Issued COVID FPN by a police officer

[Gooly]

A police officer issued a COVID FPN to me 11 days ago whilst I was on a walk with someone not from my household 3 miles from my house. The officer made several mentions of the terms 'essential travel', 'local area' and 'spirit of lockdown'. I have a reasonably good understanding of the COVID legislation and difference between legislation and guidance and I am confident that the FPN was not lawful. I plan to appeal it, however I have a few questions:

The officer said I should expect the FPN by post within 14 days. It's now been 10, so it may arrive in the next 4 days but I would like to know what to do if it doesn't. I gave my correct details and supplied my driving licence as ID which is up to date. Is there a time limit on the serving of the FPN ala speeding tickets, or is the 14 day limit simply a guideline. I am conscious of the fact that if it is lost in the post and I do not respond within 28 days of the given time limit, the case will escalate without me knowing. However, I also do not wish to chase up an FPN that may not have actually been processed or served for all I know. I gave a very reasonable and polite rebuttal to the police officer with my interpretation of the law (which she wasn't aware of in any depth) and I feel there is a slim chance she may not have actually served the FPN.

If I do receive the FPN, I wish to appeal. As far as I know, there is no official way to 'appeal' the FPN - the only way to fight it is to decline the decriminalised settlement offer of £100 and escalate the matter to magistrates court, at which point it becomes a potentially criminal matter and I could then be liable for costs and a larger fine. If I lose, what happens? What would my liability be? Would this count as part of a criminal record? More than anything, are the CPS likely to even pursue the matter?

If I do go to magistrates court, I'm assuming the matter will come down to my version of events versus the statement by the police officer in question, which at that point will have been given several weeks after the initial incident. What burden of proof or evidence would I require? Should I enlist a witness? Am I right in thinking that the CPS would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that I was outside of my house without reasonable excuse and therefore in breach of the legislation, and is the burden of proof therefore upon them and not myself?

I don't wish to go into the details as to the incident itself as I'd like to avoid any moral discussion as to what the 'spirit of lockdown' is, and would like to instead discuss the actual procedures and mechanisms behind the FPN. Hopefully this may help others as well.

Edited by Gooly on Wednesday 24th February 19:03

[Gooly]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Taita said:

Was the FPN for being 3 miles away (seems reasonable to do a 3 mile walk for exercise to me.....) or for the person not from your household?

Best of luck to you

The FPN was for being with someone not from my household and allegedly not taking exercise with them, as the officers saw me take a pic of my car when they drove past. We had just returned back from a long walk and I was about to drive home. The officer said to me, charmingly, that she had earlier given a ticket to a lady who had not left her house for 6 weeks, and had travelled to Trafalger Square to walk around and take photos. To me, the act of taking photos does not diminish the fact that one is taking exercise in a public outdoor environment by walking before or after said photos were taken. As an aside, I did raise this to her, and her reply to me was simply that the lady in question could appeal if she wanted to. I reminded her that to most people, appealing the decision of a police officer in a magistrates court is likely quite daunting, but she appeared to not give a toss.

I am happy to argue this part in court - whether or not I win will depend on how limiting the concept of 'exercise' is as defined in the legislation. I do not care to discuss this here as I am set on appealing regardless and I'm sure many will disagree with my interpretation, however I would like to know where I stand in terms of potential liability if the magistrates disagrees with me and whether or not I should chase up the FPN if it is to not arrive. I live in a maisonette that often has issues with mail delivery and have had to order duplicate V5s on the last three cars I bought while living here due to mail issues.

Durzel said:

You were stopped at the time, in person, so like a driving offence where you get pulled there is no necessity to follow it up with a NIP.

You already know you’re being prosecuted because you were told you were, and they know who you are so don’t need to ask “who was walking at this location” (to use the driving metaphor)

Thanks for this. As I suspected - do you know if there is any sort of timeframe at all by which the FPN needs to be served? As far as I am aware, once served, a 28 day clock starts ticking and it is after that point that the court process can start.

Smiljan said:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay...

This is guidance, not legislation - please don't stop doing your walks. If they benefit you and your wellbeing then continue doing them, as they are completely legal. There are no distance or time regulations with regards to exercise or any other travel listed under the exemptions.

Bigends said:

Its not recordable or notifiable

Very good to know - thank you

croyde said:

I'm in London. The local parks are like festivals, even in the week, hence I drive 30 miles out to the country and do an 8 mile hike hardly seeing anyone.

