FIXED PENALTY REFUND

Kirsty2504

Hello, this morning I have received a refund from a fixed penalty I paid back in august for a speeding fine. Does anyone know why this may be? I know you don't have to send off license anymore and to be honest I was never asked to send it back. I'm absolutely bricking it! 

TadleyBaggie

You don't have to physically send in your licence, but you do need to supply your licence details when accepting the fixed penalty. 

Keep_pedalling

It sounds like you failed to provide your licence details after paying the fine, so it now moves to single procedure where you will likely end up with the same number of point but a chunky fine on top of that.

For advice on how to proceed you will be better off over on the FTLA forum but make sure you read the read me first thread preform you do.

https://www.ftla.uk/speeding-and-other-criminal-offences/

TooManyPoints

For advice on how to proceed you will be better off over on the FTLA forum but make sure you read the read me first thread preform you do.

What they will tell you is this:

As above, you have to provide your licence details twice – once when identifying yourself as the driver and again when accepting the fixed penalty. Seems like either you failed to send in your licence details or the police did not receive them. In any case, it doesn't matter which.

The next thing you will receive will be a "Single Justice Procedure Notice". The police have six months from the date of the offence to issue this and in many areas they take all of that time.

You should respond to this by pleading guilty. In the "mitigation" section you should say that you accepted an offer of a fixed penalty but you did not submit your licence details/submitted them but they must not have been received (Whichever is appropriate). You should then ask the court in view of this, if they would consider sentencing you at the equivalent to the fixed penalty. 

Magistrates have guidance which suggests they might do this in your circumstances. They are more likely to agree to this if you sent your licence details but they were lost rather than if you did not send them at all. If they don’t agree you will be sentenced in accordance with the normal guidelines. In that event the financial penalty will certainly be much higher and you might receive more that three points depending on the speed and limit. For example, in a 70mph limit fixed penalties are offered up to 95mph. But if you are sentenced in court under the guidelines you will receive either a ban of up to 28 days or 4-6 points (probably five).

If you definitely did submit your licence details there is an alternative to this. The law says that if a fixed penalty was accepted and the conditions complied with then the driver should not be prosecuted. This will involve you pleading not guilty and making a court appearance. If you want more details of this please let me know.

caprikid1

The alternative option is they are outside the 6month window to prosecute you for failing to supply your license details (Fixed Penaulty offer) so you have got off with it.

Looking at the dates I suspect not, check the date of the offence, for the avoidance of doubt this happened to me,  I forgot to send off my license in time and it all got cancelled as they did not complete their prosecution in time.

Might be lucky ! I called them up to discover this .

TooManyPoints

The alternative option is they are outside the 6month window to prosecute you for failing to supply your license details (Fixed Penalty offer) so you have got off with it.

He is not being prosecuted for failing to provide his licence details as there is no such offence. He is being prosecuted for speeding and that prosecution has already begun.

Frozen_up_north

Kirsty maybe “bricking it”, but hasn’t provided any further details.

Ticket office staff are pretty pedantic and inflexible with regard to motoring offences, but are not going to just issue a refund without a letter explaining the situation.

The OP needs to phone and ask what is happening… and update this thread.

Car_54

Frozen_up_north said:

Kirsty maybe “bricking it”, but hasn’t provided any further details.

Ticket office staff are pretty pedantic and inflexible with regard to motoring offences, but are not going to just issue a refund without a letter explaining the situation.

The OP needs to phone and ask what is happening… and update this thread.

TooManyPoints has already explained above what is going on. No need for a phone call.

caprikid1

TooManyPoints said:

The alternative option is they are outside the 6month window to prosecute you for failing to supply your license details (Fixed Penalty offer) so you have got off with it.

He is not being prosecuted for failing to provide his licence details as there is no such offence. He is being prosecuted for speeding and that prosecution has already begun.

Sorry I was not clear.

When you get a conditional offer you must do the following in order to be deemed to accept it.
1. Provide details of the driver
2. Pay a fine
3. Provide details of the license of the drive.

Those 3 conditions have to be met to accept that offer and not go to court IE 3 points / a driver training course

If you pay the fine , tell them who was driving but do not provide the driver details then you have not completed the terms of the offer.

They then will refund the £100 fine and take you to court.

BUT ..... if they fail to take you to court in six months they can no longer prosecute you as you are outside the window for prosecution, as you have not "Accepted the terms of the conditional offer (IE Drive, fine, license)  they cannot give you points either ".

It is an odd one but that is the other possibility , I had the above happen to me , £100 refunded then called up to be told we messed up and left it too late after you failed to provide details. 

Car_54

caprikid1 said:

TooManyPoints said:

The alternative option is they are outside the 6month window to prosecute you for failing to supply your license details (Fixed Penalty offer) so you have got off with it.

He is not being prosecuted for failing to provide his licence details as there is no such offence. He is being prosecuted for speeding and that prosecution has already begun.

Sorry I was not clear.

When you get a conditional offer you must do the following in order to be deemed to accept it.
1. Provide details of the driver
2. Pay a fine
3. Provide details of the license of the drive.

(1) Should not be necessary: the police must already have the name and address in order to make the offer.

And (2) is a penalty, not a fine.

TooManyPoints

Those 3 conditions have to be met to accept that offer and not go to court IE 3 points / a driver training course

A conditional offer of a fixed penalty (COFP) offers only fixed penalty. The clue is in the name. If a course is offered there are no conditions other than to pay for and satisfactorily participate in the course.

As well as that, the COFP is enshrined in law (Road Traffic Offenders Act Sections 75 to 77A) which governs its issue and conditions, and whether and when any prosecution can take place. There is no legislation governing the offer of courses,