My name’s Janine, and I’m a mum of two who’s always been passionate about trying to cut down spending costs. I am now sharing as much financial knowledge as I possibly can to help your money go that little bit further.
We understand how it feels to get a speeding ticket and worry about the legal and financial fallout. We’re here for you.
Ready to learn more about how to handle your speeding ticket? Let’s dive in!
Do You Have to Pay?
In some circumstances, you might have a legitimate reason not to pay your fine.
It’s a bit sneaky, but the last time I needed legal advice, I paid £5 for a trial to chat with an online solicitor called JustAnswer.
Not only did I save £50 on solicitor feeds, I also won my case and didn’t have to pay my £271 fine.
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Speeding Convictions Explained
Although speeding is not, in general, a criminal offence (non-payment of a speeding fine can be), you will be issued with a driving conviction if you are caught speeding. Below, is a table that shows all of the speeding-related conviction codes for the UK.
Conviction Code
Driving Offence
Penalty Points
Spent After
MR39
Driving/riding faster than the legal speed limit.
–
4 Years
SP50
Speeding on a motorway.
3 – 6
4 Years
SP40
Speeding in a passenger vehicle.
3 – 6
4 Years
SP30
Speeding on a public road.
3 – 6
4 Years
Being Issued a Speeding Ticket
The process for handing out speeding penalties is slightly different, depending on how you were given the penalty. By a camera, or by a police officer. I will outline both processes below.
Firstly, if you are pulled over by the police. What happens is very much at the discretion of the police officer who you are speaking to. One of three things will happen
You are let off with a verbal warning.
You are issued a fixed penalty notice with a standard fine.
You will be told that you are going to have to go to court, and more details will be sent in the post.
If you are caught speeding by a traffic camera, you will be notified by post within 14 days of the offence taking place. You will be sent two key documents:
A Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP).
A Section 172 notice.
You have 28 days to fill in the Section 172 notice, and then send it back. You have to provide information about who was driving the car at the time. Once you have done this, you will receive one of two further notifications by post:
A fixed penalty notice and a standard fine.
Details of a court appearance you will need to attend.
Successful Appeal Case Study
Situation
Initial Fine
£100
Additional Fees
£171
Total Fine
£271
The Appeal Process
Scott used JustAnswer, online legal service to enhance his appeal. The trial of this cost him just £5.
Total Fine
£271
Cost of legal advice
£5
JustAnswer helped Scott craft the best appeal possible and he was able to win his case.
Scott’s fine was cancelled and he only paid £5 for the legal help.
Speeding fines are split into bands, from A to C. With C being the largest fines. How much you are fined depends on a number of factors. Including the type of road you were on, how fast you were travelling, and what your income level is. I added the table elbow, which shows different levels of speeding fines, by band.
Legal Speed Limit (mph)
Your Speed (mph)
Band A
Band B
Band C
20
21 to 30
31 to 41
Over 40
30
31 to 40
41 to 50
Over 50
40
4 to 55
5 to 65
Over 66
50
51 to 65
66 to 75
Over 76
60
61 to 80
81 to 90
Over 91
70
71 to 90
91 to 100
101 and above
Penalty points and punishment
3
4 – 6 points.Disqualified for 7-28 days.
6 points.Disqualified for 7-56 days.
Fine
25-75% of your weekly income.
75-125% of your weekly income.
125-175% of your weekly income.
What Happens if You Are Just a Little Over the Speed Limit?
The law is a little lenient when it comes to speeding. As it is quite obvious that minor factors can come into play that results in edging slightly over the speed limit for a short period of time. The extra speed buffer you are given depends on how you were caught speeding.
If you were caught by a traffic camera, you won’t be issued an automatic speeding penalty as long as you are not going faster than the speed limit, plus 10%, plus 2mph. So, if a camera caught you on a motorway doing 79mph or less, you would not get a speeding fine.
If you were caught speeding by the police, you won’t be given a speeding ticket as long as you are not travelling faster than the speed limit, plus 10%. So, on a motorway, as long as you are not going faster than 77mph, the police will not pull you over for speeding.
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You can’t just ignore a speeding fine, as you might do with a parking charge notice. And in the same way that official parking fines don’t expire, neither does a speeding fine. Because of this, there are three possible reasons why you might need to go to court if you are given a speeding fine. I will cover each one of these, below.
The speeding offence was serious enough that it cannot be punished by a fixed penalty notice. In this case, you will be told that you have to appear in court, and you will be issued a fine at the end of these proceedings.
You failed to pay a fixed penalty notice fine. Not paying a speeding fine is much more serious than not paying a parking fine, for example. Eventually, if you continue to refuse to pay the speeding fine, you could end up in court and be given a criminal conviction.
Unlike appealing against a parking fine, where you may be able to start the parking ticket appeal online, there is no such process for appealing against a speeding fine. If you have been sent a fixed penalty notice for speeding, and you don’t believe you should have to pay it, you have one option open to you. You would have to appear in court and state your case. Something to keep in mind here is that if you lose this court case, your speeding fine might be increased. You would also have to pay your lawyer and also any court costs. Unless the speeding fine is quite large, it often makes sense just to pay it rather than face the risk of additional costs being added.
These are the only three reasons why you could end up having to appear in court if you are caught speeding. The second reason is arguably the most serious of the three, as this is the only one that could end up with you becoming a convicted criminal. Something you obviously want to avoid.
Hire a Parking Solicitor for less than a coffee.
If you’re thinking about appealing your parking ticket then getting some professional advice is a good idea.
Getting the support of a Solicitor can make your appeal much more likely to win.
For a £5 trial, Solicitors from JustAnswer can look at your case and help you create an airtight appeal.
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My name’s Janine, and I’m a mum of two who’s always been passionate about trying to cut down spending costs. I am now sharing as much financial knowledge as I possibly can to help your money go that little bit further.
