Summons to court after complying with fixed penalty offer

[wildone63]

Back in august i accepted the offer of a fixed penalty of £60 for a speeding offence (37 in a 30 zone)and sent away my licence and cheque by recorded delivery,the fixed penalty unit to where i sent the letter was in a different force area to the prosecuting constabulary.
I was pleasantly suprised a week later when the fixed penalty unit returned my licence (without points added)and the cheque along with a covering letter stating that 'our records indicate that you have recentley completed a speed awareness course therefore no further action will be taken against you'.
This was correct becuase i had recentley attended the course in relation to another speeding offence,so,in effect the course had covered me for both offences...phew!
Imagine my outrage when today i received a summons to court for prosecution for speeding ,the same incident for which i had already complied with the fixed penalty offer
After calming down and reading through the summons its obvious that there has been some gross lack of communication between the fixed penalty office and the prosecuting constabulary,resulting in a civilian police worker employed by the prosecuting constabulary in reporting me for having failed to comply with the fixed penalty offer and thereby triggering a prosecution for the original speeding offence.
What to do now?
I dont now have the 'no further action will be taken against you' letter that i received from the fixed penalty office and i dont now have the recorded delivery receipt i got from the post office when posting my licence and cheque.
It seems i can only hope that the fixed penalty office will have their decision on record and will supply me with proof of this,anyhow i will be phoning them tommorrow to explain things.
Over to you lot.
Cheers.

[herewego]

You should have contacted them when you saw that they had made a mistake. You took a chance and lost that's all.

[Riley Blue]

A clerical error by the sound of it. Probably your phone call will sort it.

[covboy]

Sounds like a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line, BUT I didn't think you could do more than 1 SAC - So therefore they were wrong in the first instance in sending back your cheque & licence.

[wildone63]

herewego said:

You should have contacted them when you saw that they had made a mistake. You took a chance and lost that's all.

Iam not sure what youre getting at ,what chance are you referring to,and who should i have contacted ? the fixed penalty office or the police?.
Any mistake that they have made has only come to my attention today when i recieved the summons

[herewego]

wildone63 said:

herewego said:

You should have contacted them when you saw that they had made a mistake. You took a chance and lost that's all.

Iam not sure what youre getting at ,what chance are you referring to,and who should i have contacted ? the fixed penalty office or the police?.
Any mistake that they have made has only come to my attention today when i recieved the summons

They were obviously wrong to return your licence and cheque and you knew that.

[14-7]

Why would you completing a speed awareness course cover two offences?

Chances are you will just get the 3 points/£60

Maybe if it isn't your fault you should try and sue them?

[wildone63]

herewego said:

They were obviously wrong to return your licence and cheque and you knew that.

Whether they were wrong or not is not the point,the point is that i complied with the fixed penalty offer in good faith and i dont see how any prosecution can now go ahead based on the false allegation that i failed to comply with the fixed penalty offer.
If a prosecution does go ahead i will see to it that someone at the fixed penalty office is brought to book whether i get found guilty or not.Iam sure the decision to return my licence and cheque would have been taken by someone in authority,not just some pen pusher.

[vonhosen]

Plead guilty at court & your mitigation should lead to the original FPN penalty being imposed.

[wildone63]

14-7 said:

Why would you completing a speed awareness course cover two offences?

Maybe the fixed penalty office can answer that,the offences were on consecutive days.
This prosecution has been triggered by some civilian police worker alleging that i did not comply with the fixed penalty offer,this person is obviously unaware of the fact that i did comply,i have a copy of their witness statement.

[charliedaker]

Surely you would be able to produce the letter at court (if telephoning them beforehand does not work) and they will act accordingly.
They may decide that they will give you the points anyway but hopefully they will swallow their error and let you off.
Thats the course of action id take anyway.
Good luck, its nice when (if) someone gets a break!

[wildone63]

vonhosen said:

Plead guilty at court & your mitigation should lead to the original FPN penalty being imposed.