Surely that's being sensible.

To me it absolutely and wholly is. I live in SW and the local commons and high streets resemble Glastonbury on any dry day, evening or night if the weather is above 5degrees. The officer suggested that next time I should stay in my local area, the irony being that having walked around an almost deserted central london for 4 hours, the most interpersonal contact I had was from the 6 police officers barrelling out of the van and surrounding us. Had I stayed in my 'local area' I would have certainly been more at risk.

aka_kerrly said:

Ilovejapcrap said:

aka_kerrly said:

Gooly said:

A police officer issued a COVID FPN to me 11 days ago whilst I was on a walk with someone not from my household 3 miles from my house.


What burden of proof or evidence would I require? Should I enlist a witness?

Edited by Gooly on Wednesday 24th February 19:03

Lockdown rules said you cannot mix with people not from your household.
The evidence , you 3 miles from your house with someone NOT from your house

Pretty dam simple isn't it.

Unless you live alone and they are your bubble

Exactly, if he explained that to the officer then he wouldn't have got a ticket so the likelihood is he doesn't live alone and the person he was with is not a support bubble hence he got a fine.

Not simple enough clearly. There are several exemptions for meeting someone outside of your household, one of which being to take exercise outdoors with someone. This is clearly written in the legislation. Sincerely hope you don't go into law enforcement or other legal-related professions.

[Gooly]

The_Nugget said:

From the OPs update it seems the issue here is not whether or not you are legally allowed to exercise with someone from another household (you are). Or even if you need to do that locally (you don’t, necessarily).

The issue is that the officer appears to not believe that the OP (at the time of the offence) was exercising with their ‘buddy.’

The OP hasn’t provided specifics but imagine this scenario:
Buddies arrive independently to meet for a walk.
Buddies have walk and arrive back at vehicles.
All legal.
Buddies spend half an hour in the car park discussing cars, taking photos of cars, etc - the half an hour is possibly illegal.

Office issues FPN - possibly correctly.

Ultimately OP, without exact details, which you said you won’t give, any opinion offered here is speculation.

This is fair - to be honest I'm not really seeking advice on whether or not to proceed as it would be speculation as you say, but more in terms of if there are relevant timeframes with the serving of the FPN and what my 'exposure' would be were I to lose in court. Another thing is how soon I'd even get a hearing? I still haven't received any FPN paperwork in the post either and I'm not sure if / when I should chase.

croyde said:

If the officer was so proud of ticketing a women who hadn't left the house in 6 weeks, it sounds like she's a bully and a .

OP, I take it you were in that Ghost Town formerly called central London.

I'm about 8 miles from central, I quite fancied a hike around there but it seems it's not a good idea.

I'll keep going to where the police don't like getting their shiny boots all muddy.

I was, and yes was a good day out and refreshing to see (and pleasantly pollution / crowd free compared to most areas of zone 2 / 3) but absolutely crawling with police presence. Not seen London like that even during periods of protest / riot / high terror threat. The officers who dealt with me were from a dedicated COVID taskforce.

The officer who issued my FPN was indeed quite unpleasant and deeply sanctimonious. I remained polite but doing so was a challenge.

Smiljan said:

When issued with one of these FPNs what kind of on the spot notice do you get? Do they fill out a form? Give you reference number? Text?

The OP is concerned the FPN may not get posted and doesn’t know if it’s been issued for sure or not, is there nothing you get on the spot?

Good luck with your case OP I’ll keep an eye on the thread and see how you get on.

Thanks for the well wishes - the officer took my details on a tablet and said I would get something in the post within 14 days. I did not sign anything or receive any sort of paperwork. No advice was given in terms of what happens if it didn't arrive (I should have asked) however she did advise that if I did not pay and did not respond to further communication I would run the risk of becoming wanted for non-payment, which I believe would only happen if it went to court and I did not pay any subsequent fines.

Durzel said:

I guess it speaks to the wider question of what is exercise?

For some super active people going for a walk isn't exercise, they need to be doing mini marathons. For clinically obese people just getting some fresh air and moving around a bit might be considered exercise, relative to their current mobility.

Who is anyone to define exactly what exercise is, when everyone is different? Can it be objectively defined? Dictionary.com defines it simply as "physical exertion". Just moving your limbs requires physical exertion.

