new fine for an old offence?

[Man in the middle]

Two things about the new sentencing guidelines for speeding:

 

1. It only effected the top range of seriousness. For offences in a 30mph limit this would be those where the recorded speed was over 50mph. Your speeding offence (39mph) was in the lowest band.

 

2. The new guidelines were effective for offences sentenced on or after 24th April regardless of the date of the offence.

 

Having said that, the guideline fine for your speeding offence is half a week's net income and £550 is a very high fine. So, what offence were you convicted of? Was it speeding or was it "Failing to Provide the driver's details"? This seems more likely from your brief description. How many penalty points were imposed? Have a look at your DVLA driving record online and see what endorsement code has been applied.

 

By the way, correspondence regarding speeding offences is not sent by Recorded delivery. It is usually sent by normal first class post.

Edited July 17, 2017 by Man in the middle
spelling

[Man in the middle]

"...according to confused dot com/on-the-road/driving-law/speeding-fine-calculator it is effecting all bands if you play around with the calculator not just top bands."

 

Then confused dot com is wrong. The only change was an increase to the top band of seriousness from one times weekly income to one and a half times weekly income. The guideline fine for your offence is half a week's net income (reduced by a third if you plead guilty). Does this line up with your income?

[Man in the middle]

Yes can you tell us what exactly happened here? I made the assumption that you did not respond to anything you had received regarding this offence (hence my query whether you had been convicted of "failing to provide driver's details). So:

 

1. Were you stopped by the police at the time of the offence or was it detected by a camera?

2. If it was detected by a camera and you did not reply to any correspondence how do they know who was driving so as to prosecute you for speeding?

3. If you did reply naming yourself as driver were you offered a Speed Awareness Course or a Fixed Penalty(£100 and 3 points)?

 

Please tell us what has happened (including all dates, date of offence, etc).

 

You must have been fined on the basis of a guilty plea (if not the costs would have been higher). Your fine of £423 includes a 33% discount for that plea. This means the base figure was £635 (£634.50 actually, but let's keep it simple). The fine should be half a week's net income. So did you tell them you earned £1270 per week?

 

Let me know exactly what has happened here. If you have been fined incorrectly you have a number of options, but which option to take depends on why you have been fined incorrectly.

 

By the Way, the official term for the "Victim Surcharge" (as per the legislation) is simply "Surcharge". Much of the money raised goes to various organisations who support victims and that's how it attracted its popular name.

 

And homer is incorrect. As I said earlier, the new guidelines came into force for offences sentenced on or after 24th April, not for those committed on or after that date. (And in any case your offence and subsequent penalty was not influenced by that change).