Who was driving the company car involved in an offence? Not just a casual request for information from the public prosecutor's office.

Wim SmetAdverit Antwerp, Belgium

The working day begins. Your motivated employees hop into their van to head to the construction site. They get stuck in traffic and already notice that it will be difficult to arrive at the site on time. Somewhere in the traffic jam, they just manage to slip through the amber or even red light along with the flow of traffic, or they try to make up time after the jam by pressing the accelerator a bit harder than allowed.

A few weeks or months later, a letter from the public prosecutor’s office lands in your mailbox. The van was caught by a speed camera, and you are asked to disclose, within fifteen days, who was driving the vehicle in question. Too many entrepreneurs put this letter on the “not urgent” pile, and it gets lost sight of. A few months later, however, a summons is served on your company because you failed to disclose the identity of the driver.

By that point, it is too late to comply with the request from the public prosecutor’s office. You are summoned solely and exclusively because you failed to comply with the obligation to disclose the identity of the driver. The penalties imposed for this are often surprisingly high for the company in question. Including the additional decimes, this can quickly add up to several thousand euros, and in the case of repeat offences, the fine (usually) increases even further.

In some cases, there is a police court judge who agrees with the reasoning that it has not been proven that the letter requesting information was actually sent or received. Sometimes a police court judge can be persuaded to apply the law leniently. Experience teaches us, however, that the public prosecutor’s office quite quickly lodges an appeal in such cases, and that the criminal court of appeal often converts the acquittal or lenient sentence into a heavier conviction.

So do not let such a request for information go unanswered.

Questions about traffic law? Get in touch via contact@alisadvocaten.be

Related practice areas

Transport law Corporate law Civil law

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