A car registered to Mrs Rebecca Streek, 42, of Belvedere Road, Faversham was photographed by the Pin Hill safety camera in Canterbury travelling at 42mph in a 30mph limit on 11 January 2009.
Mrs Streek nominated her husband as the driver of the car after she was sent a penalty notice requesting driver information. After viewing a photograph of the offence Mr Stephen Streek, 44, claimed he had done everything he could to try and identify the driver but concluded it must have been his wife at the wheel. Identical letters from both husband and wife - which appeared to be downloaded from an internet site claiming the letter would 'get you off a speeding fine' - were sent to the Partnership nominating each other as the driver.
After several attempts from the Partnership’s Enquiry Officers to interview Mrs and Mr Streek, neither took the opportunity to explain why they could not remember who was driving the vehicle at the time of the offence.
Both were summonsed to court for offences under Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 of failing to identify the driver of a vehicle at the time of an offence. The couple pleaded guilty at Margate Magistrates Court on 24 November. Mr and Mrs Streek each received fines of £350 and court costs of £50. They both had their driving licences endorsed with 6 penalty points.
Rachel Wall, Communications Manager for the Partnership said: "It is the responsibility of the registered keeper to know who is driving their vehicle and when. By law the registered keeper must supply such information when requested to do so under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1998. If a keeper cannot honestly remember who was behind the wheel of their car at the time of an offence then a court will have to be convinced of the reasons for this. The court case involving Mr and Mrs Streek demonstrates how seriously speeding offences are taken and is a warning to anyone who thinks they can get away with it."