When does "exercise" begin and end? if I'm out for a brisk walk and I briefly stop to take a photo, have I stopped "exercising"? I'd suggest not. Maybe I might do some deep breathing exercises while I'm taking photos, as is my want.

Common sense needs to prevail with this stuff, and on the face of it I would echo the comments above about the cop apparently gleefully pointing out that she ticketed someone who hadn't left the house for 6 weeks, like it was a merit badge or something.

Exactly my thoughts.

Hugo Stiglitz said:

There's so much legislation to know and it changes. You can't know everything and understand the points to prove. It's a nightmare. Just when a response officer 'knows' his/her legislation they move on/upwards or into a specialist role.

Think about it- would you know everything from traffic, offences against the man, drugs offences, various other PACE, common law AND Covid?

The officer isn't thick. Would you know it? Yes it's best to know covid legislation but when you might come across it once in a month and you have case files, everything else to manage wheres the time?

I'm sorry but if you have the time to learn guidance, you have the time to learn legislation, especially in times like these where it is one of the most likely offences you will encounter as a police officer. To argue that it is unreasonable for a Met police officer to not know the basic COVID legislation is like saying we shouldn't expect traffic officers to know what the legal tread depth limit is for tyres. I work with legislation and enforcing said legislation in my job, I know how it is, but the distinction between legislation and guidance is not a complex one. I'm not expected to know everything, but I am expected to have a reasonable understanding of the purpose of legislation in relation to my field and crucially, I'm expected to know the basics. COVID legislation, whether or not one can leave their house and under what conditions is basic stuff.

I disagree with your last paragraph too - there is not knowing, and then there is refusing to listen, learn or act in a way that is pragmatic or reasonable. She did not come across to me as competent or intelligent to be completely honest and she fell far short of my impression of the Met.

Edited by Gooly on Thursday 25th February 13:19

[Gooly]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The only thing Devon and Cornwall have been very active in is serving unlawful FPNs. They rightfully have one of the worst reputations of any police force in the nation, in close running with Derbyshire and West Mids. Please read up on the difference between guidance and legislation. Based on the information given in that article, the surfers' journey to Cornwall was completely lawful. I'm not sure about their overnight stay in the campervan however there could be an argument to say that the campervan counts as their dwelling. People can go where the want for exercise and no limits on distance, travel or even social distancing have been introduced in law.

The only thing I'm not sure on with the above is whether or not two people from separate households can travel somewhere for exercise in the same car. The legislation mentions 'public outdoor' space with regards to exercising with members of other households.

[Gooly]

Nibbles_bits said:

Have we established the full circumstances of why the OP was issued a ticket?
I thought they'd left some of the details a little....... ambiguous ??

To address some other points in this thread.
Covid isn't a priority for individual Police Officers. Most would very reluctantly give a ticket, usually to someone who has failed the attitude test. And most are withdrawn anyway.
I haven't issued a single one.

To the retired officer saying "they managed", this is an unprecedented situation. How many times have the rules changed in the last year? 2 or 3 times??
FYI - there have been 130 changes in the Coronavirus Act.

To say that an Officer is "thick" because they are mistaken on one of the 102 Sections of the Coronavirus Act 2020 & the 79 Sections of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 shows a bit of ignorance. Saying that they should have some knowledge of the common breaches they're likely to face, also shows ignorance. Which breaches are most common breaches?? ??

Saying that crime must be "through the floor" ??
Come volunteer. There has been very little change at all.
If anything, because of Officers shielding, isolating or recovering from Covid, it's actually been more challenging. The Police are already short of Officers........and Covid has just exasperated the situation.

• Remember- there are no "extra Officers", they're the same Officers on overtime/cancelled rest days/ shift changes**

What an awful attitude. Lets address this point by point.

"Have we established the full circumstances of why the OP was issued a ticket?
I thought they'd left some of the details a little....... ambiguous ??"

- I've given the long and short of it. I'm not asking for someone to assess the viability of my case, but more understand the mechanics behind the FPN and what will happen if I lose in court. I'm confident that the FPN was unlawful and at no point did I set out to break the law. I'm not particularly interested in what people think of my outing, as nobody here (hopefully) is a magistrates judge, however I will say that I have kept up with the law and always sought to stay within it to avoid this very situation.

