Average Speed Fines

[Rjs90]

Hi all.

I'm new to the forum, so apologies if I have put this is the wrong place.

My partner has received 2 speeding fines from an average speed camera, on consectuative days, on the same stretch of road at practically the same time on route home from his night shift - prat.

He was driving a company van, so the first notification we received was a letter requesting driver details at the time of the offence. They dropped on the mat 2 days before Christmas, and gave him 28 days to provide so I left it over the Christmas period. After 14 days they sent him a reminder with 'copy' stamped on it.
The original fines clocked him at speeds of 49 and 53 respectively, in a 40 limit. However, the 'copy' (same reference number etc) has clocked him at 47 and 49 respectively.

Do you think it would be worth taking this to court? They have offered him 3 points and £100 fine for one, and a speed awearness course for other. My general thinking is if they don't know what speed he was travelling at on either day, they cannot prove he was in fact speeding. However, obviously both speeds stated are over the 40mph limit. I don't want to push it through the court if he's going to end up worse off.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Average Speed Fines

Hi all.

I'm new to the forum, so apologies if I have put this is the wrong place.

My partner has received 2 speeding fines from an average speed camera, on consectuative days, on the same stretch of road at practically the same time on route home from his night shift - prat.

He was driving a company van, so the first notification we received was a letter requesting driver details at the time of the offence. They dropped on the mat 2 days before Christmas, and gave him 28 days to provide so I left it over the Christmas period. After 14 days they sent him a reminder with 'copy' stamped on it.
The original fines clocked him at speeds of 49 and 53 respectively, in a 40 limit. However, the 'copy' (same reference number etc) has clocked him at 47 and 49 respectively.

Do you think it would be worth taking this to court? They have offered him 3 points and £100 fine for one, and a speed awearness course for other. My general thinking is if they don't know what speed he was travelling at on either day, they cannot prove he was in fact speeding. However, obviously both speeds stated are over the 40mph limit. I don't want to push it through the court if he's going to end up worse off.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Why didn't he slow down at speed cameras like everyone else does as he seemingly knows the route given it's on his normal route home from work. If it is a clerical (office) error it's unlikely anything can be done about it. If it were a problem with recording the actual speeds ie inconsistency, then that is potentially an argument for challenging the speeding fine. The problem you have is that this stretch of road is apparently familiar to him, overall.

[wales01man]

Re: Average Speed Fines

3 cases of speeders appearing in County court reported in local paper
250 fine 325 in costs

260 fine and cost205 fine and cost all for doing less over the limit that the speeder on this thread take the penalty on offer and slow down

[Openlaw15]

Re: Average Speed Fines

3 cases of speeders appearing in County court reported in local paper
250 fine 325 in costs

260 fine and cost205 fine and cost all for doing less over the limit that the speeder on this thread take the penalty on offer and slow down

Perhaps this £100 offer should be taken seriously in light of the above, unless you have cast iron case of a problematic speed camera.

[ostell]

Re: Average Speed Fines

I would be tempted to take the offer of a fine for one and a speed awareness course for the other. As you said he was speeding. Challenging when he was guilty of the offence could have unintended consequences.

Now he knows they are there so there should be no more surprises

[Openlaw15]

Re: Average Speed Fines

Hi all.

I'm new to the forum, so apologies if I have put this is the wrong place.

My partner has received 2 speeding fines from an average speed camera, on consectuative days, on the same stretch of road at practically the same time on route home from his night shift - prat.

He was driving a company van, so the first notification we received was a letter requesting driver details at the time of the offence. They dropped on the mat 2 days before Christmas, and gave him 28 days to provide so I left it over the Christmas period. After 14 days they sent him a reminder with 'copy' stamped on it.
The original fines clocked him at speeds of 49 and 53 respectively, in a 40 limit. However, the 'copy' (same reference number etc) has clocked him at 47 and 49 respectively.

Do you think it would be worth taking this to court? They have offered him 3 points and £100 fine for one, and a speed awearness course for other. My general thinking is if they don't know what speed he was travelling at on either day, they cannot prove he was in fact speeding. However, obviously both speeds stated are over the 40mph limit. I don't want to push it through the court if he's going to end up worse off.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Do bear in mind that we are not experts in this area and you may find better suited answers to your problem online by doing a specific key word search on Google. There are likely be lots of person who have successfully won their cases in relevant situations, but equally the decision is ultimately yours (well his).

[Openlaw15]

Re: Average Speed Fines

Hi all.

I'm new to the forum, so apologies if I have put this is the wrong place.

My partner has received 2 speeding fines from an average speed camera, on consectuative days, on the same stretch of road at practically the same time on route home from his night shift - prat.

He was driving a company van, so the first notification we received was a letter requesting driver details at the time of the offence. They dropped on the mat 2 days before Christmas, and gave him 28 days to provide so I left it over the Christmas period. After 14 days they sent him a reminder with 'copy' stamped on it.
The original fines clocked him at speeds of 49 and 53 respectively, in a 40 limit. However, the 'copy' (same reference number etc) has clocked him at 47 and 49 respectively.

Do you think it would be worth taking this to court? They have offered him 3 points and £100 fine for one, and a speed awearness course for other. My general thinking is if they don't know what speed he was travelling at on either day, they cannot prove he was in fact speeding. However, obviously both speeds stated are over the 40mph limit. I don't want to push it through the court if he's going to end up worse off.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

If he just ignores the situation by not paying or not telling them he wants a court hearing, he'll automatically have to pay £100 plus 50%, so £150 to cover costs of taking it to court etc.

[Rjs90]

Re: Average Speed Fines

Thank you all for your responses.

The intention was never to ignore the fines, but to gather others opinions on challenging the fine given they didn't actually know the speed he was travelling. Obviously he was speeding, and I'm not condoning that, but can understand at 4.51am on an empty A13 it is very easy to accidentally exceed the speed limit.

For future reference for anyone, I called Essex police to ask them to confirm the speed he was travelling, and they confirmed it was a processing error and that they will be taking no further action on both fines.

Thanks again.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Average Speed Fines

Thank you all for your responses.

The intention was never to ignore the fines, but to gather others opinions on challenging the fine given they didn't actually know the speed he was travelling. Obviously he was speeding, and I'm not condoning that, but can understand at 4.51am on an empty A13 it is very easy to accidentally exceed the speed limit.

For future reference for anyone, I called Essex police to ask them to confirm the speed he was travelling, and they confirmed it was a processing error and that they will be taking no further action on both fines.

Thanks again.

Ref: what i said: "If it were a problem with recording the actual speeds ie inconsistency, then that is potentially an argument for challenging the speeding fine."

Well, as I thought that might be the case, as it's hard to take to court (magistrates) if the evidence is inconsistent, ie a speed measuring device (speeding camera) measuring different speeds...means there is no accuracy in terms of evidence. So, a result then! No matter if it's 3am - speed cameras relate to the law. He was very fortunate that there were issues with the camera. Tell him to slow down....let's say he corners a bend too fast in the hurry to get home, instead he doesn't make it home and you attend his funeral instead. It really can happen that fast no matter how many times he travels a familiar route as darkness x speed x drowsiness early morning = RTA. It is known that road accidents tend to occur at about 3-6 am as this is when we are most vulnerable to drowsiness, it really sets in and has a serious effect on the driver's ability to exercise any reasonable road safety, judgement for the vehicle they're controlling.