Road Traffic Act 1988, section 172.

It may be tempting to decide that punishment can be avoided by ignoring the requirement to provide information under this section. Please don’t think so. This piece of legislation has teeth, and rather an unpleasant sting in its tail!

When an offence has been committed, the keeper of the vehicle shall give information as to the identity of the driver. Failure to comply with the request constitutes an offence for which a defendant can be disqualified or have his license endorsed with six penalty points and receive a large fine. Therefore, failure to comply with the notice to provide details of the driver may result in receiving a more severe punishment than for the original offence.

A defence is available under this section.

The consequence of this piece of legislation also emphasized the need to inform DVLA of change of address. I had a client who was disqualified under this enactment without knowing it! The client had moved house and did not inform DVLA of his change of address. The client thus did not receive the request for information. The Magistrates proceeded in his absence, and this second offence attracted a period of disqualification.

A company is equally liable to prosecution as is an individual, and should be careful about maintaining records of who was driving a vehicle at a particular time.

As with all things legal, ring up and get some advice.