Bugger...

Well, 4 years into my driving life and I've received a bloody speeding fine :(
If ever there was a time that I thought I would receive a ticket, it would have been when I first passed my test and drove around like pretty much every 17 year old - like a complete fool :o

Now, old age setting in, and me starting to enjoy driving rather than just the sensation of speed, I go and get a speeding ticket which could prove to be a bit of a whopper! :( :(

A few months ago I was in the Warwickshire area (on the A45), late for a meeting, and not paying full attention to the speed limit - more judging my speed according to the conditions (lovely and sunny, clear visibility, bone dry roads).

I'm not from the area and am not particularly familiar with the roads, but from what I can remember the A45 is a wide dual carriageway befitting of a 70 limit IMHO, but has a 50mph limit imposed.

I was caught by a forward facing TruVelo camera so knew instantly that I'd been caught :(

Within 2 weeks I had received notification that I had been caught and was given the option of receiving 3 points and a £60 fine. I thought this to be fair cop so accepted the fine and points.

Fast forward to this morning. I've now received a court summons which informs me that I must appear at Warwickshire Magistrates' Courts on a given date next month.

According to The Speed Trap Bible the current guidelines from the Association of Chief Police officers is that you have to be doing 76mph+ in a 50mph limit to receive a summons.

I'd be hugely surprised if I was doing 76mph+ but it is a possibility - I honestly believe I was doing approx 70mph.

Obviously, living in the North West I'd prefer not to have to travel - is there any way of getting out of this?

Are Warwickshire Magistrates currently having a big cut down on speeding??

I was speeding, I knew the risks and I took them, so I can't complain. Given that this is my first offence, what sort of a punishment am I looking at? (The SpeedTrap Bible says that I could be looking at a fine of £200 plus 6 points on my license).

Any advice would be gratefully received! :)

Andy.

If you were given the offer of a fixed penalty and you accepted it then there is no reason why you should have been summonsed to court. I suspect that in the first instance you should contact the clerk of the court for the court involved and confirm that there isn't an error of some description.

The other possibility is that your reply to the fixed penalty notice, assuming that is what you had and that you accepted it, got lost in the post and so they are "doing" you for not replying. You may need to follow this up with the Scam£ra thugs who issued your NIP/FPN. You also need to carefully check the wording of the summons and what they are actually doing you for.

I suspect that some NIPs say that, basically, you must complete them to be given the OPTION of a fixed penalty notice but this isn't a guarantee that you WILL be offered a fixed penalty. It's another trick to get you to implicate yourself. Is it possible that this is what has confused you into thinking you were going to be offered a FPN?

It is possible that you may not need to attend court in person. If you don't want to travel then you may care to get legal representation and have a solicitor turn up for you. Even in guilty plea cases this could cost £650.

A look here may answer a lot of your questions:

http://www.pepipoo.com/

There is info on the legal process, what you can expect and just what really happens.

Edited to add : Be careful that they are not doing you for not supplying information as to who the driver was, if your reply to them was lost in the post. While this may sound like a trivial matter it is very important to insurance companies as if you lose you get an MS90 endorsement on your license. While a normal SP30 speeding endorsement has a small effect on insurance an MS90 may leave you uninsurable for some years.

[Edited by hedgehog - 11/11/2003 7:37:45 PM]