Speeding Ticket followed by Court Action
Discussion
Hi All,
A bit of a strange one and I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience:
Feb '23 - Caught speeding on the A406 within the average speed camera zone when I was doing 48mph instead of 40mph... a bit frustrating but fair enough.
Mar '23 - I receive a letter from the Met Police with details including pictures etc. Unfortunately, as I attended a speed awareness course about 18months ago I wasn't able to go down this route. I therefore paid the £100 fine, expecting to receive the three points on my licence in due course.
Aug '23 - After not hearing anything for months, I receive a letter from Met Police / Bromley Magistrates court with a 'Single Justice Procedure' and being charged with the speeding offences. I was given the option to plead guilty or not guilty and confirm whether I wanted to represent myself in court.
- At the same time, I was reimbursed with my £100 fine that I'd paid.
- I replied to the letter without a plea but stated I was willing to represent myself in court but was unsure as to why it was going down this route having previously provided my licence details and paying the fine.
Sep '23 - Receive another letter from Court stating that the 'Court has ordered that my driving record be endorsed with the penalty points' and that I'm given a reduced fine of £72.00 and a surcharge of £28.00 to fund victim services... so exactly the same as the £100 that I paid and was then reimbursed with...
Has anyone else has similar experiences? Do I just accept the fine and points? Or do I challenge given that they appear to have made a hash of the process?
A bit of a strange one and I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience:
Feb '23 - Caught speeding on the A406 within the average speed camera zone when I was doing 48mph instead of 40mph... a bit frustrating but fair enough.
Mar '23 - I receive a letter from the Met Police with details including pictures etc. Unfortunately, as I attended a speed awareness course about 18months ago I wasn't able to go down this route. I therefore paid the £100 fine, expecting to receive the three points on my licence in due course.
Aug '23 - After not hearing anything for months, I receive a letter from Met Police / Bromley Magistrates court with a 'Single Justice Procedure' and being charged with the speeding offences. I was given the option to plead guilty or not guilty and confirm whether I wanted to represent myself in court.
- At the same time, I was reimbursed with my £100 fine that I'd paid.
- I replied to the letter without a plea but stated I was willing to represent myself in court but was unsure as to why it was going down this route having previously provided my licence details and paying the fine.
Sep '23 - Receive another letter from Court stating that the 'Court has ordered that my driving record be endorsed with the penalty points' and that I'm given a reduced fine of £72.00 and a surcharge of £28.00 to fund victim services... so exactly the same as the £100 that I paid and was then reimbursed with...
Has anyone else has similar experiences? Do I just accept the fine and points? Or do I challenge given that they appear to have made a hash of the process?
Whilst the process appears to have not gone smoothly in this instance, I'd suggest the magistrate has been made aware and as such has reduced the fine to balance it out to £100 as it ahould be.
The end result is the same and I'm.not sure on what basis you would be appealing unless you intended to go to court and plead not guilty?
If you wanted to plead not guilty then you should appeal but it appears that is not the case?
If it were me I would let sleeping dogs lie pay the fine which you wanted to do at the outset and move on.
The end result is the same and I'm.not sure on what basis you would be appealing unless you intended to go to court and plead not guilty?
If you wanted to plead not guilty then you should appeal but it appears that is not the case?
If it were me I would let sleeping dogs lie pay the fine which you wanted to do at the outset and move on.
Think yourself lucky I was caught and given three points and whilst my license was sent off I was caught again, obviously I couldn't produce it, because the DVLA still had it
As I couldn't produce it, I was forced to go to court where I got five points and a £300 fine instead of the three point fixed penalty which was £60 at the time
Although the poor bloke who was in court ahead of me was found guilty of assaulting a police officer
He was running away, she got her fingers into his belt but he carried on running so she scuffed her shoe and her knee The way it was presented made it sound like he was a mass murderer, scuffed shoe and knee FFS !
As I couldn't produce it, I was forced to go to court where I got five points and a £300 fine instead of the three point fixed penalty which was £60 at the time
Although the poor bloke who was in court ahead of me was found guilty of assaulting a police officer
He was running away, she got her fingers into his belt but he carried on running so she scuffed her shoe and her knee The way it was presented made it sound like he was a mass murderer, scuffed shoe and knee FFS !
WrekinCrew said:
You had to post the actual licence, not just give the details. If you didnt the conditional offer was withdrawn and it went to court.
Ah, fair enough! Seems a bit bonkers to actually have to post the physical licence but then I suppose these processes are fairly archaic Jamescrs said:
Whilst the process appears to have not gone smoothly in this instance, I'd suggest the magistrate has been made aware and as such has reduced the fine to balance it out to £100 as it ahould be.
The end result is the same and I'm.not sure on what basis you would be appealing unless you intended to go to court and plead not guilty?
If you wanted to plead not guilty then you should appeal but it appears that is not the case?
If it were me I would let sleeping dogs lie pay the fine which you wanted to do at the outset and move on.
Think you’re right, was hoping that I could get away with a technical error but like you said I should just accept and set the cruise control in future! The end result is the same and I'm.not sure on what basis you would be appealing unless you intended to go to court and plead not guilty?
If you wanted to plead not guilty then you should appeal but it appears that is not the case?
If it were me I would let sleeping dogs lie pay the fine which you wanted to do at the outset and move on.
malucnojes said:
WrekinCrew said:
You had to post the actual licence, not just give the details. If you didnt the conditional offer was withdrawn and it went to court.
