3pt Fixed Speeding Penalty & Fine Increased Due To DVLA Error

Stanthedog

Earlier this year in March, I unfortunately when driving home I made a mistake and exceeded the speed limit in a 40 mph speed limit zone and I was stopped by a Police traffic officer. I received a fixed penalty notice, with a 3 point endorsement and £60 fine. 1 week later I presented my documents at a Police station, copy of my insurance certificate and my paper and photo driving license, which I left with them for processing and for forwarding to the DVLA. At the same time I received a Police witness statement acknowledging that I had attended and for the receipt of my documentation. Several weeks later the £60 fine was debited from my credit card and my license was returned to me.

Approximately 4 weeks ago I was surprised to receive a summons to attend a magistrates court for the same offence. Given that my understanding was that this matter was closed and being surprised at this I contacted the court to query why this at reached the attention of the court. At first I was informed that the authorities had no record that I had surrendered my license and paid the fine, but subsequent investigations by the court confirmed that this was not the case and that through no fault of my own an administrative error had been made and that DVLA had not properly endorsed my license and that the fine I had paid had only been put into a holding account. I queried if this could be corrected without the need for a magistrate to hear the case, after all I had followed the correct process for surrendering my license and the £60 fine had been paid. I was informed that it was not possible to stop the court case but I should not worry as this would be considered by the magistrate and the court having investigated this would make them aware. I therefore had no option to plead guilty, after all I was guilty of speeding, but to support my case I documented the above history and I also enclosed a copy of the police witness statement confirming that I had previously submitted my documents, and my credit card online banking credit card statement to show that the fine had been correctly paid.

The case was held earlier this week. Due to work commitments, I am self employed and was working away, I did not attend, hence my guilty by post plea. Last night I returned home and a letter was waiting for me with the decision of the court. Given that I have followed the full correct procedure, an error had been acknowledged by the court administrative assistants, and through not fault of my own this had reached the court's attention I was expecting that the matter would be closed and the 3 point endorsement and already paid £60 fine would stand. Opening the letter I was shocked to learn that the 3 point endorsement had been increased to 4 points and that the £60 fine had been increased to £155 (£100 fine, £35 victim surcharge and £20 court costs)!! Where do I stand as it is obvious that an error has been made ( not by myself) and I now have to pay the increased fine by 28 October otherwise there is a threat of further legal costs and action. There is no mention that I have already paid £60 but I don't see why I have to accept the extra penalty point and increased fine. Am I able to appeal this decision, what are the implications of this? Should I be seeking legal advice? I feel totally aggrieved as I appear to be paying the price for someone else's error.This causing an incredible amount of stress and I want the get this sorted as soon as possible. I will be ringing the court when they open later this morning!

facade

Post this over at the pepipoo forums, people there will be able to give you good advice.

(Not that people here won't, but pepipoo has a lot more people with experience of the legal system)

Stooby2

As above or get a solicitor. You shouldn't have plead guilty and you should have gone to court. You will need to appeal this, but you must get proper advice to do it.

interstellaflyer

I bet they didn't even hear the case, just signed it off pre session without even reading it through as they knew you weren't attending, basically cases like this re-enforce my view that far too many Magistrates and Judges are incompetent old farts who don't live in the real world and they are far too biased towards believing organisations like the DVLA and Police as I found out at my expense.

forgotmyname

Why did you plead guilty? Get legal help ASAP.

interstellaflyer

forgotmyname wrote: »

Why did you plead guilty? Get legal help ASAP.

Because the OP was guilty of speeding and wasn't disputing that fact however, the OP had paid the fine and sent off his license and had paperwork to prove it, like I said, I bet they handled the case pre session saw speeding and guilty and din't read any further.

Iceweasel

Stanthedog - unfortunately your naivety and innocent belief that people would see the mistake was not of your making, and then dismiss all this nonsense, has come back to bite you.

Justice and the Law are two very different things.

You should have sought legal advice immediately the court papers arrived. Pleading guilty may not have been the best move - and not turning up to court was probably the biggest mistake of all.

It's all very well me, or anyone else, telling you what you should have done, but what's done is done.

You need a solicitor now - ASAP.

Contact the CAB in the first instance if you are not a member of the AA or RAC.

And post on pepipoo too.

Yorkie1

You need legal advice to apply to set the conviction aside on the grounds of being previously convicted (this is called autrefois convict).

As others have said, ask on pepipoo and seek legal advice.

mgdavid

Iceweasel wrote: »

......... - and not turning up to court was probably the biggest mistake of all.............

+1.
If it looked like you couldn't be bothered, why would they? If you had reason not to be there on that date you could and should have applied for adjournment to a date when you could attend.