Notice of Intended Prosecution served beyond 14 days on company driver

My work today informed me that the company van I drive was caught speeding on the 5th December 2006. I do not dispute this nor the fact that I was the driver. On receiving the letter the Notice of Intended Prosection is dated 2nd Jan 2007. Surely this cant be proper procedure as the prerequisite 14 days has expired. Can you advise me?

Section 1(1) Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 requires that Notices of Intended Prosecution must be served within 14 days if a prosecution is to be successful.

But section 2 subsection 3 of the same act provides that "failure to comply with the requirement of s1(1) of this act is not a bar to the conviction of the accused in case where the court is satisfied:-
      (a) that neither the name and address of the accused nor the name and address of the registered keeper could with reasonable diligence have been ascertained in time for the notice to be served in compliance with s1(1)"

This is something of a get-out clause for the police and means that if your employer was informed within 14 days (or a day or two of it) they are granted more time to contact you. It might be worth checking with your employer the date that they received the notice, but if they were "in date" it is unlikely you have a defence on the date issue.

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