"Covid isn't a priority for individual Police Officers. Most would very reluctantly give a ticket, usually to someone who has failed the attitude test. And most are withdrawn anyway.
I haven't issued a single one. "

- The officer who issued my FPN was part of a dedicated met police COVID task force. They had been patrolling central London all of their shift looking to enforce COVID rules. I did not fail the attitude test; I was extremely polite at all times and I initially offered to disperse and return home when the officers approached me. I have never previously been arrested or given a ticket by a police officer in person despite getting pulled over for some very questionable driving in my younger years. COVID may not be a priority for most police officers, but you would hope those who have set out to specifically enforce on it would have a reasonable understanding of the law.

"To the retired officer saying "they managed", this is an unprecedented situation. How many times have the rules changed in the last year? 2 or 3 times??
FYI - there have been 130 changes in the Coronavirus Act."

- This is an irrelevant statistic. The rules surrounding Tier 4 areas and people not being able to leave their house without reasonable excuse has remained consistent since its initial introduction and is exceedingly simple.

"To say that an Officer is "thick" because they are mistaken on one of the 102 Sections of the Coronavirus Act 2020 & the 79 Sections of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 shows a bit of ignorance. Saying that they should have some knowledge of the common breaches they're likely to face, also shows ignorance. Which breaches are most common breaches?? ??"

- This statement shows worrying incompetence and is part of the same narrative that has eroded public confidence in policing over the last few years. Quoting '102 sections' is misleading and irrelevant. There are only a handful of sections that are relevant to policing in 99% of situations. Breaches of coronavirus have been most commonly demonstrated through unlawful gatherings or journeys not related to an exempt reason. Several high profile cases have arisen in national media with regards to this specific issue. Several police forces have issues specific statements with regards to this very issue, including the met. To not understand an extremely simple and extremely relevant piece of legislation, when you are part of a taskforce who's primary purpose is to enforce said legislation, is sheer, bloody-minded incompetence. To think otherwise is absolutely absurd. There are very few professions where such incompetence would be acceptable and I would like to think that being a police officer for the met is not one of them.

Once again, an officer not understanding the very basics of coronavirus travel restrictions is like a traffic officer not knowing legal tread depth limits for tyres, or how fast commercial vehicles can travel on motorways. If an officer is not able to determine which parts of the legislation are particularly relevant and worth knowing, they should probably consider a different job.

Beyond this, I enforce legislation in my job. I often have to give advice on the spot. If I don't know, I say so. I know what I know and I know what I don't know. The officer in question did not know what she did not know, and instead proceeded with bluff and bluster and showed an extremely poor grasp of not just COVID legislation, but how legislation and law works overall. Advice would have been sufficient - I offered to be on my way both beginning and during our interaction. I politely explained the relevant legislation and why I believed my outing was completely lawful. I have dealt with the met before and her behaviour fell far short of most officers I know or have interacted with.

If an officer has time to learn guidance, they have time to understand legislation or learn the difference between the two. If they are unsure, they should probably not serve an FPN that has no right of appeal outside of the already overloaded magistrates court system.

You demonstrate a poor level of reading comprehension and a defensive, corrosive attitude. I am glad that most officers aren't like you, but saddened nonetheless that some still are.

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Given that you were unaware of the difference between guidance and legislation I sincerely hope your role in local government is limited to things that do not involve any sort of enforcement.

Edit - thanks to everyone else who has offered advice and well wishes however. I'm glad to see so many others have a good grasp of the law and can see the absurdity in this manner of policing. Would still like to find out if there is any sort of timeline with regards to FPNs and whether or not I should chase it up if I don't receive any paperwork within the next week or so.

Edited by Gooly on Friday 26th February 02:36

[Gooly]

Just a few notes;

- No FPN yet

- The officer who issued my ticket was 100% certainly a police officer and stepped out of a riot-style van loaded with 8 or 9 other police officers. I am very critical of her actions and competency but I do not think she is representative of the Met.

- I work for local governance and I am well aware of how austerity and a decade of governance under a certain political party has ravaged the public sector and policing. It is still no excuse for her behaviour.


I will file a complaint if the FPN arrives. I'm inclined to not chase if it doesn't - if anyone has any advice on whether or not this is a bad idea please do comment.

[Gooly]

Greendubber said:

I think not being given sufficient time to be correctly trained is well worth complaining about to be honest. The OP could be a direct result of someone just being put on some BS 'task force' and being told to go and deal with something they don't have the foggiest idea about.

