Postboxer wrote:Is it possible to ignore the fact a vehicle was used and press charges for GBH or ABH, then they wouldn't be able to hide behind not providing driver details.
On the contrary. My understanding is that the requirement to name the driver only applies to Road Traffic crimes (with some exceptions) and manslaughter. For other crimes a suspect can go "No Comment." For a trivial example there is no power to require a reg keeper to name the driver when a fast food carton got thrown out the window.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/172Usually when someone is convicted of failing to name the driver they can be disqualified though it is discretionary. It appears that in the case of a company this does not apply. As per
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/53/schedule/2 which for RTA 1988 S172 states disqualification discretionary except for subsections 5 and 11 which relate to offences by bodies corporate.
Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under this section and the offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to neglect on the part of, a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of that offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/172So if an offence is committed by a car owned or hired to a company and the fleet manager/secretary or whoever deals with vehicles claims they don't know who was driving it's points and a fine with no prospect of a ban.
I'm guessing the justification for this exemption was the practicalities of identifying the drivers of pooled cars months after an event. Even the best systems depend on good record keeping by employees. So banning a fleet manager when he couldn't say who was speeding may have been thought OTT.
IMO leaving it as a discretionary disqualification would be appropriate. A fleet manager could give evidence as to the systems in place and the attempts made to identify a driver and the court could make a decision.