Court summons for speeding - advice please

ellas9602

Thanks again. Have got the telephone number for the police camera dept - will try them on Wednesday

LincolnshireYokel

Im still baffled why you turned down the easy option, the Speed Awareness Course. What did you think would happen after you turned it down?

ellas9602

I thought we would recieve and pay a fixed penalty notice.

ilovecakey

You can do the speed awareness course anywhere, it doesn't have to be in the town the offence happend, but you may have to pay a slighlty different amount if you complete the course in a different area.

Crazy_Jamie

The most likely outcome at this stage is that your OH will have to comply with the summons and attend at court. Clearly you have either missed the subsequent correspondence after sending back the s.172 notice, or it hasn't reached you. In the circumstances if your OH explains to the court that he had every intention of pleading guilty and paying the fine without the matter coming to court, and indeed expected to be able to do so but didn't receive anything further before the summons, the Magistrates may well accept that and simply impose a fine identical to what would have been imposed originally.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

ellas9602 wrote: »

The only paperwork we received was the SAC stuff and another document which we have completed and they have received as they have sent us a copy this moring. It's called Section 172 Driver Statement. We have ticked that he was the driver at the time and given licence details etc.
We have been expecting notice of a fine but have received nothing further.

Just a thought, is the summons for the speeding or a Section 172 offence? Was the s172 notice filled in and signed by the person it was addressed to, and was it done within 28 days?

HO87

Understanding why the police did not offer a conditional offer of fixed penalty will not help the OP to any great degree. The offer of a course, or indeed a fixed penalty, as an alternative to prosecution is discretionary and the police are under no obligation to offer either and it must remain possible that the OP inadvertently ticked the "court" option. In any event he is where he is. As inconvenient as the course may have been dealing with this may well prove to be more so.

I would recommend that the OP's OH attends court on the appointed day in person. Although there is limited mitigation that can be offered in respect of an allegation of speeding (it is what is known as a strict liability offence and as there is no requirement that he had guilty knowledge) he could nevertheless speak on his own behalf to explain what happened. He will need to have completed the means form (detailing his pay etc) before attending court so that the court can accurately calculate any fine they impose as without it they will assess his earnings as being the maximum which could see a fine of £300 plus. He should respectfully ask the court to consider imposing a penalty that mirrors that of a fixed penalty (£60) - the 3 points are mandatory.

With luck he'll avoid too much by way of costs. These currently vary between £43 and £87 for a guilty plea. The victims levy of £15 is inescapable. All in all he should not come out of things much more than £110-120 worse off.

If he chooses to plead guilty by letter expect a rubber-stamp type penalty.

Although it is now irrelevant not all courses are interchangeable. Those courses that are ACPO approved are - subject to availability and the requirement that they be completed within 3 months of the alleged offence. Not all courses are so approved - such as that offered by Avon & Somerset.

ellas9602

We have contacted the police who have provided us with the date the Fixed penalty was sent and we have reported the item as lost to Royal Mail (just thought a case reference from them might help)
I'm fairly sure that the SAC was only available in the twon he was speeding in, irrelevant now anyway.
I'm surprised reminders are not sent in regards to Fixed penalties as they are not sent recorded, this must happen a lot and is a waste of taxpayers money as far as I can see.
Thanks for the advice given. OH will attend and plead guilty, just hoping they go lightly on us.

ellas9602

This hadn't occurred to me earlier but oh has to submit his license to the courts, hearing is 03/07 and we have a driving holiday booked to france on the 13/07. Oh needs to do all the driving. Is he likely to be able to do this still? Does anyone know the timescales surrounding the process?

Coupon-mad

ellas9602 wrote: »

This hadn't occurred to me earlier but oh has to submit his license to the courts, hearing is 03/07 and we have a driving holiday booked to france on the 13/07. Oh needs to do all the driving. Is he likely to be able to do this still? Does anyone know the timescales surrounding the process?

Oh dear. I am not convinced this is going to all be sorted before your holiday.