Don't give out a bloody FPN then and be completely dismissive of the relevant legislation when presented??? You guys seem to have plenty of time to conjure up absurd mental gymnastics to justify bloody-minded incompetence, why don't you use that time to learn an exceedingly simple bit of legislation for an exceedingly well publicised and exceedingly prevalent policing issue? Yes, the police has been hit hard. No, that isn't an excuse for giving out unlawful FPNs. It's very simple and the more you try to argue otherwise the less convincing you sound.

Edited by Gooly on Monday 1st March 15:15

[Gooly]

Hello - sorry to drag this thread back up. The person who I was with received their FPN last week. I've yet to receive anything (we were dealt with by two different officers). I've told my pal that they should file a complaint to the met in the hope that the FPN may be withdrawn. They are tempted to pay as they wish to avoid the hassle, however I would rather they didnt for three reasons - one being the principle of it, two being that I am worried it may go against me if they pay, and three being that I do not trust the police to enforce this legislation correctly and I do not wish for my pal to get issued another FPN erroneously and it then cost £400 due to the way the fine structure is set up.

I have a few specific questions with regards to this. The only complaints mechanism I can see is on the met police website. It advises that complaints if possible should go to the specific police station for the relevant officer, however the FPN paperwork does not list any details regarding the officer aside from their last name. There is no badge number, no station, etc etc. Is there any way I can find out this information? Beyond this, there are only a few days left to pay the fine at the reduced rate and I highly doubt the complaint will be dealt with in good time. If they are to pay the PCN at the reduced rate I assume they are forgoing their right to later appeal? Is there a more direct way to appeal without knowing the specific issuing station or officer?

We do not wish to take this to court ideally, both because of the amount of time it will take and because of the fact that the potential consequences are far higher. I am assuming it is just a matter of time before my FPN reaches me, although I do think the officer who dealt with me may have decided it wasnt worth the hassle based on the interaction I had with her. Either way I want to help my mate out and prepare to act if mine does arrive.

On another note, its now been more than a month since the original offence. Would still like to know if there is any time limit on how long ACRO have to serve the FPN - the officer told me within 14 days but that seems to have been thrown completely out the water.

[Gooly]

Breadvan72 said:

OP, PM me and I will see if I can assist pro bono. From your initial description, you did not commit an offence. It may be that some sensible and polite letter writing will be enough to have your friend's FPN, and any eventually issued to you, binned.

Thank you for the kind offer - I will send you a PM

[Gooly]

Breadvan72 said:

Did you get the officer's name and number? If your report of the officer's comment is accurate, and the officer had indeed done as she claimed, then her conduct may be an appropriate for basis for a complaint. Regrettably, some (not all) police officers appear to have allowed the pandemic to bring out some very bad instincts.

Unfortunately not - I really regret not doing so in hindsight. She stated that her badge number and details, including her station, would be on the FPN, which I would receive within 14 days. No FPN has been received and the one my friend received does not have any such details for his issuing officer either.

[Gooly]

My FPN arrived today. Unfortunately there are several issues with it.

The contravention listed is simply "Contravene requirement to not leave or be outside place of living", conveniently missing the last part of the regulation which is 'without reasonable excuse'. This alleged contravention is easily disproved by the circumstances of the case IMO.

Below this, the circumstances of the allegation are listed, which allege that I was "seemingly" part of a gathering, that I was polishing my car (despite having no means to do so and not actually being near my car at the time), and that I had travelled up from Croydon(!) to Central London despite living in Battersea, having my licence, car and insurance registered to Battersea and having no connection with Croydon whatsoever... not that my address would have any bearing on the regulations anyway! 'Cars' was also spelt 'Cards' which is mildly entertaining.

Unfortunately the FPN does not list any details of my issuing officer aside from her last name but I will be filing a complaint at the least, and due to how shabbily worded the FPN is I am confident that I would win in court were I to decline the offer of the FPN. Will continue to update here with how things progress.

ETA: The only reference I can find to any form of limiting timescales on the serving of an FPN is on ACRO's website, who say that if you have not received the FPN after 8 weeks of it being served, you should contact them. I can therefore only assume that there are no grounds for recourse for the fact that the FPN arrived 7 weeks after the original offence.

Edited by Gooly on Saturday 3rd April 14:36

[Gooly]

agtlaw said:

Extremely bad idea whilst proceedings are ongoing.

I was under the impression that the met may withdraw on the basis of the complaint - happy to consider otherwise though

Nibbles_bits said:

Any chance of a picture of said FPN?

