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Got pulled and spoke to police, was honest, polite, explained my situation, apologised etc. I was guilty, fair enough.
I havent taken any action yet, so could pay the fine or contest it.
I can accept the 3 points, but I'm not really in a position to spare £60 out of my tight budget.
Ive read a few bits - can I reduce my monetary fine
1. by speaking with the fines officer at court and ask for instalment payment
2. going to court and asking for leniency
3. Provide a statement of means to show i cant afford fine
- if i do contest on the basis of hardship are they likely to charge me court costs.
Are any of the options legitimate methods of response? Any advice would be appreciated - basically i can pay a lower amount (say £20), it was my first offence and generally im a good citizen...
Jake, usually the cheapest option is to to accept the fine and the 3 points. I dont know of anybody that has gone to court to plead poverty and won! I think you'll probably have to bite the bullet and take it!
And yes, I'm going to say it.........slow down in future.
I think the court takes speeding in a built up area (i.e.town) more seriously than, say a rural location(i.e.open road).
I'm sorry mate, but I dont have any sympathy at all for you.
So, I dont think a judge would either.
The idea of a fine is to impose some sort of punishment on the guilty party. So trying to make it as easy as possible for you to pay it would'nt really be a punishment, would it?
Sorry for the rant.
If you go to court and plead guilty, rather than accept the fixed penalty, the minimum fine will be £60, plus £35 prosecution costs, plus £15 victim surcharge.
You can, if you complete a statement of means, get them to agree to accept weekly instalments, but you'll end up paying a lot more than the original fixed penalty.
Got pulled and spoke to police, was honest, polite, explained my situation, apologised etc. I was guilty, fair enough.
I havent taken any action yet, so could pay the fine or contest it.
Firstly, despite your thread title, you obviously do not have a NIP. You have a FPN.
I can accept the 3 points, but I'm not really in a position to spare £60 out of my tight budget.
You don't have a choice but to accept the points. There is realistically no way that a court will not find you guilty if you were pulled at the time.
Ive read a few bits - can I reduce my monetary fine
1. by speaking with the fines officer at court and ask for instalment payment
2. going to court and asking for leniency
3. Provide a statement of means to show i cant afford fine
- if i do contest on the basis of hardship are they likely to charge me court costs.
Option 1 is not applicable, this is a fixed penalty notice - you either accept it or elect to attend court. If you do the latter, the FPN will be voided and a summons issued instead
Option 2, You can, but you are unlikely to get any for driving more than 50% over the prevailing limit. The Court could increase the points also.
Option 3 is only available if you go to Court
Any advice would be appreciated - basically i can pay a lower amount (say £20), it was my first offence and generally im a good citizen...
Won't have any bearing, Generally, the Court will believe that if you can afford to run a car, you can afford the £60 fine. Also, take note of the previous post about the increase in the amount that you will have to pay. I would doubt that a Court would do anything other than increase the fine also.
NIP - can i plead hardship to reduce fine?
today, 47 in a 30. stupid yes.
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Originally Posted by Jake the snake