Ah, fair enough! Seems a bit bonkers to actually have to post the physical licence but then I suppose these processes are fairly archaic Unless I f
ked up which would be amusing*You still had to post the details even though you could pay online which was a bit odd but whatever
KTMsm said:
Think yourself lucky I was caught and given three points and whilst my license was sent off I was caught again, obviously I couldn't produce it, because the DVLA still had it
That’s bonkers, feel relatively fortunate now! It’s nuts that a physical licence is even required, never mind being punished for following a process! I don’t understand why they accept payment electronically but then ask you to send a piece of paper back to them with details they already have.
Firstly, what’s the point and secondly why not just allow you to complete these details online?
What is annoying is you need to then spend a few quid with the royal mail ensuring you send it as a ‘signed for’ letter to ensure you have evidence you sent it.
I feel like its an inefficient system and will avoid summoning people to court for silly reasons
Firstly, what’s the point and secondly why not just allow you to complete these details online?
What is annoying is you need to then spend a few quid with the royal mail ensuring you send it as a ‘signed for’ letter to ensure you have evidence you sent it.
I feel like its an inefficient system and will avoid summoning people to court for silly reasons
Roger Gerbil said:
I don’t understand why they accept payment electronically but then ask you to send a piece of paper back to them with details they already have.
Firstly, what’s the point and secondly why not just allow you to complete these details online?
What is annoying is you need to then spend a few quid with the royal mail ensuring you send it as a ‘signed for’ letter to ensure you have evidence you sent it.
I feel like its an inefficient system and will avoid summoning people to court for silly reasons
My guess (and I don't know this) from doing work for so-called "enterprise" clients is that it's a stepping stone on the way to full automation so in that sense is something to be welcomed. They probably outsourced the payment part to one massively overpriced contractor and the driving licence part to another and only the first part has been done yet. I certainly noticed that my fine was processed centrally but the licence processing is being done regionally (I hope cause I was pretty late sending it in and the Royal Mail tracking stuff is down heh).Firstly, what’s the point and secondly why not just allow you to complete these details online?
What is annoying is you need to then spend a few quid with the royal mail ensuring you send it as a ‘signed for’ letter to ensure you have evidence you sent it.
I feel like its an inefficient system and will avoid summoning people to court for silly reasons
TBH compared to other governments' IT systems the UK is amongst the least bad. Which is scary.
(ETA: no I'm wrong, it has been received today. Apparently this is the sig of "Adam"):
Edited by Somewhatfoolish on Tuesday 3rd October 23:40
Roger Gerbil said:
I don’t understand why they accept payment electronically but then ask you to send a piece of paper back to them with details they already have.
Firstly, what’s the point and secondly why not just allow you to complete these details online?
What is annoying is you need to then spend a few quid with the royal mail ensuring you send it as a ‘signed for’ letter to ensure you have evidence you sent it.
I feel like its an inefficient system and will avoid summoning people to court for silly reasons
The DVLA insist on snail mail for many thingsFirstly, what’s the point and secondly why not just allow you to complete these details online?
What is annoying is you need to then spend a few quid with the royal mail ensuring you send it as a ‘signed for’ letter to ensure you have evidence you sent it.
I feel like its an inefficient system and will avoid summoning people to court for silly reasons
Their online computer system only operates for 12 hours a day
They still insist on cheques for payment for many things
It's almost as if they are trying to create jobs for
the unemployable
No, the DVLA database operated 24hrs a day, you can enquire at any time. And you can buy VED or declare SORN at any time, I've done it at 23:50 at night!
It's only the change of registered keeper that has restricted hours (0700 - 1900) because all the updates are done overnight presumably. Not sure why it takes 12 hours though...
It's only the change of registered keeper that has restricted hours (0700 - 1900) because all the updates are done overnight presumably. Not sure why it takes 12 hours though...
Hmm. According to a post on Pepipoo the requirement to post your driving licence with a COFP was removed in November 2022
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/32/conte... - section 93.
- that's a few months before the OP's NIP, so that doesn't explain what happened after all, unless the force in question messed up.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/32/conte... - section 93.
- that's a few months before the OP's NIP, so that doesn't explain what happened after all, unless the force in question messed up.
sixor8 said:
No, the DVLA database operated 24hrs a day, you can enquire at any time. And you can buy VED or declare SORN at any time, I've done it at 23:50 at night!
It's only the change of registered keeper that has restricted hours (0700 - 1900) because all the updates are done overnight presumably. Not sure why it takes 12 hours though...
This is to ensure they can get two lots of tax for one month every time someone buys a s/h car.It's only the change of registered keeper that has restricted hours (0700 - 1900) because all the updates are done overnight presumably. Not sure why it takes 12 hours though...
Somewhatfoolish said:
I recently got a COFP and it said on it don't post the licence, just give the details???*
Unless I fked up which would be amusing
*You still had to post the details even though you could pay online which was a bit odd but whatever
I'm quite sure mine in August said "don't post the actual licence". Just pay online and return a signed form. Unless I f
ked up which would be amusing*You still had to post the details even though you could pay online which was a bit odd but whatever
Unless I too cannot read.
grumbledoak said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
I recently got a COFP and it said on it don't post the licence, just give the details???*
Unless I fked up which would be amusing
*You still had to post the details even though you could pay online which was a bit odd but whatever
I'm quite sure mine in August said "don't post the actual licence". Just pay online and return a signed form. Unless I f
ked up which would be amusing*You still had to post the details even though you could pay online which was a bit odd but whatever
Unless I too cannot read.
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