The 14-day rule is absolute. If the police failed to serve your NIP within the statutory period, the prosecution is invalid.
Section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 requires that a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) must be served on the registered keeper within 14 days of the date of the alleged offence. This is a mandatory statutory requirement - not a guideline - and failure to comply renders the prosecution invalid.
Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, Section 1(1): "…a person shall not be convicted of [a relevant offence] unless…within fourteen days of the commission of the offence the notice of the intended prosecution was served on him by or on behalf of the chief officer of police."
The 14-day period runs from the date of the alleged offence. The NIP must have been received by the registered keeper within this period - it is not sufficient for the police to have merely posted it within 14 days. If the NIP arrived on day 15 or later, the prosecution fails.
We request proof of the date the NIP was actually posted and cross-reference it with the date you received it. If the police cannot demonstrate timely service, the prosecution is fatally flawed.
The NIP must be sent to the registered keeper's address as held by the DVLA. If the police sent the NIP to an incorrect or outdated address, the requirement for service may not have been satisfied.
Where the police issue a Section 172 notice (requiring the keeper to identify the driver), we examine whether it was served correctly and within the statutory timescales, and whether the requirements are properly framed.