Speeding Fixed Penalty Offer Withdrawn

Question:

I received a Requisition Notice from x constabulary to appear before x Magistrates, x on x May x.

The following Documents and copies were attached with the Requisition pack.

(1) Charge(s) – On Sunday morning driving at 47 MPH speed in excess of 30 miles per hour on a restricted road . Caught on speed camara.

(2) Notice Of Intended Prosecution  Completed and returned by them.

(3) Notice of Intended Prosecution  Addressed to the Company Secretary. 16th Nov 09. (Not received).

Reminder Notice sent out 17th Dec x, addressed to the Company Secretary. Signed by me and returned identifying myself as the driver.

(4) Notice of Intended Prosecution – Signed and returned confirming I was the driver on 14th Jan x.

(5) I have received no further correspondence before receiving the Requisition documents at the end of March.

(6) I telephoned x

Manager, Criminal Justice Unit

She advised me that I had failed to send accept a conditional offer. I advised her that I had not received an offer and she sent me a copy by email. I have not previously received this offer. Apparently it is now too late for the conditional offer and it has been withdrawn.

(7) Within the Requisition papers there is an option to plead guilty and it suggests that a fine of £45 is applied. This may be on top of a fixed penalty plus 3 points, or is the fine could be open ended.

(8) My last fixed penalty was in July x so I currently do not have any points on my licence.

Please provide the free answer to my question, which is? What is the financial risk of pleading not guilty, including solicitors fees?

 Louise Says:

I’m afraid the fixed penalty offer is entirely at the discretion of the police. Once they withdraw the offer it’s not easy to get them to back track.

The risk of having a trial is that you lose and get a higher fine (couple of hundred tops) and higher court costs (these depend on how much work everyone has to do to finalise the case).

You may also be at risk of 4/5 points rather than 3 because you get a discount for pleading guilty.

I may be able to get the CPS to tell the police to offer you a fixed penalty again and get the proceedings withdrawn but the chances are slim.

I would charge a fixed fee of £1000 plus vat to defend the case. I wouldn’t be able to advise you on the prospects of success until I have gone through the officer’s evidence in detail. If we win you get no fines/points/costs and we would get at least some of your legal costs back.

I win over 95% of the time and I get over 80% of cases withdrawn pre trial.

Come back to me if I can assist further.