Speeding Fine

Karen235

My hubby received an SP30 fine and was given the option to pay and attend an awareness course, which is what he wanted to do, however he selected the wrong option on payment which means he can’t now go on the course and will receive 3 points. He has been told by police that this can’t be reversed to allow him to re-apply, but surely that can’t be right?  Can anyone give any advice please ASAP. Many thanks 

Car_54

There is no entitlement to a course: it is entirely at the discretion of the police.

TooManyPoints

Yes it is right. Once the offer has lapsed it is no longer available. There is no right to a course (or a fixed penalty for that matter). The offers are made entirely at the discretion of the police, although they do tend to follow national guidelines. When your husband receives his offer of a fixed penalty make sure he sends in his licence once he has paid. If he does not the fixed penalty offer will lapse and the matter will be dealt with in court.

Just as a point of information, "SP30" is the endorsement code which is shown on the driver's record following either a conviction or fixed penalty. It has nothing to do with the fine. The two most common speeding endorsement codes for car drivers are SP30 (exceeding the speed limit on a public road) and SP50 (exceeding the speed limit on a motorway).

AdrianC

Karen235 said:

...however he selected the wrong option on payment which means he can’t now go on the course...

Can you give any more detail on this?

TooManyPoints

And also can you tell us how long ago the offence date was.

Karen235

Just to be clear, he received a fixed penalty notice, just in the last week or so, and because he was doing 34 mph in a 30 mph zone, he received a letter giving him the option of either accepting 3 points and paying £100, or option 2, going on a speed awareness course and paying the £100 fine. Obviously he didn’t want the points but stupidly, he selected option 2 in error (paying fine, get 3 points) and wants to be able to reverse that option and go for option 1 which is the penalty and the course. All of this was within 5 days of receiving the notice and within the 28 days time allowed to reply. I used the term SP30 as this is just what I thought it was called as that is what appears on the licence after it has been applied. Hope this makes sense, all he wants to do is change his choice instead of accepting the points, surely there’s a way of being able to do that? Thanks 

AdrianC

So it's not a "wrong option on payment" thing whilst booking the course...

He's actively chosen to take the fixed penalty, not the course... He can't change his choice after making it.

BTW, did you actually see the original s172 request to identify the driver? Prosecution for 34 in a 30 is massively unlikely.

Karen235

Oh my goodness this is proving more difficult and I feel I’m being questioned over each minute detail I’m providing. I have seen the letter he received, I’m going off my memory at the time of writing this so he was obviously over 35 mph to be precise as he has received a fixed penalty notice and a choice of options about what he wants to proceed with! He selected the wrong option when he rang to pay his fine, by mistake, and wanted to be able to change it, which is the reason for my question, I’ve tried to be as clear as I can in the hope that someone can just tell me who to contact or how to go about changing his option if at all possible. I didn’t expect to be told
where I was going wrong with the other details which aren’t relevant to the question as stated above. Thank you

BOWFER

Does he already have points?
Just wondering why he's so keen to avoid them, an SP30 code is nothing and insurance companies don't give a fig.

TooManyPoints

Whilst they may seem to be "nit picking", the questions being asked are important if you want a full and correct answer. 

Just for reference (which hopefully you'll never need to know  ), you do not get a "Fixed Penalty Notice" when detected speeding. The Registered Keeper is first asked to provide the driver's details. When they know who the driver is the police then either offer him a course, make a Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty, or refer the matter to court. Some forces (Avon & Somerset is one I know for sure but there are others) ask for the driver's details and make those offers in one document. Provided the recipient was the driver, he can provide that confirmation and make his choice in one reply. Most others have two steps - you name the driver and the driver then gets the offers as appropriate. What action they take depends largely on the speed and limit, though if a driver has competed a course for an offence within the previous three years he will not be offered another and if he has nine or more "active" points on his licence he will not be offered a fixed penalty (as he will be liable for a "totting up" ban and that can only be dealt with in court). If the driver takes a course he does not pay a fine, but pays a fee for the course. If he accepts a fixed penalty that, too, is not a fine but a penalty. Only courts can impose fines. I asked how long ago the offence occurred because a course or a fixed penalty will not usually be offered beyond four months from the date of the offence, but that is obviously not a problem here.

The only thing he can do is to contact the people who are dealing with this (probably a "Ticket Office" of some sort) and ask them to reconsider. A letter might be better than a phone call. But if they say his decision is irrevocable I believe there is very little he can do. As I said, it's up to the police what they offer and how they deal with it.

BOWFER

I've not been on a course, but I know plenty of people who have.
TBH, unless I was desperate to avoid the points, I'd really rather avoid being preached to for X hours for something I know I've done wrong.