Letter received from the FPN office in reply to mine pointing out the defects, confirming that they are taking no further action. Job done!

Thanks pin1onu I had gathered from other postings that the FPN is a take it or leave it deal, but as you suggest I intend to decline it setting out my reasons. My understanding from one of the posts onhere is that it then goes back to the Plod who issued it. As you say, once he realises he has f***** it up, I am hoping that would be the end of it. If not I don't mind giving them a run for their money in the Magistrates. I did that on a camera offence a couple of years back and when I explained my argument to the police prosecutor (photo did not identify the driver - again me or the wife and we didn't know which), she withdrew the case.

Thank you for the helpful comments. I have managed to track down the actual government Regulation which governs compulsory seat belt wearing - it is here - The Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts) Regulations 1993 The Regs make it clear that the onus is on the passenger. As Plod issued the FPN to me as the driver, I agree that it therefore appears invalid on that alone, not to mention the fact that he has not specified any offence. Also we appear to have a good secondary argument in that the seatbelt was pulled down and not unbuckled as the regulation simply states that you must "wear" the belt - there is no definition of what wearing entails I am minded to challenge the FPN and will post back how I get on. If anyone has any further views, please let me know!

Here it is FPN002.pdf

I'll try that as a pdf and hope the resolution is better!

He issued the FPN to me, though it was my wife who was the alleged offender. I thought that was correct though. My understanding is that the driver is responsible for making sure everyone wears a seatbelt - otherwise how would they get you for not strapping in your kids? I have attached an image of the ticket with some of the details blurred out - I have not touched the Offence description section though.

As we pulled in to motorway services my young son in the back undid his seatbelt. My wife pulled her seatbelt down and turned round to lean over into the back to re do his seat belt. At this point, I noticed that the police were doing some kind of exercise and we drove past a traffic officer who was observing traffic coming into the services. Further along the road we were pulled over by another officer who issued an fixed penalty notice (non-endorsable offence) in respect of my wife not wearing her seatbelth he said had been observed by the first officer and radioed ahead. We protested strongly that my wife had not removed her seatbelt, but he was having none of it - we obviously got him flustered though as when we got to the services I noticed that he had ommitted to enter any details on the FPN to state what offence was being committed. Two questions: 1. Does anyone know exactly what constitutes the seatbelt offence? My wife was clearly not belted in the conventional fashion (it was across her midriff as she was facing into the rear of the car). 2. Does the failure to state the offence invalidate the FPN? I am not sure whether the officer will have recorded the details elsewhere, however as thet were on some sort of exercise involving about a dozen officers, this was probably just one of many he issued that day. Thanks for any help