Speeding - Have I got away with it?

[up4it999]

Following on from a couple of my other questions :-
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Motoring/Questi on277158.html
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Motoring/Questi on269294.html

I was told the police/magistrates court, have 6 months to write to me with a summons to appear otherwise they cannot proceed with any prosecution

My 6 months is up now and I have not heard a word or received anything in the post - does that mean that they are not going to proceed or that they cannot now commence any proceedings against me?

Some *cough* helpful colleagues at work have told me that this is not true and it is 6 months from when the CPS receive the evidence, so in theory the police could do nothing for a year and then forward everything to the CPS and then they write to me and I can still get charged

What is the law in this regard? Are they just winding me up or can I stop sweating?

[curlyperm]

brace yourself for the doo-gooders up4it ; P
i got my fingers crossed that you can stop sweating x

[NORMANTHEDOG]

did you had a fixed penalty notice sent to you,in the first place,did you dispute it and ask for a court hearing,or have you never heard a thing,answers please

[up4it999]

It wasn't a fixed speed camera, they were stood on the side of the road with a radar gun and pulled me over at the time. Because they stopped me at the time they didn't have to send me a NIP (Notice of Intent of Prosecution), and when they stopped me they said I was going too fast for a fixed penalty so I would have to go to magistrates court.

As an aside someone else told me that if they give you a fixed penalty the police get the fine but if you go to magistrates court then the fine goes to another pot and the police don't see any of it, so there is no incentive for the police to follow up on drivers going too fast if they are snowed under. Maybe this is why I haven't heard anything

So in theory if you are going to speed its better to be speeding at just under 30 over the limit i.e. I was doing 67 in a 40 zone - probably not a good defense though lol

[claguey]

If you were going too fast for a fixed penalty then the officers will have to put in a summons file to have you prosecuted. The officer has a six months statutory limitation period from the date of the offence to submit the summons file for a prosection to be initiated - not for the prosecution to take place, that can take much longer depending on court backlogs. Basically this means you are not off the hook yet. I must say though, if you were speeding that much you deserve to get done. Speed is a contributory factor in almost 75% of collisions resulting in death or serious injury, think about that next time you're tempted to put your foot to the floor.
No curlyperm i'm not a doo-gooder just a person whose job it is to try and reduce the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on the roads.

[curlyperm]

yada yada yada