What's the ultimate punishment for a speeding ticket?

Brie

Hey there

I know there's another website that deals with speeding tickets in general but I wondered if anyone could tell me what ultimately happens if you ignore a speeding ticket?

So presumably a ticket has been sent to an individual who should have, but didn't respond to the original ticket in the post.  What should have happened is they should have said that they weren't driving and named the driver.  They didn't for various reasons.

And presumably there would have been further posts sent which should have been responded to, fine paid, whatever.  But that didn't happen.

Fast forward to now when a debt collection agency has sent a letter stating that if payment of the escalated fine with all the fees isn't paid by tomorrow the individual will be arrested with no offer of bail.  

fyi - I have seen some correspondence but it is incomplete and I don't have copies.  So my question is could someone actually be arrested without bail for not paying a speeding fine?

Devongardener

Yes you can be arrested if you don’t pay

Brie

Devongardener said:

Yes you can be arrested if you don’t pay

I hate your answer but thank you for making it clear.  I was unsure that it might be a debt collector putting the frighteners on as I've never seen anything this harsh before.

Car_54

The "individual" will have been convicted in his absence of failing to identify the driver. He will have been given a heavy fine plus a 40% surcharge, plus prosecution costs of c£600. 

Criminal courts can indeed arrest for unpaid fines - these are not like parking tickets.

He will also have six points on his licence, and an endorsement code (MS90) which will mean swingeing increases in insurance costs for the next few years.

If he had a valid reason not to respond, the experts at ftla.uk may have good advice on how to proceed. However, it may well be too late: the pragmatic course may be to pay up now to stave off arrest, and argue later.

Okell

Brie said:

... So my question is could someone actually be arrested without bail for not paying a speeding fine?

To clarify, is it a speeding conviction and fine, or is it a conviction and fine for failing to identify the driver?

The two can have different consequences particularly regarding the future price of insurance.  (Insurance companies like to punish drivers who've been convicted of failing to identify...)

Brie

Thanks everyone for your input.

fyi - the Keeper is 80 and no longer drives and hasn't done for some time so there's no problem if there are points.  But obviously if there's an impact on insurance for owning a car that's always driven by someone else that may be problematic.  I don't have sight of any of the original documents so am just trying to piece together bits based on 2 bits of correspondence received a good year+ after the original offense.  

Car_54

Okell said:

Brie said:

... So my question is could someone actually be arrested without bail for not paying a speeding fine?

To clarify, is it a speeding conviction and fine, or is it a conviction and fine for failing to identify the driver?

The two can have different consequences particularly regarding the future price of insurance.  (Insurance companies like to punish drivers who've been convicted of failing to identify...)

  It can’t have been speeding, as the driver hadn’t been identified.

And it’s not a question of punishment, but of risk. The insurer doesn’t know what the original offence was, and has to assume it must have been pretty bad to make it worth the MS90 conviction instead.

Okell

Car_54 said:

Okell said:

Brie said:

... So my question is could someone actually be arrested without bail for not paying a speeding fine?

To clarify, is it a speeding conviction and fine, or is it a conviction and fine for failing to identify the driver?

The two can have different consequences particularly regarding the future price of insurance.  (Insurance companies like to punish drivers who've been convicted of failing to identify...)

  It can’t have been speeding, as the driver hadn’t been identified.

And it’s not a question of punishment, but of risk. The insurer doesn’t know what the original offence was, and has to assume it must have been pretty bad to make it worth the MS90 conviction instead.

I know it can't have been speeding, but @Brie is asking what the ultimate penalty for a "speeding fine" is.

I'm trying - perhaps too obliquely - to get them to enquire further of their elderly friend as to what the actual circumstances really are, and not take at face value what an 80 year old who has ignored something for over a year tells them.

Aretnap

Ultimately non-payment of fines for any offence can result in some or all of the following: 

Bailiff visits to sieve your possessions (and Bailey's have the right to force entry to domestic property agent collecting fines
Arrest
Imprisonment 

The latter is not particularly common: magistrates have strong guidance only to jail people who they are convinced are refusing to pay as opposed to unable to pay, but it is not beyond the bounds of possibility.

Herzlos

Brie said:

Thanks everyone for your input.

fyi - the Keeper is 80 and no longer drives and hasn't done for some time so there's no problem if there are points.  But obviously if there's an impact on insurance for owning a car that's always driven by someone else that may be problematic.  I don't have sight of any of the original documents so am just trying to piece together bits based on 2 bits of correspondence received a good year+ after the original offense.  

Does that mean the keeper still has a driving license and is insured to drive on the car alongside another driver?

If so, the 6 points for failure to identify the driver will cause the insurance costs to go up, but if the keeper never actually drives they can always remove themselves from the policy and continue not driving.

TooManyPoints

I'm trying - perhaps too obliquely - to get them to enquire further of their elderly friend as to what the actual circumstances really are,...

Who do you mean by "them"?

There are two ways this can be revisited and both involve the Magistrates' Court. Nobody else can "enquire further" into it. A conviction has been recorded, a penalty imposed and, unless one of the two methods is successful it will remain as it is. Whether it's bailiffs or a debt agency involved, they will simply try to enforce the debt and will not entertain any of the enquiries you suggest might be made. 

Was this individual aware of the proceedings against him before hey took place? If he wasn't, how long ago and how did he find out about them?