| Speeding fines.... 09:08 - Oct 14 with 6160 views | itfcjoe |
....I posted a few months back about a very frustrating pair of speeding fines* I got - they now go from bad to worse.
2 to sort, one course and one set of 3 points - paid both the fine and the course fee, did the course, thought nothing of it.
Now, last week i receive a letter charging me with a driving offence, I hadn't realised I needed to send licence of to complete the conditional offer of 3 points. So now I have a court hearing, where I need to enter a plea and will no doubt receive a substantially larger fine, and presumably a record of some description.
Hugely frustrating, and seemingly hugely unnecessary - they have to prepare all this paperwork, refund the fine already paid, have a court date, etc......surely a simple chase letter would have been the best way to approach it, at the cost to the taxpayer of about £3?
When I paid the course fee for speed awareness I got a confirmation email, then detailed joining instructions, then a reminder, then a further reminder sent. When I paid the fine there was no coinfirmation other than the payment receipt on screen (not e-mailed), no request to ensure I send licence of, and nothing else at all.
I would say it is a money making scheme from the Government in normal circumstances - but unless the fine is in the thousands, which it surely can't be, then it will cost them money as well as me.
*71 and 70 on the A12 because, after 15 months of driving through this route at least 3 times a week my 6 seater Vito was, for 45 minutes only seemingly, declared to be a van and limited to 60mph rather than 70mph on A roads.... |  |
| |  |
| Speeding fines.... on 09:51 - Oct 14 with 5736 views | Swansea_Blue |
Commiserations Joe. That petty bureaucracy and would be driving me up the wall. |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 09:54 - Oct 14 with 5720 views | GeoffSentence |
| Speeding fines.... on 09:51 - Oct 14 by Swansea_Blue |
Commiserations Joe. That petty bureaucracy and would be driving me up the wall. |
You live in the right area don't you? Can't you slip into the DVLA offices unnoticed of an evening, search out the files for ITFCJoe and make it all go away? |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:00 - Oct 14 with 5702 views | clive_baker |
Sorry to hear that Joe. I know someone else this happened to and it really is a joke. In this day and age you do wonder why you don't get some sort of payment receipt email that reminds you to send the licence off.
All you can really do is go to court, hold your hands up and tell them the truth, which is that you paid the fine and thought that was it, you didn't realise you needed to physically send your licence. As valid as it would be, there's generally no prizes for calling them out on what is a sh1t process. If it's any consolation my friend had the £100 refunded and in court got a fine of about £130, so not much different to the original cost. Either way it's a ball ache and a complete waste of everyones time. |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:10 - Oct 14 with 5657 views | itfcjoe |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:00 - Oct 14 by clive_baker |
Sorry to hear that Joe. I know someone else this happened to and it really is a joke. In this day and age you do wonder why you don't get some sort of payment receipt email that reminds you to send the licence off.
All you can really do is go to court, hold your hands up and tell them the truth, which is that you paid the fine and thought that was it, you didn't realise you needed to physically send your licence. As valid as it would be, there's generally no prizes for calling them out on what is a sh1t process. If it's any consolation my friend had the £100 refunded and in court got a fine of about £130, so not much different to the original cost. Either way it's a ball ache and a complete waste of everyones time. |
Cheers - hopefully I'll do something similar. Need to decide what to do with it all - hopefully get a sympathetic judge. | |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:34 - Oct 14 with 5582 views | JakeITFC |
Not sure if useful, but I had a speeding fine come in the post whilst I was properly locked down in April/May time and they allowed me to email a photo of my driving licence when I said I couldn't leave the house to go to the post office.
Up to you if you want to try it in court, but there clearly are extenuating covid circumstances available. |  | | |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:39 - Oct 14 with 5562 views | itfcjoe |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:34 - Oct 14 by JakeITFC |
Not sure if useful, but I had a speeding fine come in the post whilst I was properly locked down in April/May time and they allowed me to email a photo of my driving licence when I said I couldn't leave the house to go to the post office.
Up to you if you want to try it in court, but there clearly are extenuating covid circumstances available. |
I don't really want to go down the not guilty route, as even though extenuating circumstances I have forgotten to do something.
I think the process is stupid, when all is handled online now and hasn't properly moved over | |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:40 - Oct 14 with 5555 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Speeding fines.... on 09:54 - Oct 14 by GeoffSentence |
You live in the right area don't you? Can't you slip into the DVLA offices unnoticed of an evening, search out the files for ITFCJoe and make it all go away? |
 | |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| Speeding fines.... on 10:51 - Oct 14 with 5518 views | ElephantintheRoom |
At the risk of being irritating a vito IS a van is it not? Granted you are driving a van with seats - but it is still a van. So on that basis you are lucky that the speed cameras you have been driving through have usually been switched off.
If you think your van with seats is a car and not a van, then the speed camera has made a mistake in identifying your car (which is a van with seats) as a van. If this is indeed a mistake the court is quite useful as you will get your money back - and costs.
