Recently I was flashed going through Woolhampton.

What I would like to ask is what happens next.

• What is the fine for speeding in a 30 (I wasn't going double or more than the limit)
• How long does it typically take to get the notification through the post.

I realise that most of you are impeccable drivers and will not have the experience to pass on, but perhaps there's some closet boy racers who might know.

The experience of 'a friend' suggests it's about two weeks, but if you weren't much over, you might be OK. My 'friend' was touched for £60 and three points. Its all too easy, specially where the road looks as if it's good for more than 30mph. Anyway, I hope your speedo is out and you nudge under the margin! Good luck.

I've got no excuse, I just wasn't paying enough attention to my speed. I was slowing down but didn't break; my car's engine breaking is crap. I was seduced by it being at night and an empty road. Mind you, I was coming from Reading and the camera is rather obscured (but not enough for mitigation) compared to the one at the Newbury end which stand out like a soar thumb and acts as a good reminder.

£60.00 will be bloody painful at this point in time!

Cheer up at least your contribution may go towards a good cause eh?

If, if you were going fast enough for prosecution, sixty squids and three points. You may be offered speed awareness session instead. If so take it. I believe they have to inform you within 14 days with a notice of intended prosecution.

How long do I have to pay?

Any fine imposed by the Court would normally be subject to immediate payment. However, if you request time to pay, it will normally be granted if you can show an inability to make immediate payment. The Court will set the date by which payment should be made in full (i.e. within 28 days) or detail a payment schedule (e.g. £100 per month).

Surely there must be a time period to pay: I could easily be going on holiday for example?

I think it that's the case you will not be able to accept a fixed penalty, you will need to ask the magistrates for time to pay. However, if you do go in front of the beak you risk having a higher penalty imposed.

In which case you can use the phone to pay. You will, when the paperwork comes through,
be shown the different methods of payment available

I'm not worried about the method of payment, only that there would be a time limit to pay. I could easily be on holiday if or when the letter turns up.

If you can afford to go on holiday then you can afford the fine or the Speed awareness course.
You would have 28 days to pay or deny/challenge the fine.

You still have to pay to go on the course and probably loose a half days pay in the bargain. The speed awareness is run by an independent group but it is not a cheap way out other than you don't get points which means you don't get a penalty from your insurance company.

I had an Isuzu light crewcab truck with bigger than normal wheels on it. I was pinged by the mobile camera in Monks Lane doing 30mph on my speedo but it was actually 34mph as I found to my cost. Whilst I still retained my clean licence, I did the half day and got a communal talking to with the other participants then had to sit in front of a screen and carry out stupid tasks. Interesting that the Indian lady sitting alongside me hardly spoke English and had never operated a keyboard and screen in her life. She passed the course though.

Please feel free to comment MM.

WHAT IS UP WITH SOME PEOPLE... I'M NOT MOANING ABOUT AFFORDING THE FINE, EVEN THOUGH IT IS INDISCRIMINATE AND HAS NO BASIS ON THE ABILITY TO PAY, THE SEVERITY OF THE CRIME, OR THAT IT IS A REGRESSIVE PENAL SYSTEM, I WAS WONDERING WHY I WOULD NOT HAVE TIME TO PAY IT.


AND AS FOR AFFORDING TO GO ON HOLIDAY, WHO'S TO SAY I AM PAYING FOR IT, OR EVEN IF I DID, HOW LONG I HAD SAVED UP FOR IT, OR THE REASONS WHY?

The speed awareness is just money making scam, as are most speeding cameras, but I don't deny responsibility.

AndyC, appreciate the problem, in my case exactly the same happened. I found a polite chat with the admin. staff in the fixed penalty office helped - seriously.

Yeah, seriously, I wouldn't worry too much, you may not hear anymore about it, if you do find It's going to be a problem vis a vis timing, just phone them up I'm sure you're not the first on in this position.

Meanwhile, just wait till the new legislation gets going where speeding will be punished much more heavily in terms of fines. The motorist on e again becomes the government milch cow.

