Speeding Offences Solicitors

At MPR Solicitors, we can defend you following a charge of speeding, something that is vital if you already have a number of penalty points on your licence.  Our team deals almost exclusively with criminal and traffic offences.  We, therefore, have a wealth of experience in challenging allegations of speeding and have helped many clients who were caught allegedly speeding to retain their licence.

To contact our speeding offence solicitors, please call our office on 020 3824 8080 to make an appointment at our London office.

Based in London, our ethos is to provide exceptional client care and quality legal guidance.  We have a dedicated team of speeding offence lawyers based in London, but we advise and represent clients from all over the UK. 

Should you challenge a speeding offence?

Speeding offences can mean unnecessary points on your driving licence. This may cause difficulties with your employment and with your ability to continue driving if you have already accumulated points on your licence.  If you have been charged with driving excessively fast, you may be banned from driving entirely.

With speed cameras on almost every major road, increasingly innocent motorists feel they are being targeted.  Additionally, traffic police routinely use mobile radar guns to target motorists randomly.  If you have been charged, let us assist you.  If there is a “loophole”, our speeding offences lawyers will unearth it.

We understand how stressful being charged with a speeding offence can be.  Our road traffic solicitors will provide an initial consultation for a fixed fee to ascertain whether you have a defence available.  If you do not have a defence, we can represent you in court if you choose to plead guilty, our priority to be to mitigate the sentence handed down.

If a defence is available, our team can advise and represent you in court.

What constitutes a speeding offence?

Speeding is an offence under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.  The elements of the offence are as follows:

• You must be driving a motor vehicle,
• On a road,
• At a speed exceeding the official limit imposed.

Strictly speaking, you are liable for speeding if you exceed the official speed limit by more than one mph.  However, this is not practical, as often speedometers are inaccurate.  Therefore, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) recommends the police refrain from prosecuting unless a driver exceeds by a margin of error of 10 percent of the speed limit, to consider driver attention, plus 2mph for speedometer fault.  This means on a 70mph motorway, you are unlikely to be charged with speeding unless you are driving at over 79 mph.

What happens if I am caught speeding?

If you are caught speeding via a speed camera, the police will send you a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) and ask you to provide the details of the person driving the car at the time the speed camera snapped the vehicle (these are two separate legal documents).  If you were not driving, you can fill out the part of the NIP identifying the name of the driver.  Falsely claiming someone else was driving when the speed camera photographed the car is a serious criminal offence.

If you wish to challenge the fact that you were speeding, do not accept any offer of a place on a speed awareness course or pay any fine.  Notify the police you plan to defend the charge.  They will then arrange for you to attend the Magistrates Court.

If you are stopped by an officer in person, he or she will either issue a fixed penalty notice (FPN) on the spot or tell you a court summons will be sent by post, depending on how fast you were travelling.  If you plan to defend the charge, do not pay for the FPN.  You will have 28 days to notify the police you plan to challenge the charge; they will then issue a court summons.

What is the penalty for speeding?

The fines for speeding offences changed in April 2017.  The system is quite complex, with three main ‘bands’.

Band A

This is the lowest level of speeding, for example, 10mph over the designated speed limit.  You can expect a fine of around 50% of your weekly income plus three penalty points.

Band B

Band B covers more serious speeding, such as doing up to 100mph in a 70mph zone.  Fines of up to 100% of your weekly income and four to six penalty points on your licence can be expected.

Band C

If you are caught going well above the speed limit, the fine will be under Band C.  You can expect 6 points on your licence or disqualification for between 7 and 56 days, as well as a fine of 150% of your weekly income.

The fines are flexible and are subject to mitigating and/or aggravating factors.  Our team of solicitors can advise you as to what these are.  If you wish to plead guilty but are in danger of losing your licence if you receive too many more penalty points, we can represent you to mitigate the penalty/fine.

Can you appeal a speeding fine?

Rather than appealing an FPN, the procedure requires you to reject it and go to court to plead your case.  This is a major decision and should not be undertaken without seeking legal advice as the court could hand down a larger fine or more points than contained in the FPN.

However, there are several defences available, including procedural impropriety by the police or that it was not you driving the vehicle.

If you already have nine or more penalty points on your driver’s licence, an FPN cannot be issued; the case has to go to court.  If you receive more than 12 penalty points, you will automatically be disqualified from driving for at least six months unless you can prove extreme hardship (i.e. you cannot work because you must drive for a living).  If you already have six or more penalty points on your licence, you should come and talk to us and seek advice about defending the charge.

If you have been accused of a speeding offence, please call us immediately on 020 3824 8080 or fill in our contact form to get in touch.