Received SJPN out of the blue! Can anyone help?

oldswanste

Hi All,

Im looking for some help. I came home this weekend to a big whit envelope which has a Single Justice Procedure Notice inside. When I read it, it's for a speeding offense back in September of last year.

I have a company car which is provided through a lease company so it usually takes a while for any documents to reach me. Although the initial Notice was addressed to the company secretary I filled out my details and sent these back. I didnt receive a response though and as time went on ive just forgotten about it. I did think over the Christmas that perhaps id gotten away with one but I came home the other day to find this Letter.

I dont deny speeding. I was doing 69 in a 60 and ive admitted to being the driver. Thepolice report attached says they received my completed notice confirming I was the driver and admitting to the offence on 24.11.25. The report then says theynsent me a conditional offer on the 27.11.25 but I never received this.

My question is..what do I do now? Do I plead guilty as I am guilty of the offense? Hiw can I explain to them.that I never received their letter? Are they likely to listen?

Any help is appreciated

Thanks,

Mildly_Miffed

There's not a lot you can do.

The original s172 went to the registered keeper. That may be the business, it may be the lease company. Either way, it was received and worked its way to the CoSec of the lessee, your employer. Is that you? They nominated you. All by the book, and no way out.

You now need to formally plead guilty to the speeding offence.
You may wish to submit mitigation, not defence, stating that you did not receive the conditional offer, and would have accepted it if you had.
You then sit back and wait for the magistrate's decision.

It's all on the government's website:
https://www.gov.uk/single-justice-procedure-notices

oldswanste

Thanks, for your reply it's really appreciated. Just to be clear. The original Notice would have gone to Lex Autolease. Lex nominate my company as the keeper and so they then send it to our company secretary. Our company secretary then gave it to me and I completed the document admitting the offense and providing my details.

I just never received anything from them after that.

So if there's nothing I can do about that other than provide mitigation. Is it best to go to court and do that in person (which i have no problem doing) or am I misunderstanding the procedure? Will I have a chance to speak I suppose is what im.asking and is what I say likely to have any impact?

Thanks again,

TooManyPoints

Respond to the SJPN by pleading guilty and ask that the matter be concluded under the SJ procedure (i.e. you do not want to attend court - there's no need to unless you fancy a day out). In the "mitigation" section, explain that although the offer of a fixed penalty was made, it was not received by you. Go on to ask the court if they would consider sentencing you at a level equivalent to the fixed penalty as this was an administrative difficulty outside your control.

Magistrates have guidance which suggests they should consider doing this in your circumstances:

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.

Do not quote this guidance – the Single Justice will be aware of it. If the court agrees the usual disposal is to impose a fine of £72 and a “victim surcharge” of £28, thus totalling £100. The reason for that is that although the court can decline to order prosecution costs to be paid, it cannot (by law) refuse to order the surcharge (which is 40% of the fine). Three points will also be imposed.

oldswanste

Thanks TooManyPoints,

I'll give that a go and see what happens.

Thanks again for your help!