If you can, go on the course, saves you points which will cost on your insurance.

Sounds like you were to me.

I think that some of the answers on here have made the incorrect assumption that the offence will be automatically dealt with by a magistrate. That is not the case unless you wish that to happen. You will get a fixed penalty notice sent to the owner of the vehicle who will be required to disclose who was driving the vehicle at that time. I think, but don't quote me, that the vehicle owner must reply within 28 days. The next step is that the fixed penalty notice will be sent to the driver, disclosed by the owner who then has 28 days (?) to accept the statutory charge, attend a magistrates court or if offered, book with the speed awareness course. In the event that a totting up procedure will take the driver over the points limit and result in a possible loss of licence that can only be dealt with through the Magistrates court.

If you are out of the country or away from your home address and can prove it to the satisfaction of the issuing body for the fixed penalty notice they have discretionary powers to cancel any late or non disclosure. You cannot use that as an excuse not to declare if you are still collecting mail at the registered address however.

Does that answer your questions.

I'd be surprised if you ever hear about this again, if you don't hear within 14 days you are pretty much safe. If it takes longer than that you can appeal, I did once but I hadn't registered the vehicle apparently so to be fair it was my fault!

I think the old style cameras have to have film in them and don't think they tend to worry too much about refilling them these days.

That's good. You must stay together when slowing down!!


That's nasty, but I know a good few mechanics who could mend it for you if you want!!

Some insurers now ask, aside from usual question on convictions, whether you have attended any speed awareness courses,
so I reckon they'll use that to justify a higher premium.

Surely the fact that one has attended one of these courses should REDUCE premiums??

Cmon, this is an insurance company we're talking about.

nerc was replying to...


A painful cost is not a matter of not affording.

Probably right, but from what you were bleating on about, and we can, unlike a conversation down the pub, hope to draw a conclusion from what you are saying and perhaps what you are not saying. All of your posts were on about time to pay. That normally indicates that one is boracic. However, now you have let us know that you will be on a two month world cruise, we can drop the sympathy vote.

Andy Crapp, sorry Capp

This what you stated and i responded in what was my thoughts.

FYI, the speed awareness courses are held at Mary Hare School and at present cost £80.00.

The course is only offered to minimal speeding over the limit ie: 34mph in a 30.

The courses are administered by an excellent company (Drive Tech) and usually lasts 4 hours.

Enjoy it.

Better than points.

nerc in all his / her pleasantry again!!

I did the course, and appreciated not having the points, but I found it reasonably informative too.

All I wanted to know is how long I had to pay, but I was given information I doubted. Whether I can afford it or not is immaterial, but I use the holiday scenario as an example, not my intention or situation. I'm not going on holiday and never once said I was.

What I do resent is some people's Schadenfreude and nerc it seems is no exception.

Of course,

i just get fed up with some of the old? and very few posters on this site just complaining about the local council etc.

Some posters really need to get a life and live outside the box of the NWN forum.

Boollox to that rip off.

3 points makes almost no difference to your premiums (or at least compared to the eighty odd knicker you get fleeced). A speed awareness is completely pointless and unhelpful. I have been driving along the A4 for 30 odd years without issue (and only one 'parking' accident when I was in my first year of driving, not hurting anyone in the process), but this time I was a little careless on an empty road in the early hours of the morning. I was going too fast and as is customary, I will get fined. That's that. All I wanted to know is how much I have to pay and when to this scabby Government.

You 'attacked' me. I resent paying £60.00, but I acknowledged that it is due; it is my fault, no one else's. I just wanted information, not your ignorant sarcasm. Fining me £60 will do nothing to change my driving because in this instance I just made a mistake. I don't wilfully drive too fast past speed cameras.

Yes, my son was caught doing 57 in a 50mph limit on a dual carriageway the mad, reckless, dangerous idiot!
He found the course more useful and informative than he anticipated with many handy tips on how not to get caught speeding!!