If you think your situation is frustrating, try driving in France where the speed limits on some (but not all) roads have been reduced but not on UK sat navs. And the speed cameras are grey and generally hidden, rather than bright yellow and obvious. |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:59 - Oct 14 with 5496 views | itfcjoe |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:51 - Oct 14 by ElephantintheRoom |
At the risk of being irritating a vito IS a van is it not? Granted you are driving a van with seats - but it is still a van. So on that basis you are lucky that the speed cameras you have been driving through have usually been switched off.
If you think your van with seats is a car and not a van, then the speed camera has made a mistake in identifying your car (which is a van with seats) as a van. If this is indeed a mistake the court is quite useful as you will get your money back - and costs.
If you think your situation is frustrating, try driving in France where the speed limits on some (but not all) roads have been reduced but not on UK sat navs. And the speed cameras are grey and generally hidden, rather than bright yellow and obvious. |
If my Vito were to have a further 2 seats it would be a car, but yes it is classified as a van - and that's why I paid the fines and moved on rather than appeal at that stage.
Thte amount of vehicles classified as vans, that people are unaware of is mad, nearly everyone I've spoken to would drive anything like that at 70 - and a couple have changed vans from transit style to cab van style purely to be able to. Garages don't tell people this when they sell him and it is just not picked up by anyone.
I now sit there at 60, and see dozens of vans overtake me in the average speed zone almost daily.....and they won't be getting tickets - it feels like human intervention on this one by someone who didn't know what they are doing. But none of that helps, but just adds to the frustration | |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 11:04 - Oct 14 with 5479 views | Keno |
This is hugely frustrating with the added warning that DVLA are several weeks/months behind so if you do send it off it may be sometime until you get it back |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 14:29 - Oct 14 with 5308 views | factual_blue |
| Speeding fines.... on 09:51 - Oct 14 by Swansea_Blue |
Commiserations Joe. That petty bureaucracy and would be driving me up the wall. |
I remember being at a Departmental event in about 2001 . One of the Senior People was giving her send-off by the Permanent Secretary, as she was going to a New Challenge in the Department of Justice. He told her 'Clare, your challenge will be to bring the administration of justice into a new century. However, we're talking about the administration of justice here, and the new century they are reluctantly facing is the eighteenth century.'
Looks like she didn't succeed. |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 15:27 - Oct 14 with 5234 views | GeoffSentence |
| Speeding fines.... on 10:59 - Oct 14 by itfcjoe |
If my Vito were to have a further 2 seats it would be a car, but yes it is classified as a van - and that's why I paid the fines and moved on rather than appeal at that stage.
Thte amount of vehicles classified as vans, that people are unaware of is mad, nearly everyone I've spoken to would drive anything like that at 70 - and a couple have changed vans from transit style to cab van style purely to be able to. Garages don't tell people this when they sell him and it is just not picked up by anyone.
I now sit there at 60, and see dozens of vans overtake me in the average speed zone almost daily.....and they won't be getting tickets - it feels like human intervention on this one by someone who didn't know what they are doing. But none of that helps, but just adds to the frustration |
As a matter of interest how can the speed cameras tell the difference between a car and a van when it is based on the number of seats. Or do they just fire off a ticket and let you object if it is classified as a car. | |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 15:36 - Oct 14 with 5215 views | itfcjoe |
| Speeding fines.... on 15:27 - Oct 14 by GeoffSentence |
As a matter of interest how can the speed cameras tell the difference between a car and a van when it is based on the number of seats. Or do they just fire off a ticket and let you object if it is classified as a car. |
There is a classification of N1 which they should have access to - but reality from what I hear is that it is just a human who sits and flags any that shouldn't go through to ticket stage from average speed cameras
And on this day, whoever was there pout me through - I've literally driven through that stretch in the same van 2-3 times a week for 15 months, and will always be going 70 unless traffic (which isn't usually as I leave at later times to avoid). To get done twice in 45 minutes is hugely frustrating.
Maybe because it was lockdown and less cars on the road more strict? | |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 16:46 - Mar 22 with 4543 views | itfcjoe |
Update on this.....I ended up with a total fine of £100......fine reduced to £66 and a court fee of £34.
So all that admin, time and taxpayer money spent for me to just pay back what was refunded to me a little while ago.
All this could have been avoided if just a chase email or letter was sent and I’d have just sent it straight away | |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 16:51 - Mar 22 with 4502 views | DropCliffsNotBombs |
| Speeding fines.... on 16:46 - Mar 22 by itfcjoe |
Update on this.....I ended up with a total fine of £100......fine reduced to £66 and a court fee of £34.
So all that admin, time and taxpayer money spent for me to just pay back what was refunded to me a little while ago.
All this could have been avoided if just a chase email or letter was sent and I’d have just sent it straight away |
FFS  |  | | |
| Speeding fines.... on 16:52 - Mar 22 with 4499 views | hype313 |
| Speeding fines.... on 16:46 - Mar 22 by itfcjoe |
Update on this.....I ended up with a total fine of £100......fine reduced to £66 and a court fee of £34.
