Red Light - Court Letter
Discussion
Hi, Just been done on a traffic light camera, I was 12 seconds over doing 32mph in a 40 limit must have been busy looking at he sat nav or something, Anyway realise I’m gonna cop 3 Points, apparently the fine is means tested before a discount of 33% is applied. Currently on £28,000 anyone any idea how much the fine might be.
You've had a summons, not an NIP? You went through after the light had been red for TWELVE SECONDS? Have you had a recent sight test?
ETA: some get you off lawyers website says "If you are found guilty of driving through a red light the likely outcome is a fine and 3 penalty points. That will be the case if you accept a fixed penalty. If the case goes to court, the court has a discretionary power to disqualify you from driving and the fine could be up to £1000. In some cases you may be offered a “driver awareness course” as an alternative disposal. This will involve attending a re-training course for half of a day which usually costs between £85 and £110."
ETA: some get you off lawyers website says "If you are found guilty of driving through a red light the likely outcome is a fine and 3 penalty points. That will be the case if you accept a fixed penalty. If the case goes to court, the court has a discretionary power to disqualify you from driving and the fine could be up to £1000. In some cases you may be offered a “driver awareness course” as an alternative disposal. This will involve attending a re-training course for half of a day which usually costs between £85 and £110."
Edited by Pothole on Thursday 6th September 17:27
With that delay it may be more than just 3 points....
Biggest tip, if you are able to make a huge pension contribution the month before the hearing. Their document asks for your net income, a big pension deduction will reduce this. They also don’t give a time frame for the income, you only need to do it for the one month (but should do so to evidence it)....my £1,200 declared got me a £250 or £300 fine for a 6 point 100+ speeding offence, should have been over £1200 had I not (legally) mitigated my net income. (If you’re driving around in a new Porsche it may not work however)
Biggest tip, if you are able to make a huge pension contribution the month before the hearing. Their document asks for your net income, a big pension deduction will reduce this. They also don’t give a time frame for the income, you only need to do it for the one month (but should do so to evidence it)....my £1,200 declared got me a £250 or £300 fine for a 6 point 100+ speeding offence, should have been over £1200 had I not (legally) mitigated my net income. (If you’re driving around in a new Porsche it may not work however)
FARP said:
Hi, Just been done on a traffic light camera, I was 12 seconds over doing 32mph in a 40 limit must have been busy looking at he sat nav or something, Anyway realise I’m gonna cop 3 Points, apparently the fine is means tested before a discount of 33% is applied. Currently on £28,000 anyone any idea how much the fine might be.
The red light was lit for 12 seconds before you went over?f
king hell.That's a long time to be not looking ahead.
Edited by Alucidnation on Thursday 6th September 17:47
FARP said:
Thanks great idea about the pension payment, guess the others are all magistrates !
Errr I don’t think so!Edited by FARP on Thursday 6th September 17:41
Just shocked at your obviously not observing. Very lucky not to have had a smash. Was the wording in the summons for jumping the red or for something else like undue care or dangerous driving?
FARP said:
Hi, Just been done on a traffic light camera, I was 12 seconds over doing 32mph in a 40 limit must have been busy looking at he sat nav or something, Anyway realise I’m gonna cop 3 Points
I'd expect it to be a 3pt/£100 fixed penalty.But if they're viewing 12sec as too late for an FPN (or are you at risk of a totting ban?), then you'll be looking at a court date. I'm surprised the lights for the other road hadn't gone green...
FARP said:
apparently the fine is means tested before a discount of 33% is applied. Currently on £28,000 anyone any idea how much the fine might be.
Almost certainly Band A, I'd have thought - so starting point of 50% of weekly income, within a range of 25-75%.FARP said:
So that’s looking at a £200 fine after discount plus court costs of £85 and 3 Points. Not to mention a probable increase in insurance premium
For driving blithely through a long-since-red light while not looking where you were going? At a steady 32mph, you were over 170m away when it changed. Yet you didn't notice it...Could have been a LOT worse.
FARP said:
Unfortunately it was 12 seconds, apparently if it’s under 3 seconds in our county they can send you on a course. Sent a letter in to the court pleading guilty,
I think frankly you should be grateful that there wasn't a car that you T-boned. I won't ask WTF you were doing or how you missed a red light for that long, but please, please don't do it again!
kiethton said:
With that delay it may be more than just 3 points....
Biggest tip, if you are able to make a huge pension contribution the month before the hearing. Their document asks for your net income, a big pension deduction will reduce this. They also don’t give a time frame for the income, you only need to do it for the one month (but should do so to evidence it)....my £1,200 declared got me a £250 or £300 fine for a 6 point 100+ speeding offence, should have been over £1200 had I not (legally) mitigated my net income. (If you’re driving around in a new Porsche it may not work however)
Check if that big pension contribution could include last year as well.Biggest tip, if you are able to make a huge pension contribution the month before the hearing. Their document asks for your net income, a big pension deduction will reduce this. They also don’t give a time frame for the income, you only need to do it for the one month (but should do so to evidence it)....my £1,200 declared got me a £250 or £300 fine for a 6 point 100+ speeding offence, should have been over £1200 had I not (legally) mitigated my net income. (If you’re driving around in a new Porsche it may not work however)
The esure report said: ‘Jumping red lights is becoming a common occurrence with the latest figures showing that traffic cameras are catching around 184 drivers every day
‘However, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg, as they only reflect those offences documented by 33 Police forces, plus only the minority of red lights have a camera.
‘In fact, as many as one in four (24 per cent) of motorists admit to having driven through a red light in the past 12 months — equivalent to 9.3 million motorists’.
I’m not alone
‘However, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg, as they only reflect those offences documented by 33 Police forces, plus only the minority of red lights have a camera.
‘In fact, as many as one in four (24 per cent) of motorists admit to having driven through a red light in the past 12 months — equivalent to 9.3 million motorists’.
I’m not alone
FARP said:
Unfortunately it was 12 seconds, apparently if it’s under 3 seconds in our county they can send you on a course. Sent a letter in to the court pleading guilty,
Perhaps you went 'early' on the next green, not late on the last red (IYSWIM). How in all that is holy did you manage to go through 12 seconds late?. A fine is the least of your problems.TooMany2cvs said:
FARP said:
Hi, Just been done on a traffic light camera, I was 12 seconds over doing 32mph in a 40 limit must have been busy looking at he sat nav or something, Anyway realise I’m gonna cop 3 Points
I'd expect it to be a 3pt/£100 fixed penalty.But if they're viewing 12sec as too late for an FPN (or are you at risk of a totting ban?), then you'll be looking at a court date. I'm surprised the lights for the other road hadn't gone green...
FARP said:
apparently the fine is means tested before a discount of 33% is applied. Currently on £28,000 anyone any idea how much the fine might be.
Almost certainly Band A, I'd have thought - so starting point of 50% of weekly income, within a range of 25-75%.Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff