Unsuspecting drivers are being set up in a trick to aid reckless drivers dodge fines. A police officer explained how less fortunate motorists have experienced terrible outcomes after being incorrectly accused of traffic crimes in areas they’ve probably never visited. In one scenario, an individual was framed for 30 offences.
These tricks are sometimes called ‘Nip farms’, because the notices of intended prosecution are messed with by scammers. We recently wrote about Diyar Ali, a ’30-something’ barber from Tenby who ended up behind bars after blaming two of his own speeding offences on an unaware delivery driver, causing him to lose his job. PC John Whiles spoke to WalesOnline about this case and other suspected NIP farm frauds he’s stumbled upon.
PC Whiles, a 55 year old from Neath who works in Wales’ GoSafe speed camera squad, commented: “What’s strange in all this is that, in most of these cases, they’re quite trivial initial offences,” and “You’d probably get a speed awareness course out of it. But instead of that they try to pin it on someone else and end up in prison. I don’t think they realise the consequences. They’re probably taking bad advice from someone down the pub, or maybe being misguided by social media.” To keep up with the latest happenings, sign up for the Wales Matters newsletter here.
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Nip farm fraudsters, who operate across England and Wales, sell innocent people’s details to drivers who want to avoid punishment for an offence like speeding or using a phone at the wheel. The victims often end up being taken to court without their knowledge. Although GoSafe has helped bring to justice drivers who paid Nip farms for other people’s details, it has never been able to build a case against those providing the service. PC Whiles said it had “crossed the mind” of his team that there could be a culprit working for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and selling drivers’ details, though he added that this is only a suspicion. (The DVLA told us that police have not raised this concern with the agency.)
In 2021, Diyar Ali was caught speeding in a Toyota Yaris in Sketty, Swansea. He claimed another driver, who lived in Sussex, was behind the wheel at the time. However, he used an address for asylum seekers in Swansea, where he was able to intercept the letter. The innocent driver ended up with three points and a £220 fine without knowing about it.
In 2022, Ali was caught speeding again, this time driving at 64mph in a 50mph zone near Carmarthen. He blamed the same person again, who ended up with another fine and more points on their licence. But a sharp-eyed colleague of PC Whiles noticed that the same name had come up twice from Ali. The plot thickened when they found out that this person’s name was linked to 30 cases all over the UK. It turned out that many drivers were using a scheme to wrongly blame this one man, a delivery driver who lost his job and got into debt because of it.
PC Whiles, who looked into the two cases with Ali, remembers him trying to make excuses in the police interview. Even though phone data, cameras, and work records proved Ali was speeding, he kept denying it. “He denied all knowledge and kept saying the person he named really was driving the car,” PC Whiles said. “You just let them say what they want to say. He was digging himself a hole.”
Ali admitted to trying to trick the court and was sentenced to eight months in prison. He will also be banned from driving for a year after he gets out of jail. “I would have been gutted if he didn’t go down for it, because what he did really affected the victim badly,” said PC Whiles.
The court heard that Ali might have paid about £300 to a Nip farm. These services are often advertised on social media sites like TikTok. PC Whiles believes that Nip farms only provide the victim’s details, such as their driving licence number. It’s then up to the customers to intercept any letters, like Ali did at the Home Office accommodation.
PC Whiles has dealt with around ten cases of drivers using false details in his five years in the unit. Apart from Ali, only one driver told the police they had used a Nip farm. This driver, from Llanelli, said he paid £300 for someone else’s details and gave the police information about the Nip farm he used. The police searched a property and took computers, but they couldn’t prove that the person they suspected was providing the service.
PC Whiles has had cases where he thought people might be using a NIP farm, but no one has said they did. “There was a gentleman in Swansea about a year or so ago who had a letter from the ticket office saying he’d been caught speeding, but he wasn’t in the area at the time. It was the same procedure, and when it went to court the suspect claimed he’d found the victim’s driving licence on the ground and decided to use the details. But the victim had never lost his licence, so that was a lie. I think the guy was using a Nip farm.”
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PC Whiles wonders why people don’t admit to using these services. “Whether they get threatened, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know whether it’s one person running it or a gang. But we want to put out the message that there will be consequences. If you use a Nip farm, you will be caught.”
Last October, police in Devon and Cornwall searched 12 places and arrested eight men linked to a suspected Nip farm. Six were held for possibly trying to mess with justice, and one of them was also suspected of modern slavery crimes. Two others were taken for immigration issues. The police said it looked like organised crime and the living conditions were “unsafe”.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.
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