Can I appeal against a speeding fine

beve123

Can I appeal

I was caught by a speeding camera doing 30 in a 40. The letter came to say I was driver which I filled in straight away and posted. I didn't hear anything else than I got a letter from the dvla to ask for my driving license as I had appeared in court and been fined in my absence. They had also put an article in the local newspaper I had been fined 780 and 6 points on my license
But I didn't know anything about being in court nor received any documentation as the summons was sent to a previous address in which I might add hadn't lived there for 12 months .
I phoned the courts straight away then I had to go and do a sat deck done. I received another court summons and appeared pleaded guilty and now they have issued me with a £85 fine 3 points and £85 court costs. Do you think I could appeal on the grounds I never received the paper work to start off with or should I just grin and bear it I told them I can only afford £5 a week.
Thanks for reading
Beve

Aretnap

If you were doing 30 in a 40 then you certainly shouldn't have been convicted! I assume that's a typo though.

You certainly can't appeal against the conviction, having pleaded guilty - and apart from the original NIP (which you did receive), late receipt or non-receipt of documents wouldn't give you a defence anyway.

You might in theory be able to appeal against the sentence. Normally you would have been offered a fixed penalty of 3 points and £100 if you were not too far over the limit - and if you weren't offered one due solely to administrative difficulties (such as post going astray) then the court has guidelines to fine you the same amount and not imposed costs.

However it would not be worth the risks and cost of a formal appeal to the Crown Court (several hundred pounds) to reduce the penalty by £70. You could ask the magistrates court to look at it again informally, but unless the non-appearance of the fixed penalty was something you mentioned in the mitigation statement at the time you pleaded guilty the answer might well be no - generally the time to plead with the court to give you a reduced sentence is before they sentence you, not after.

Still, you're not much worse off than you would have been with the fixed penalty, and you can ask to pay by installments, and they'll probably accept that if your income is low (I assume it is as you were only fined £85).

Ebe_Scrooge

I'm a little confused by your post. First off I assume your were caught doing 40 in a 30 zone, not 30 in a 40.

But if the court sent the papers to the wrong address then I think you would have a good case. Not against the speeding fine, sounds like you were caught bang to rights. But it seems harsh to penalise you for failing to turn up.

My question is why the summons went to the wrong address. Presumably you notified the DVLA when you moved, since they seem to have your correct address. I would assume the court would have sent the summons to the registered keeper as well ?

You say you phoned the court ( no idea what a "sat deck" is ? ) Did you not ask them then why they'd sent the summons to your old address ?

Retrogamer

You're not going to get much better than that to be honest, so i'd just accept that.

Is the address on your driving license and V5 up to date with DVLA?

scotsbob

What are you appealing against? You pleaded guilty.

beve123

Thanks for your replies. I should of read though before sending. Yes I was doing 40 in a 30 my driving license etc is all to my new address in which I did January 2013. Somewhere along the line the letter for a fixed penalty arrives and possibly an offer of a speed awareness test didn't come. So because of that a summons was sent to my old address which I obversely didn't receive therefore a failing to attend court so they fined me in my absence. I only knew that I'd massed court when the dvla asked for my drinking license to be returned.
I'm fully prepared to pay the penalty notice and accept the 3 points on my license but think it's unfair to fine me for it going to court when it shouldn't have gone there in the first place. This was around Christmas time so I know the Royal Mail department is busy.
Thanks again
Beve

Ebe_Scrooge

beve123 wrote: »

Somewhere along the line the letter for a fixed penalty arrives and possibly an offer of a speed awareness test didn't come.

So you received the fixed penalty notice ? The "possibility" of a speed awareness course is irrelevant. Why didn't you pay the fixed penalty ? I did think it was odd that it even went to court in the first place - that would tend to imply that you just ignored the FPN ? If that's the case, then I think you've got off very lightly with £85 and 3 points. Ignoring an FPN is not to be taken lightly. Yes, appeal it or contest it if you wish, but don't just ignore it.

DaveF327

beve123 wrote: »

the dvla asked for my drinking license to be returned.

Drinking licence? I think we know why you appear somewhat disorganised

think it's unfair to fine me for it going to court when it shouldn't have gone there in the first place.

It's a legal requirement to notify DVLA of a change of address immediately, both for your driving licence and for your vehicle registration. You're lucky you weren't also fined for failing to notify an address change, especially as you've lived at your address for a whole year now and haven't told them. If you didn't tell them, then you're to blame for proceedings reaching the stage that they have.

beve123

I think I need to invest in a dictionary. Sorry about the bad spelling I'm writing on my phone with a cracked screen lol x

Mark_Mark

scotsbob wrote: »

What are you appealing against? You pleaded guilty.

The £85 fine, so it will be against the sentence.

k3lvc

beve123 wrote: »

I think I need to invest in a dictionary. Sorry about the bad spelling I'm writing on my phone with a cracked screen lol x

Hopefully not whilst driving :rotfl: