Fixed Penalty notices may be issued by the police as an alternative to prosecution in respect of certain offences.
Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) can be issued for both endorseable and non-endorseable offences. Once you have been issued with an FPN there are two ways of dealing with it. You can accept that you have committed the offence, as alleged, pay the fine, accept the points and forget about it. If you reject the police’s offer of the FPN you will be summonsed to appear in court and argue your defences.
If it is issued for an Endorseable traffic offence, the police officer will require your licence to be handed over if you have it on your person or in any case to hand it over to a police station within 7 days, when it will be sent to the DVLA for endorsing. You will also be required to pay the fine.
In Non-Endorseable offences such as minor traffic offences, there will be no penalty points but a small fine. You can pay the fine within the required time period and no further action will be taken under the FPN
An offender who is issued with a penalty notice may nevertheless be prosecuted for the offence if he or she:
- asks to be tried for the offence; or
- fails to pay the penalty within the period stipulated in the notice and the prosecutor decides to proceed with charges.
There is no formal appeal against a Fixed Penalty Notice, but if you do not agree that you are guilty of the offence you can request a Court hearing. However, it is worth noting that if the case is tried at Court and you are still found guilty of the offence you will receive much higher and severe penalties.
If you have received a Fixed Penalty Notice, and you are unsure of the steps you need to take, or you wish to challenge it in court proceedings, do contact our traffic solicitors who can advise you on the steps you may take.
Our Telephone Number is 0208 577 5491