Notice of Impending Prosecution (NIP) farms 572/2026
FOI Reference: 572/2026
Request:
1.On how many occasions has your force issued a Notice of Impending Prosecution (NIP) in the following financial years?
i) 2021/22
ii) 2022/23
iii) 2023/24
iv) 2024/25
v) 2025/26
2.How many properties in your area are currently suspected as being "Notice of Impending Prosecution (NIP) Farms"?
A NIP farm is an organised scheme where individuals or groups take payment in order to help individuals avoid motoring offences.
3.How many of these properties in question 2 are suspected by police to be the subject of cuckooing?
4.How many properties have been named on 20 or more separate occasions as the driver’s address by someone in receipt of a Notice of Impending Prosecution between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2026?
5.How many properties have been named on 50 or more separate occasions as the driver’s address by someone in receipt of a Notice of Impending Prosecution between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2026?
6.How many properties have been named on 100 or more separate occasions as the driver’s address by someone in receipt of a Notice of Impending Prosecution between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2026?
7.What is the most amount of times a single property has been named as the driver’s address by someone in receipt of a Notice of Impending Prosecution between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2026?
8.How many people have been charged in connection with operating a suspected NIP farm in each of the following financial years. Please provide details of which offence(s) they were charged under.
i) 2021/22
ii) 2022/23
iii) 2023/24
iv) 2024/25
v) 2025/26
9.How many people have been charged on suspicion of using NIP farms to avoid prosecution in each of the following financial years. Please provide details of which offence(s) they were charged under.
i) 2021/22
ii) 2022/23
iii) 2023/24
iv) 2024/25
v) 2025/26
10.How many of the people in question 8 were prosecuted. Please break down the figures by the following financial years:
i) 2021/22
ii) 2022/23
iii) 2023/24
iv) 2024/25
v) 2025/26
11.How many of the people in question 9 were prosecuted. Please break down the figures by the following financial years:
i) 2021/22
ii) 2022/23
iii) 2023/24
iv) 2024/25
v) 2025/26
Response:
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
I can confirm that the cost of determining whether any information relative to this request is or isn’t held is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond therefore we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12 (2) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies. The following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested:
Section 12(2) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of determining what information is held, if any, relevant to Questions 8 - 11 is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. between 19 - 37 hours) to comply with your request. The regulations can be located @https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244
The Freedom of Information department has been advised that some of the information in respect of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. The relevant department have reviewed the request and established that the required data is not currently retrievable through existing data reporting products and an existing script does not exist. Consequently, the steps required to initially understand if the data is available and subsequently complete the required extraction, verification, and analysis, through the writing of a new bespoke script, would exceed 18 hours. A breakdown of the steps required and the estimated time it would take per step is detailed below:
|
Stage |
Description |
Time estimate |
|
1 |
Review which server and database might contain the data required for the FOI request |
2 hours |
|
2 |
Identify and scope the necessary tables and columns that might hold the relevant data |
4 hours |
|
3 |
Consult with SMEs or system owners to confirm the selected tables and columns are appropriate |
4 hours |
|
4 |
Develop new script to extract the requested data |
4 hours |
|
5 |
Send the data extract to SMEs / system owners, to confirm accuracy |
4 hours |
|
6 |
(Steps 1-5 repeated should data be inaccurate) |
18 hours |
|
7 |
Data sent to the Performance Team to analyse and respond to FOI |
1 hour |
In accordance therefore with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the Whole of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact. You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours, should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit. Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.
Please note: For Questions 1-7 I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does not hold the information requested, due to the fact that when an officer stops an individual for a Traffic offence, the officer will issue a verbal NIP when reporting the individual at the side of the road.
If an individual is found to have committed a traffic offence via means of speed camera vans or fixed cameras then the Safety Camera Partnership in Pontypridd will send a paper NIP to the registered keeper.
Unfortunately, we do not record the number of NIPs issued by officers within our force, nor do not keep records of the number of NIP’s that are sent to a specific address in order for us to identify a NIP farm.
This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 26/06/2026.
|
Os oes angen y wybodaeth yma arnoch yn Gymraeg, cysylltwch â: If you require this information in Welsh, please contact: |