my husband at our address as that's the address that his licence is actually registered too, but all the court paperwork presumably went to this other address hence we never knew anything about it until the DVLA wrote and requested he send his licence in.

[RosieCornwall]

Oh I should also add that the car isn't registered in my husband's name (the DVLA told us that but wouldn't tell us who it was registered too) and it was a traffic light camera that took the picture. I have told our local police force and the other police force that this is part of the greater harassment case and they should look at the bigger picture, but they aren't concerned as I understand (but am not 100% sure) that the address given as my husband's, is an address used by my son.

[Canary42]

Surely the police should be prosecuting your son for fraud/impersonation/perverting the course of justice, or whatever - similar to the Huhne case.

[factor-fiction]

Is there any evidence that it was a car bearing the same number plate as yours?

[Baldric]

///Oh I should also add that the car isn't registered in my husband's name (the DVLA told us that but wouldn't tell us who it was registered too)///

Don't think that's been suggested ff.

[Peter Pedant]

What can you do ?
Go and see a solicitor
and it will of course cost

I cant believe impersonation hasnt happened before
( but perhaps it is like me and the bailiffs - they wont b altho elieve that the debtor has moved THAT cant be the first time )

You may well be timed out for a first hearing and therefore forced to appeal which would be to another court -and not recoverable court costs

and there will come a time when you get a pen and paper and do the sums and find out that it MIGHT be cheaper to pay the fine .....

sorry to give you good news

[EDDIE51]

You need a solicitor to write to the courts and the police and demand that this is investigated. You can do all this yourself, but the police/courts will take more notice of a solicitor. Many solicitors offer a free 1/2 hour consultation or an hour for £75 you would be well advised to take advantage of this for advice and to find the best way to resolve this. It is. too complicated to sort out online

[EDDIE51]

PP ^^ admitting this when you did not do it means that you will have points on your licence that you should not have and a big increase in your insurance premiums. It is not just about the fine.

[Peter Pedant]

Eddie - I admire your respect for right and wrong
and marvel at your expectation that the Police are at all interested in anything besides a result
and wonder at your view that the authorities who should care for what happened, have any interest at all in what happened


I thought everyone had an episode in their past that they have thought,
'it'll go away faster if I just say I did it...'

[lcg]

you may be able to get a solicitor through your home insurance - check and see if you have legal cover for this sort of thing.....good luck, i know how rotten vindictive relatives can be x

[EDDIE51]

PP if this was just a parking fine I would probabaly agree with you that paying up is easier. But there is more to this, it looks almost certain that someone has 'cloned' the questioners car number plate, if nothing is done there will be more offences that the fraudster will run up. How would you feel if the next offence was one of failing to stop after an accident where someone was killed?
Would you say ''It is easier just to serve the prison sentence, than try to fight it?''

[New Judge]

Just to explain that the Statutory Declaration does not put the matter to rest. All it does is to formally inform the court that your OH knew nothing of the proceedings which took place in his absence and at which he was convicted. Your OH will have to ask the court to re-open the case and to “set aside” the original conviction (which effectively treats it as if it never happened). What happens next is that he must formally enter a “not guilty” plea. After a case management hearing (which may be held on the same day as the plea is entered) the matter will be listed for trial.

It is certainly true that the burden of proof rests with the prosecution. They have evidence to support the commission of the offence and they have papers which purport to have been completed by your OH admitting he was the driver. This should be sufficient, without a defence being entered, to achieve a conviction (and indeed it did at the original hearing).

The burden thus shifts to your OH to refute the allegations. He has a two pronged defence. Firstly he should be able to show that he did not complete those papers. Secondly he can show that he could not have been in the locality at the time of the allegation. (Obviously if the first is successful, the second need not follow). The level of proof he is required to achieve is not “beyond reasonable doubt” but on the much lower “balance of probabilities” (That is, his version of events is more likely to be true than not).

However, as Eddie has made clear, this is quite a complex matter and ideally a solicitor should present the case on his behalf. In fact, a lawyer may well argue that since your OH knew nothing of the proceedings he also knew nothing of the request for the driver’s details, had not supplied them, and so the prosecution cannot be sure they have the right person before the court.

[RosieCornwall]

Thank you all for your replies, I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer my queries. I have used the answers to finally persuade my husband that we do need a solicitor as although the car used was a different make and model to my husband's and there is no link between my husband the car, someone has got hold of his information and used it to forge the "confession" and it's really the principle of the thing as opposed to whether or not we should take the route of least expense and resistance (paying the fine and taking the points). I have called a solicitors up today and am awaiting a call back from someone. If they haven't called by lunchtime tomorrow, I shall call them back and ask why, or alternatively, just find another lawyer, who is going to call me back!

[bhg481]

Many motor insurance policies have an option for legal cover - did you take up the option?

[RosieCornwall]

Unfortunately my husband didn't take up the option of legal cover, due to the extra cost!