Refunded fixed penalty

Buzz12chris

I received a fixed penalty notice of 3 points and £100 fine at the end of Dec 21.

I paid the £100 on the 1st Jan 22 the day after I received the notice. I then sent my driving license off on the 5th Jan after the Bank holiday.

I chased up with the penalty office on the 28th Jan about not receiving my license back….I was told on the 28th Jan that they had only started going through post from the 6th Jan.

i received my license back a week later and found out that it was received on the 17th Jan due to post backlogs and staff shortages due COVID.

Now in April 22 I’ve received a refund of my £100 fine. Which I’ve only just found out from my bank statement.

has anyone else had a refund???…..I thought it was a scam from an email in the Junk box Also I’ve been reading that they may want to take it further?

Any help or advice would be helpful!!

TooManyPoints

It may be that your case has been marked that you did not submit your licence. Assuming it was for speeding (or some other offence which attracts points) have you checked your driving record to see if it has been recorded? What was the date of the offence?

Herzlos

You need to chase it up; the refund means they haven't accepted the fixed penalty and will then try and start court proceedings in a few weeks.

Can you prove you sent off the license and the delays are why it was sent back?

soolin

Herzlos said:

You need to chase it up; the refund means they haven't accepted the fixed penalty and will then try and start court proceedings in a few weeks.

Can you prove you sent off the license and the delays are why it was sent back?

This is a real issue and could cause you problems , I’d get advice over at http://forums.pepipoo.com/. Don’t use a hotmail or Gmail email as they won’t accept them. 

TooManyPoints

It's not too much of a problem (if indeed that is the cause). The police will prosecute you but Magistrates have guidance that suggests they should fine you at the equivalent to the fixed penalty. You can plead guilty by post and suggest they follow their guidance (which I can quote if you need it). But first you need to find out whether your offence has been recorded on your driving record and why your £100 has been returned. 

caprikid1

Check online to see if you have points against your license, there may have been an error and the original speeding conviction is unsafe.

I forgot to send of my license and because they did not chase or prosecute inside the 6 months they dropped it.

TooManyPoints

...there may have been an error and the original speeding conviction is unsafe.

There has been no conviction.

Car_54

caprikid1 said:

Check online to see if you have points against your license, there may have been an error and the original speeding conviction is unsafe.

There is no conviction, unsafe or otherwise - the OP was willing to accept the FP.
If there are indeed points on his licence, then either 
a) Nothing happens, and he's saved £100, or
b) It goes to court, where he can prove he's already been punished.

Buzz12chris

I do have the points on my license they haven’t been removed. Just had the fine refunded.

 I haven’t received anything else . Just my bank statement….this is how I found out. 

TooManyPoints

Buzz12chris said:

I do have the points on my license they haven’t been removed. Just had the fine refunded.

 I haven’t received anything else . Just my bank statement….this is how I found out. 

Then your position is as Car_54 outlined above. The only thing they can do is prosecute you and if they do you have evidence that the matter has already been concluded. The normal process is that the points are only added when they have sight of your licence. So they must have seen it to do that. 

As an aside, the reason I asked the date of the offence earlier is that they have six months to begin proceedings (provided the offence did not occur in Scotland, where the limit is 12 months). I assume from the dates you mention, the offence was probably in December. Once six months has elapsed they cannot bring any proceedings anyway.

Sit tight as see what happens.

born_again

Could be one of these cases where a error was found & they are having to refund people caught in a certain timeframe.
Might be worthwhile doing a search of local papers in the area of the offence.

I know years ago locally well over a 1000 people had to be refunded after being caught on a speed camera due to a error in the road markings.