Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN)
Overview
The fixed penalty system is intended to speed up the administration procedure for the prosecution of certain road traffic offences. The process is initiated by serving the person with a FPN, attaching it to a stationary vehicle (non endorsable) or through what is known as the conditional offer system (more about this on the NIP page)
The purpose of the system is to avoid court hearings for the listed offences but at the same time to ensure that those committing offences receive the appropriate punishment including endorsement of their licence.
Definiton
A notice offering the opportunity of the discharge of any liability to conviction of the offence to which the notice relates by payment of a fixed penalty in accordance with this Part of this Act.
For the purposes of this section we will concentrate on Endorsable Offences which include speeding offences and the offence of failing to supply details of the driver
The relevant legislation is the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988
52(2) A fixed penalty notice must give such particulars of the circumstances alleged to constitute the offence to which it relates as are necessary for giving reasonable information about the alleged offence.
52(3) A fixed penalty notice must state:
(a) The period during which, by virtue of Section 78(1) of this Act, proceedings cannot be brought against any person for the offence to which the notice relates, being the period of 21 days following the date of the notice or such longer period (if any) as may be specified in the notice, (Referred to as the suspended enforcement period)
(b) the amount of the fixed penalty, and
(c) the designated officer for a magistrates court to whom and the address at which the fixed penalty may be paid.
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In plain speaking what this means is that for certain offences and speeding is one of these offences you have the opportunity to avoid court by surrendering your licence paying the fee and having you licence endorsed. The current fine is £60 and a 3 point penalty more about this later
1. The officer must be in uniform to give the fixed penalty
2. The notice can only be given if the person surrenders his/her licence AND the penalty will not that take that person to or beyond 12 points
3. If that person does not produce the licence at the scene, the person will be issued with a notice to produce the licence (along with any requested driving documents) within 7 days at a police station. If that person then surrenders the licence the points total at 2 above applies. more about this later
Next page-Speeding