Obviously without your details.

Perhaps after a conclusion is reached

Bigends said:

Tickets are issued by an admin dept, not by the officer dealing - probably accounts for the typos

As far as I know this isnt the case - this FOI from the met implies the officer does all the legwork https://maps.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/foi-media...

Gman20 said:

I get the impression that the missing part of this story is now that there may have been some sort of car gathering that in the police's opinion was outside of the rules, you were there with presumably a fairly nice car and rightly or wrongly were identified as being part of it.
Does that sound likely?

Whilst we were parked up, two blokes driving an identical car (down to the same colour and all) saw us and parked up with the intention of chatting. We weren't together, and I made it clear that we didn't want to be part of a group particularly as I had been around Central all day and saw how much police presence there was (I literally imagined this exact scenario happening).

They stuck to themselves, across the street at least 30 metres away, and I stuck with my pal as he shot my car. This is when the police saw us and pulled up. My FPN doesn't allege that I broke the contraventions with regards to gatherings and my issuing police officer acknowledged that I wasn't part of a gathering of four, so its not relevant to the case in this respect.

I should add that, as 'convenient' as this story may sound, I am clued up with the regulations and I simply wouldn't put myself in a situation where I was knowingly breaking the rules. I have no interest in dealing with FPNs or the police. I'm sure many will jump on this and say that I was trying it on but its genuinely not the case!

[Gooly]

I did mention the photos later on after my original post. I didnt expect this thread to blow up like this hence posting such a summarised story, I only initially wanted answers to a few specific questions.

I sent BV a full unredacted statement of events in my first email as I wouldn’t want to waste anyones time!

[Gooly]

Hello - received a letter today from ACRO saying that the issuing force have decided to take no further action after reviewing the evidence, ie the case has been dropped. I have made several efforts to provide representations to ACRO and the Met but I'm not sure if these were taken into account or not as none have been acknowledged in any way or form. I will list what I've done below:

BV72 very kindly drafted me a brief appeal response summarising my position and account of events. I tweaked and emailed this to ACRO to the address listed on the FPN, which is an inbox for if you wish to notify ACRO that you will be declining the FPN and proceeding with a SJP. A few days later I received a generic reply which stated that my 'query' can be answered via the FAQs and that I will not be receiving any sort of response, effectively meaning that email went to the bin.

My friend with whom I was issued the FPN with had his withdrawn last month. He took my (probably unwise) advice to submit his statement of facts / appeal through the official Met Police online complaints portal. This got passed to the Met's COVID-19 inbox, who then reviewed the BWV and sent him a letter stating that on the basis of the BWV and his complaint they will be withdrawing proceedings, adding that they believed that 'as a law abiding citizen (he) would have left the area and returned home if requested', ie the officer was too quick to issue an FPN instead of just telling us to sod off.

The letter also stated that their unit was unable to deal with personal complaints against officers however if he wanted to, they could refer it to the unit that could, (professional standards unit). Also, before receiving his response he paid the £100 fine as he wasn't confident it would get overturned and he didn't want to miss the discount period. This £100 was subsequently refunded to him on the basis of the overturned FPN, something which I found pleasantly surprising as I thought he may have forfeited his right to appeal by paying.

Based on his success, I did the same and submitted my appeal through the complaints portal as I saw no other option. Mine however got passed straight to PSU, who stated they cannot do anything RE the Covid FPN and can only deal with the officer complaint. I asked them to email the inbox that my friend's complaint had been passed to, but I never heard back from that. I then received a letter about a week ago stating I had missed out on the 28 day window to pay the FPN, and that the matter has been passed back to the Met who may then hold me liable for a SJP. I'm assuming at this point they review the evidence and decide whether or not to proceed. I genuinely don't know if the FPN was withdrawn based purely on the evidence, ie the officer's statement and her BWV, or the noise I was making.

Either way I will be continuing on with my PSU complaint against the officer, namely to try and get all FPNs issued by her to be reviewed and withdrawn where applicable. Not out for blood but I hope everyone else who was unfortunate enough to deal with her is able to have a positive resolution to this. I hope this can provide some guidance as to how un-transparent the process around these FPNs is. I have yet to receive the name, number or station of the officer who issued my FPN however I am hoping / assuming PSU will at least be able to retrieve this.

Edited by Gooly on Wednesday 12th May 15:56