Speeding Fine - Expired Licence

jjofcov

Hi,

Today I got a speeding fine through the post and it just so happens it occurred within the 4 days it took me to notice my licence had expired. 

My licence expired on the 14/11/21 and I have been caught speeding (stupidly) on 16/11/21 but have already sent off for my licence to be renewed on the 18/11. I have read this has happened a few times in the past but any advice what I should do? Will I just get the fine and points for speeding offence or will I get done for the expired licence?

Note: I have already done a speed awareness in the last 3 years so that isn't an option!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

user1977

By "expired licence" do you just mean the photocard turning 10 years old? Or something more important eg your 70th birthday?

jjofcov

user1977 said:

By "expired licence" do you just mean the photocard turning 10 years old? Or something more important eg your 70th birthday?

My photocard just hit its 10th birthday!

TooManyPoints

You should not face any problem with the expired photocard. Where you may face a problem is that if you are made a "Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty" one of the conditions is that you submit your licence. If you don't have yours and the new one is not provided before the offer expires (28 days from when you received it) you cannot accept the offer. This means you will face a prosecution. If you do, you can ask the court to sentence you at the fixed penalty level. They have guidance which suggests they should do so in your circumstances:

"Where a penalty notice could not be offered or taken up for reasons unconnected with the offence itself, such as administrative difficulties outside the control of the offender, the starting point should be a fine equivalent to the amount of the penalty and no order of costs should be imposed. The offender should not be disadvantaged by the unavailability of the penalty notice in these circumstances."

jjofcov

TooManyPoints said:

You should not face any problem with the expired photocard. Where you may face a problem is that if you are made a "Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty" one of the conditions is that you submit your licence. If you don't have yours and the new one is not provided before the offer expires (28 days from when you received it) you cannot accept the offer. This means you will face a prosecution. If you do, you can ask the court to sentence you at the fixed penalty level. They have guidance which suggests they should do so in your circumstances:

"Where a penalty notice could not be offered or taken up for reasons unconnected with the offence itself, such as administrative difficulties outside the control of the offender, the starting point should be a fine equivalent to the amount of the penalty and no order of costs should be imposed. The offender should not be disadvantaged by the unavailability of the penalty notice in these circumstances."

Luckily my new one has come already but the start date on it says 17/11/2021, which is the day after the date of the speeding offence. Will this cause an issue?

user1977

Despite the warnings on this site about the potential fines for photocards being out of date, I haven't heard of anybody actually being fined. It doesn't mean you're not allowed to drive, it's a separate (and lesser) offence. 

dil1976

jjofcov said:

TooManyPoints said:

You should not face any problem with the expired photocard. Where you may face a problem is that if you are made a "Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty" one of the conditions is that you submit your licence. If you don't have yours and the new one is not provided before the offer expires (28 days from when you received it) you cannot accept the offer. This means you will face a prosecution. If you do, you can ask the court to sentence you at the fixed penalty level. They have guidance which suggests they should do so in your circumstances:

"Where a penalty notice could not be offered or taken up for reasons unconnected with the offence itself, such as administrative difficulties outside the control of the offender, the starting point should be a fine equivalent to the amount of the penalty and no order of costs should be imposed. The offender should not be disadvantaged by the unavailability of the penalty notice in these circumstances."

Luckily my new one has come already but the start date on it says 17/11/2021, which is the day after the date of the speeding offence. Will this cause an issue?

No expert in this field but they will see that you licence was valid for the category by viewing the rear of your licence and also it could of expired the previous day so I doubt you are the first and wont be the last with this predicament 

TooManyPoints

You've no need to worry. Your entitlement to drive is not affected by the expiry of the photocard and it's doubtful if it will even be noticed. Even if it is, as above, it is very unusual for the offence to be pursued.