Glad we've got that out of the way then.

It was a long time ago that I did the awareness thing and I had to go to Bracknell to do it. It saved me the points and I still have a clean licence but apart from the salutary lesson that I had been driving at a reckless 34mph in a road which had recently had the speed limit reduced, I found the course tedious and rather pointless. If you want to keep points off the licence, the only way to do it is to stick within the speed limit. That often is not easy though as spending 10% of your driving time looking at a speedo to make sure your speed hasn't crept up is, in my opinion, a danger in itself. That said, we do need to punish the aggressive speeders who blatantly break the set limits, especially on town and urban roads.

There is no way that a correctly reading speedometer with the correct size wheels and tyres would UNDER READ.
35mph indicated is usually about 31-32mph real speed.

I see no reason why people are getting arsey with AC... he's not complaining about it or whining about it happening, he's accepted responsibility... moan moan moan.

If you were flashed, and you wouldn't be unless you were sufficiently over the limit to be prosecuted, then the next stage is a Notice to Keeper, on which you must name the driver at the time. You have 28 days in which to respond to this or you will receive a Summons for "Failing to Provide" which will be heard in Court and normally 6 points and a couple of hundred £ fine.

Once they have received this, you will get an offer of Fixed Penalty (£60 and 3 points). You have a further 28 days to pay and surrender your licence for endorsement. You may be offered a Speed Awareness Course if you meet the guidelines, this costs more (£90 I think) but removes possibility of conviction & points. If you do not attned the course after choosing it, you will be prosecuted for speeding via a Magistrates' Court.

Some Police Forces combine the Notice to Keeper and FPN if the keeper was the driver. I don't know if TVP do

Assuming the film had not run out - have they gone digital yet?.

I was 'flashed' once and didn't hear anything about it.

You obviously didn't read what I said. I had bigger than standard wheels and I think that you are incorrect about speedos under reading. Modern cars with new and correctly inflated tyres are usually spot on. Next time you pass a set of police speed markers, check your speedo. I did and mine, with the Isuzu, was under reading by 4mph. If you have anything other than standard wheels and tyres check it out. Bigger wheels and low profiles might cancel each other out however.

double post waiting for the forum to catch up

Read this
http://www.speedview.co/forum/Thread-How-a...-factory-speedo

Compared to my satnav my speedo reads about 5% low - factory standard car/tires.

Compared to my satnav my speedo reads about 7% high - factory standard car/and english tyres.

I always find using the satnav is most reliable way of checking speed, and will normally be more accurate than the old speedo.

I try my best not to!

So you changed your wheel and tyre sizes and essed around with your speedo.

My front wheels are causing my speedo to under read by about 4-6%, as I need smaller front wheels for arch and suspension clearance. So it means if I'm doing an indicated 70mph I'm doing more like 66 - bearing in mind that an indicated 70 in my car is (or was, rather) about 66-67 indicated then I'm doing more like 62-63.

All speedometers should either be deadly accurate or under read, as in an indithis is what I have found in every car or bike I've driven, or owned. If your speedo was saying you are doing 40mph then your actual speed should be like 36-38mph.

**** I do realise in my tired and not bothered state I have confused under and over reading.. simple minds

I assume you have a pocket calculator alongside you at all times then.



I don't have a sat nav so that doesn't work for me but the speedo is real time and the sat nav is elapsed time so by the time the little electronic device has worked out how fast you are going, it's too late and you've blipped a speed camera. Is that right ?.

Not heard of Mental Arithmetic then?

Not a very logical young fellow are you.

Sorry - I meant 5% high.

I don't use my satnav as a speedo - just as a way of calibrating my speedo.

And no, I don't need a calculator to work out what 5% of something is.

I'm sure you don't but MMs description of his speedo variance was not quite so precise.

If my speedo was reading low and I was doing 60mph in the middle lane and MM came up behind me weaving across from the inside lane and flashing his lights, what would be our true speed and how much energy would we expend..... Ah, forget it.