Help! Im an idiot!

jimmymcnulty

sometime i the summer I got a speeding fine (55 in a 50 on M4 near newport)

anyway, i paid it online. I dint realise i actually had to send my DL in, thought it all automated. they had my details

anyway, just got a letter, i'm in trouble etc. send my DL or a copy in by a week or its court. I work away a lot. Got back last night after two weeks away. Fairly sure it arrived they day after I left .

i have sent it today RD but 
a, what are tha chances of court. it will be a week late
b, if it is court how expensive is this.

all seems quite silly.

Car_54

a. Probably close to certain
b. 3 points. You can ask to be fined at the fixed penalty level: the court can do that if an FP wasn't taken "for reasons beyond your control". Not at all certain, but "don't ask, don't get". Otherwise, it's an income related finr, plus 40% surcharge, plus costs of about £90.

jimmymcnulty

i will add i have paid the fine? do i need to go?

TooManyPoints

As an aside, are you certain the speed alleged was 55 in a 50mph limit? Action is not normally taken for speeds below 57mph. 

I ask for two reasons:

You have not mentioned that you were offered a course. If action has been taken for 55 in a 50, the normal offer would be a course. If it was 55 in a 40mph limit that is too fast for a course but inside the fixed penalty threshold.

As I said, 57mph is the normal threshold where enforcement begins. Often on forums like this there are claims of drivers seeing action below the normal thresholds but none has been able to provide evidence and very often they come back with "sorry - the limit was 40 not 50" (or similar). Do you have any paperwork that shows you have seen enforcement for 55 in a 50mph limit? If you have, could you post it up here (with personal details removed) to add to our knowledge base.

jimmymcnulty

it was 55, no course offered,  let me find it. 

Okell

jimmymcnulty said:

i will add i have paid the fine? do i need to go?

No you haven't.

What you attempted to pay was a conditional offer of a fixed penalty, but because you did not comply with the conditions of the penalty (one of which would have been to supply your driving licence number*, not send it in) it has been rejected.

Depending on how you paid (credit card, debit card etc) you will alomost certainly find that it has already been refunded to you.

As TooManyPoints has said, it's extremely unlikely that you are going to court for doing 55 in a 50.  Enforcement should only start at speed limit plus 10% plus 2mph which would be 57mph in a 50, and not 55.

You really need to know what your actual speed was to predict the likely outcome at court


*Many people seem to think that because they have already supplied their driving licence number when nominating themself as the driver that they don't need to do it again because "I've already told the police".  Unfortunately it doesn't work like that and supplying your driving licence number is one of the conditions that you must comply with when accepting a conditional offer

jimmymcnulty

ok, it may have been 57 now i think   10% and 2 miles i still thought was harsh

thanks okel, the bold words helped. Its still ridiculous and not intuitive    I paid in June so will look back for payment  but the process is messed up, I'm thankfully about to move out of this dump of a country. 

ok did somebody answer my 'do i need to actually go to court' question

Okell

jimmymcnulty said:

... ok did somebody answer my 'do i need to actually go to court' question

Have you checked to see if you have received a refund yet?

If you have received one then I think you may have been too late and it'll probably end up in court.

If it does then you will receive a Single Justice Procedure Notice (SJPN) telling you it's going to court and asking you to plead Guilty or Not Guilty.  You can expect a SJPN up to about 7 months after the date of the original speeding offence.  If you haven't received one by then, you've probably escaped prosecution as it will have timed out

If you plead guilty I don't think it's necessary to go to court as your attendance almost certainly won't affect the outcome* either way - but see what others here say.

If you haven't received a refund yet, maybe they've accepted your acceptance of the fixed penalty offer despite being late.

If the reminder letter you received has a 'phone number on it, you could always try ringing them and ask them what is happening.  At least then you'd know...

(BTW, did the reminder letter really ask you to send in your licence or did it just ask for the licence number?)


*@Car_54 suggested earlier that you might be able to plead guilty but ask to be fined the same amount as the fixed penalty.  I don't know if you can simply ask for that when you submit your plea or whether you would need to attend court to do it.  I'm sure others here can tell you

Car_54

Okell said

*@Car_54 suggested earlier that you might be able to plead guilty but ask to be fined the same amount as the fixed penalty.  I don't know if you can simply ask for that when you submit your plea or whether you would need to attend court to do it.  I'm sure others here can tell you

There will be "mitigation" section on the plea form. That's the place to ask, politely, with a brief explanation  of the circs

MikeJXE

jimmymcnulty said:

ok, it may have been 57 now i think   10% and 2 miles i still thought was harsh

thanks okel, the bold words helped. Its still ridiculous and not intuitive    I paid in June so will look back for payment  but the process is messed up, I'm thankfully about to move out of this dump of a country. 

ok did somebody answer my 'do i need to actually go to court' question

Why do you think you shouldn’t be find when you’re breaking the law  ? 

A bit sad what you think of the UK but if thats how you feel I suspect many will be glad to see you go. 

TooManyPoints

If you plead guilty I don't think it's necessary to go to court as your attendance almost certainly won't affect the outcome* either way 

You cannot attend a "Single Justice" hearing. If you want to attend court you must say so when you respond to your SJPN. Otherwise it will be dealt with by the Single Justice and you will be notified of the outcome by post.