Refund of a fine for speeding and referral of the case to court

TooManyPoints

 I don’t remember seeing anything about sending my licence off, 

You don' have to send your licence off.

You have to provide your licence details twice. Firstly when you are asked to identify or confirm that you were the driver. Then, a few weeks later, after you have received your "Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty", you have to do so again.

You must have done it he first time (or you would not have been offered the fixed penalty). One of the conditions of the "Conditional Offer" is hat you provide your driving licence details on his second occasion. Either you did not do it the second time or you did so and the police did not receive it.

You should look out for a "Single Justice Procedure Notice" There are different ways to deal with the situation (depending on what you did and what you can prove).

BoryslawMax

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Thank you very much for your comments and advice regarding my problem. Sorry that I didn’t provide all the details but I didn’t fully realize what was needed to assess this issue. My main concern is this: why are the fines that I paid on time and in the correct amount (£100) being reversed, and then court fines of high amounts being imposed? I understand the mechanism of imposing a court fine if someone DOES NOT PAY A FINE. But in my case, this did not happen. The fines were paid within the statutory timeframe. That’s my question. I’m not avoiding paying the fine, nor do I dispute its validity. I just don’t understand the mechanism of reversing a fine after many months without giving a reason and applying a higher penalty for something that was already paid.

From the time of paying the fine to the moment of permanently leaving the rented apartment (which was my address on the driving license), six months passed. During this time, the authority responsible for fines could have sent a letter to my address informing me of any problems with processing the payment or any other issue. They didn’t do that. I have the right to think that after such a time since paying the fine, the matter with that office is resolved, right? No normal person waits six months for a reaction from an office after the matter has been settled.

After ending the apartment rental, I moved to another country. I am not a UK citizen and have the right to move wherever I want. I am not obliged to inform the DVLA or the court about moving to another country, right? The authority responsible for those fines could have sent some letters to my old address, but I didn’t receive any information from the landlord (agency) about any correspondence addressed to me. I don’t feel guilty in any way because I didn’t do anything wrong.

After another three months, the authority reverses my payments and sends me emails notifying me that they are being refunded but without explaining why. I find this inappropriate. I understand that from that moment, someone initiates a court procedure to impose further penalties on me for what exactly? For what? The fines were paid correctly. The details of my driving license were sent to the DVLA and to the authority.

A few days ago, I spoke with an officer from the DVLA and asked them this question: In such a situation, do I need to send my driving license to the DVLA to have penalty points recorded? The answer was: I DON’T HAVE TO. Because I provided this information when paying the fine, and they have the vehicle and driver details.

In this situation, do you understand my questions and doubts about the fairness of imposing an additional larger fine on me? I understand the procedures applied in the UK. My question is: should I pay this fine to the court (I’ve paid one and sent an appeal) or take other actions to resolve this issue? Thank you once again for your reliable advice and help. I am grateful. As a non-specialist, I just want to know what to do because I don’t want to be in conflict with the law. Thank you again for your help and your suggestions.

LightFlare

As stated - commonly this occurs because you either did not comply with all the requirements OR they didn’t receive the documentation.

In your case the third scenario of possible totting is also an explanation.

Contact is via the address you have specified on the V5 - licence address is irrelevant.

Did you inform anyone of your change of address or just assume they would know to check again ? (They usually don’t)

I again, recommend FTLA 

Mildly_Miffed

BoryslawMax said:

My main concern is this: why are the fines that I paid on time and in the correct amount (£100) being reversed, and then court fines of high amounts being imposed?

Because the fixed penalty notice is an ALTERNATIVE to court prosecution.

You did not fulfil the conditions to take advantage of the fixed penalty, so the offence has been dealt with by the court instead. That process is exactly the same as if you had opted to go to court in the first place.

Yes, you are of course within your rights to move to a different address. Whether it is in the UK or another country is not relevant here. You chose not to put mail redirection in place. This is one of the risks of not doing so.
https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection

But you seem to be ignoring the most important point here.
Complaining to us makes precisely zero difference. You need to engage with the court.

TooManyPoints

During this time, the authority responsible for fines could have sent a letter to my address informing me of any problems with processing the payment or any other issue.

Yes they could have. But they don’t. If you fail to comply with the conditions of a fixed penalty (by not providing your licence details or by them not being received by the police) they do nothing except the ultimate option open to them – prosecute you in court. They have six months (from the date of the offence) to do this and in many areas they take all of this time. They must begin proceedings within that time but you may not be informed of them until later – much later if you were unaware of them because you did not receive or respond to court paperwork.

I am not obliged to inform the DVLA or the court about moving to another country, right?

Up to a point. If you are the Registered Keeper (RK) of a vehicle in this country you should supply an address to the DVLA where you can be contacted about issues involving it. There is case law which has found that not doing so is not a defence against committing offences which require a response from you. If  you are not the RK of a vehicle but were nominated by somebody else as having been the driver of one, you would be wise to make an address available to the person who nominated you.  So whilst you may no be legally obliged to make sure you can be contacted, pragmatically you should do so. You can see the complications that arise if you don't.

In this situation, do you understand my questions and doubts about the fairness of imposing an additional larger fine on me?

No. I am completely familiar with the processes and procedures that involve the police and the courts when dealing with these matters. What has happened to you is by no means unusual  and there is nothing unfair about it. It may be unfortunate and a nuisance, but not unfair.

My question is: should I pay this fine to the court (I’ve paid one and sent an appeal) or take other actions to resolve this issue?

If you fail to pay a fine imposed by a court and fail to engage with them to resolve the matter, all that will happen is the court will take enforcement action to recover the sum from you. When you say you have “sent an appeal”, what do you mean by that? Your only avenue for a formal appeal is to the Crown Court. Is that what you have done?

Few people on here do tea and sympathy. Moaning about the unfairness of it all is of no benefit whatsoever. There are ways to deal with this and how to do so depends on the information I mentioned yesterday in my post at 5:10pm. You need to find out that information for each of the offences involved before anyone can advise you how to proceed.

Frozen_up_north

Nikki1391 said:

I’ve just received an email too with a £100 refund. Fine was for speeding ticket 8 months ago in August. I don’t remember seeing anything about sending my licence off, I was just sent a form twice which asked me my licence number, details and to sign to declare I was the driver. I filled in both and sent back. I received a ticket year before and did the same process -to this day no issues and so I’m confused at what I’ve done wrong as I did everything exactly the same. I paid on time also. 

Haven’t received any letters so I guess I’ll just wait and see 

Do not "wait and see". Sending an email/refund without an explanation is not acceptable, contact their central ticket office (or whoever sent it) by phone and ask why you have been sent a refund.

It is possible they fouled up the paperwork, or the device used was not correctly setup, and therefore they cannot proceed. You won't know if you don't ask.

sheramber

You do not need to send your driving licence to DVLA but you must update the address on you can be contacted at. This can be done onljne

https://www.gov.uk/change-address-v5c