Police court notice over speeding fine which I paid

movilogo

Because my time is more valuable - I work to a day rate

It seems false economy even if your day rate is very high.
Now you have 2 problems. 
1. You need to spend time to fix this problem - including a possible court attendance.
2. Your premium will go up.

Now for just 3 points premium won't go up that much but if you get another fine raising your points to 6, that's when your premium will rise dramatically.

So for everyone reading this thread, if you ever get option to pay fine versus attending speed awareness course, always take the course option (unless it is on a special day like your wedding).

HillStreetBlues

movilogo said:

Because my time is more valuable - I work to a day rate

It seems false economy even if your day rate is very high.
Now you have 2 problems. 
1. You need to spend time to fix this problem - including a possible court attendance.
2. Your premium will go up.

Now for just 3 points premium won't go up that much but if you get another fine raising your points to 6, that's when your premium will rise dramatically.

So for everyone reading this thread, if you ever get option to pay fine versus attending speed awareness course, always take the course option (unless it is on a special day like your wedding).

It's not false economy if everything went to plan, 3 points on its only isn't a major issue for price.
If the OP opted for course and had issues with that (seen it on here) then it would have been "why didn't you just take the points?"

forgotmyname

Keep_pedalling said:

You on earth did you take the points rather than the course? 

I did the same some years ago.  A day off work + course costs far outweighed the sub £3 additional insurance premium increase.
No messing waiting for course dates, paid the fine and forgot about it.

Jenni_D

I think the real error here was not sending the licence off with proof of postage; this makes the OP's case harder to prove.

OP - did your licence get returned?

LightFlare

Jenni_D said:

I think the real error here was not sending the licence off with proof of postage; this makes the OP's case harder to prove.

OP - did your licence get returned?

I don’t believe you have to send the physical licence off anymore

TooManyPoints

I think the real error here was not sending the licence off with proof of postage; this makes the OP's case harder to prove.

I don’t believe you have to send the physical licence off anymore

There has been no requirement to submit your licence when accepting a fixed penalty since 15th December 2022. You must, however, provide your licence details.  

Aretnap

dilby said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You on earth did you take the points rather than the course? 

Because my time is more valuable - I work to a day rate so to take time off to do a course doesn't make financial sense.

Not that it matters now but could you not have done one in the evening? I had no trouble finding an online evening slot for mine. Marginally better than spending an evening in front of the TV. 

Jenni_D

TooManyPoints said:

I think the real error here was not sending the licence off with proof of postage; this makes the OP's case harder to prove.

I don’t believe you have to send the physical licence off anymore

There has been no requirement to submit your licence when accepting a fixed penalty since 15th December 2022. You must, however, provide your licence details.  

Thanks for the clarification ... my last infringement was several years ago and sending in the physical licence was a requirement then. I hadn't realised this had changed.  

dilby

Update: I appealed using the online plea government portal, stating that I had paid and that was unaware the money had been refunded. I quoted the Magistrates' Courts Sentencing Guidelines which state '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.'

Unfortunately I have received an email and letter saying that my plea has resulted in a £510.00 fine. This includes court costs of £90, a £300 fine and a £120 victim services surcharge.

I'm really upset by this, and it's come as a shock. Obviously there are nuances around this, but I don't feel that 8mph over the limit and my immediate payment should result in such a large fine. (Obviously I should have accepted the driving course but I was unaware an online option was available, and with a newborn and my work being busy I thought the easier option was not taking the day off.) 

I was wondering if anyone knows of any further way this can be appealed or this is it. I'm just struggling to not feel really hard done by.

What I'm also confused about is the whole issue of them not having my driving license. The fine is because they didn't receive my driving license details (which I did send through via their supplied form but they are saying they did not receive). However in their correspondence they quote my driving license number, and are now saying they do not need me to send it in. Why is that?

Thank you all

Mildly_Miffed

"such as administrative difficulties outside the control of the offender"

Not checking your spam folder does not count as outside your control.