Road Traffic Act 1988 - Section 172

This deals with the requirement to disclose who was driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged speeding offence.

The keeper of the vehicle has a legal obligation, under Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act, to provide the name of the person who was driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged speeding offence. If the keeper cannot remember who was driving their vehicle they may contact the police to establish who was driving and ask for a copy of the photograph.The police may then send a copy of the photograph or may reply (particulalry in the case of gatso cameras) that the photograph is only intended to identify the vehicle not the driver.

The registered keeper will still have a duty to provide the name of the driver, or names of possible drivers.

If the keeper fails to name the driver, they may be liable to prosecution and the punishment could be worse than for the speeding offence, i.e. 6 points, a fine and costs.

Section 172.-4 of the 1988 Act says:

"A person shall not be guilty of an offence by virtue of paragraph (a) of subsection (2) above if he shows that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained who the driver of the vehicle was".

It is up to the registered keeper to show that he has used "reasonable diligence"

See Company Cars for information about cars owned by companies and other organisations.