I cant see what case there is now for me to plead to,when i accepted the original fixed penalty offer was that not in effect a guilty plea?
The fixed penalty office then take a decision to return my cheque and licence without points added.
Case closed.
Surely 3 months down the line if they realised they had made a mistake,they would have contacted me to explain this,rather than me just receiving a summons out of the blue?

charliedaker said:

Surely you would be able to produce the letter at court

Unfortunatley as i said earlier i binned the letter,didnt see any reason to keep it.

Edited by wildone63 on Thursday 8th November 21:21

[vonhosen]

wildone63 said:

vonhosen said:

Plead guilty at court & your mitigation should lead to the original FPN penalty being imposed.

I cant see what case there is now for me to plead to,when i accepted the original fixed penalty offer was that not in effect a guilty plea?
The fixed penalty office take a decision to return my cheque and licence without points added.Matter closed.
Surely 3 months down the line if they realised they had made a mistake,they would have contacted me to explain this,rather than me just receiving a summons out of the blue?

If the fixed penalty scheme isn't completed for whatever reason (I can't see that it really matters if it's through your choice or their's) then it can default to a summons as long as it isn't timed out. Your mitigation (of willing to accept the original FPN) should lead to a punishment no greater than that penalty (the original FPN) if you plead guilty in relation to the matter.

[Terminator X]

14-7 said:

Chances are you will just get the 3 points/£60

No chance, if it goes to court the OP is fked. Through various cock ups I missed opportunity to take 3 pts, went to court and got 6 pts + £800 fine! Won't end well for the OP imho.

TX.

[Russ35]

covboy said:

Sounds like a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line, BUT I didn't think you could do more than 1 SAC - So therefore they were wrong in the first instance in sending back your cheque & licence.

You can do more than 1, but you cannot take a course within 3 years of your previous one.. It was 8 years between my 2 courses both for 36 in a 30.

[covboy]

Russ35 said:

You can do more than 1, but you cannot take a course within 3 years of your previous one.. It was 8 years between my 2 courses both for 36 in a 30.

The OP's own addmission 2 separate offences on consecutive days !!

(and he still didn't query them sending his stuff back.)

[Wozy68]

herewego said:

You should have contacted them when you saw that they had made a mistake. You took a chance and lost that's all.

Why don't you just fk off. You lowlife. It's tts like you that have totally fked up this country. You selfless self satisfied .

Hmmmm, feel better now. No wonder the guy has posted so often. Must work for government to be so far up his own arse. :-)

[vonhosen]

wildone63 said:

the fixed penalty unit to where i sent the letter was in a different force area to the prosecuting constabulary.

This is what I don't get.

The speed awareness course you went on, was this in the force area you sent the fine etc to & who returned it to you ?
Why are you sending the payment to a different force area to that where the offence happened ?
Were both offences in the same force area ?

Edited by vonhosen on Thursday 8th November 22:00

[wildone63]

vonhosen said:

If the fixed penalty scheme isn't completed for whatever reason (I can't see that it really matters if it's through your choice or their's) then it can default to a summons as long as it isn't timed out. Your mitigation (of willing to accept the original FPN) should lead to a punishment no greater than that penalty (the original FPN) if you plead guilty in relation to the matter.

Well,ive certainly got no intention of accepting the original FPN.fk em! i acted in good faith,accepted the original offer,they had their chance to take my £60 and give me 3 points and they made their decision not to.That should carry a lot of sway with any court.This case wont go ahead without the decision makers at the fixed penalty office being made to look like a bunch of tits.
Do you think its worth my while contacting the court or police to explain that the fixed penalty office decided to take no further action 3 months ago?

[wildone63]

vonhosen said:

This is what I don't get.

The speed awareness course you went on, was this in the force area you sent the fine etc to & who returned it to you ?
Why are you sending the payment to a different force area to that where the offence happened ?
Were both offences in the same force area ?

Edited by vonhosen on Thursday 8th November 22:00

Both speeding offences and the speed awareness course took place in northumbria police area,i returned my acceptance of the fixed penalty offer to northumbria police hq,but i had to post my licence and cheque to
Fixed Penalty Office
PO Box 223
Morley
Leeds
LS27 1ND