So all that admin, time and taxpayer money spent for me to just pay back what was refunded to me a little while ago.
All this could have been avoided if just a chase email or letter was sent and I’d have just sent it straight away |
Absolute madness, really doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
And everyone involved has wasted so much time that could have been rectified by a standard email ffs. |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 16:56 - Mar 22 with 4482 views | itfcjoe |
| Speeding fines.... on 16:52 - Mar 22 by hype313 |
Absolute madness, really doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
And everyone involved has wasted so much time that could have been rectified by a standard email ffs. |
The prosecution recommended £110 plus court fee before I made defence so was able to argue it down a good chunk - but all that for nothing - even if the prosecution had got their way it was for £10 extra and court fees. | |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 17:00 - Mar 22 with 4457 views | PrideOfTheEast |
| Speeding fines.... on 16:46 - Mar 22 by itfcjoe |
Update on this.....I ended up with a total fine of £100......fine reduced to £66 and a court fee of £34.
So all that admin, time and taxpayer money spent for me to just pay back what was refunded to me a little while ago.
All this could have been avoided if just a chase email or letter was sent and I’d have just sent it straight away |
Pleased that's sorted mate.
Ridiculous system. | | | |
| Speeding fines.... on 18:12 - Mar 22 with 4325 views | Lord_Lucan |
Oh!!
I recently got flashed at Coddenham and got the 3 points and fixed penalty. I never realised that I have top send my licence in - in fact I don't even know where it is.
The irony of it all is that I go past that camera every week but I had just bought a new camera detecting device and it was annoying me so much by it's constant beeping that I was fiddling with it at the time, trying to turn it down and forgot about the camera
I don't recall having to send my licence back last time I got done either. Is this definite info for every county? |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 18:32 - Mar 22 with 4258 views | GlasgowBlue |
I actually had the reverse happen to me. In 1996 I was caught by a camera when I was on 9 points. Nothing to be proud about. I drove fast cars too fast. I was an idiot.
Anyhow, I went to the court as I was advised that the latest offence would take me to 12 points and a one year ban. Which is exactly what happened.
I handed my license to the court, paid the fine and spent a year having to be driven about.
When my ban was up I called DVLA about the return of my license. They had no record of receiving it or any record of the court imposing 3 points. The court fcuked up and I could have been driving legally for the year I wasn't. |  |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 19:47 - Mar 22 with 4125 views | SouthBucksBlue |
| Speeding fines.... on 18:12 - Mar 22 by Lord_Lucan |
Oh!!
I recently got flashed at Coddenham and got the 3 points and fixed penalty. I never realised that I have top send my licence in - in fact I don't even know where it is.
The irony of it all is that I go past that camera every week but I had just bought a new camera detecting device and it was annoying me so much by it's constant beeping that I was fiddling with it at the time, trying to turn it down and forgot about the camera
I don't recall having to send my licence back last time I got done either. Is this definite info for every county? |
Points aren’t recorded on the physical license any more (assuming it’s the photo card sort and not the old paper sort) which is why for example when you hire a car you have to go online and grant access to the hire company to check your points. I got 3 points a couple of years ago (in Herts.) and definitely did not have to send my license card off. Maybe itfcjoe still has an old paper license. | | | |
| Speeding fines.... on 20:47 - Mar 22 with 4030 views | itfcjoe |
| Speeding fines.... on 19:47 - Mar 22 by SouthBucksBlue |
Points aren’t recorded on the physical license any more (assuming it’s the photo card sort and not the old paper sort) which is why for example when you hire a car you have to go online and grant access to the hire company to check your points. I got 3 points a couple of years ago (in Herts.) and definitely did not have to send my license card off. Maybe itfcjoe still has an old paper license. |
No mine was a normal one and standard policy in Norfolk and Suffolk joint force is to send it over, even though it doesn’t need to have anything done to it.... | |
| |
| Speeding fines.... on 21:09 - Mar 22 with 3997 views | SouthBucksBlue |
| Speeding fines.... on 20:47 - Mar 22 by itfcjoe |
No mine was a normal one and standard policy in Norfolk and Suffolk joint force is to send it over, even though it doesn’t need to have anything done to it.... |
That’s ridiculous! | | | |
| Speeding fines.... on 21:15 - Mar 22 with 3975 views | Lord_Lucan |
| Speeding fines.... on 19:47 - Mar 22 by SouthBucksBlue |
Points aren’t recorded on the physical license any more (assuming it’s the photo card sort and not the old paper sort) which is why for example when you hire a car you have to go online and grant access to the hire company to check your points. I got 3 points a couple of years ago (in Herts.) and definitely did not have to send my license card off. Maybe itfcjoe still has an old paper license. |
I think the license is in two parts, plastic and paper? Could be wrong.
Pretty sure I didn't send mine away about three years ago when I was previously done.
Again - could be wrong.
Memory of a goldfish. | |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
