Failure to Disclose to the Police the Identity of a Driver

Specialist Motoring Offences Solicitor with over 35 years’ expertise in this area. Let me help you.

If your vehicle is involved in a road traffic accident or offence, you have a legal obligation to reveal who was driving at the time of the incident – even if it was not you.

If you do not know and cannot reasonably ascertain the identity of the driver, you need to put forward a solid defence that exonerates you. At Donnachie Law we can help you with this, ensuring you are not penalised for failing to disclose to the police the identity of a driver.

Please call us now on Freephone 0800 678 5167 or make an Online Enquiry today and let us explain your options.

“I was facing 2 charges, namely dangerous driving and speeding at speeds of up to 120mph. Naturally, I was pretty worried. I was put in touch with Paul Donnachie of Donnachie Law. He agreed to represent me.

Long story short, Paul met with someone in the Procurator Fiscal’s office and went over the charges with him. He managed to negotiate the dropping of the dangerous driving charge. And the Fiscal agreed also to limit the speeding charge to “speeds of up to 100mph”.

I tendered a guilty plea to the amended speeding charge and received a fine and 5 penalty points. I was amazed and delighted at the outcome especially since losing my licence would probably have meant losing my job as well. I doubt many other lawyers could have achieved a result like that.”

JM, Kirkcaldy

Penalties for failing disclose the identity of a driver

If you are charged with failing to disclose the identity of a driver to the police, you could be fined up to £1,000 and have your licence endorsed with six penalty points. The court also has the discretion to disqualify you.

Disclosing the identify of a driver to the police

You may have been contacted by the police asking who was driving your vehicle on a particular date, at a particular time and place. This might be because your vehicle was involved in a road traffic accident but failed to stop. Or it may have been caught speeding or involved in some other road traffic offence, yet the police cannot establish who was driving – often because the offence was caught on camera.

Usually what happens is that the police will use the vehicle registration number to track down the keeper of the vehicle. If this is you, it is likely that you will receive a letter in the post, asking you to disclose the identity of the driver at the time of the incident. If you know who it was, you have a legal obligation to inform the police.

However, there are times when you genuinely do not know who was driving your vehicle. Perhaps you cannot remember or you were not present. In such circumstances you have a duty to attempt to discover the identity of the driver through ‘reasonable diligence’. But what you must not do is guess.

If you honestly do not know who was driving at the time of the incident, and you cannot find out, you must tell the police this. Nevertheless, the burden is on you to explain why you do not know who the driver was, and why you cannot find out.

If you do not provide a compelling reason, it may result in you being prosecuted for failing to comply with the request to disclose the identity of the driver. This may occur even if you were sent a letter in error, or you never actually received a letter in the first place.

How can we help?

Whatever the circumstances, we can help you navigate this difficult situation. We can act as your legal representative, putting forward a defence that explains why you have not disclosed (and cannot disclose) the identity of the driver.

We have successfully defended a number of clients who have been charged with this offence, including one man who could not confirm the identity of the driver because he was so intoxicated at the time, he could not reasonably be expected to know. The court in that case returned a verdict of not proven.

As this case demonstrates, having the support of an experienced solicitor can make all the difference. Your legal expert will have a thorough understanding of the law, and can apply this knowledge to show why you should be absolved of blame. This can be difficult to achieve if you are representing yourself.

Contact us now

If you have been accused of failing to disclose to the police the identity of a driver, please contact us now on Freephone 0800 678 5167 or complete our Free No Obligation Initial Enquiry.

If we feel we cannot assist you, we will let you know at the start. If we believe, however, that we can successfully defend your case or present strong mitigating circumstances to the court, we will act on your behalf, working hard to preserve your licence.