Yorke and Mawdesley
The High Court has now “clarified” the lacuna relating to unsigned “driver identification forms” for speeding offences.
The basic thrust of the the ruling [pdf] is that, an unsigned form is not admissible as evidence as a statement. However, it might amount to a confession under PACE (although the judge didn’t rule on whether it actually did or not in the case in question, passing it back to the magistrates to consider).
In Dwight Yorke’s case as his agent had filled in the form on his behalf, there was no possibility of it being a confession.
It seems therefore that the best approach for anyone receiving an s172 form now might be to get someone else to fill it in for them! Of course then we’re faced with the question as to whether or not that’s complying with the obligation for the registered keeper to fill in the form …
I suspect we’ll see more action yet in this regard!
