Alan Cameron | Partner

Speeding

Most speeding offences occur on build-up roads and you will have been deemed to have been speeding if your vehicle was driven over the prescribed speed limit on a road. If you are caught speeding a court could impose a discretionary disqualification but commonly issue 3 to 6 penalty points and a maximum penalty of £2,500.

You will normally be caught speeding by either by a speed camera or by a police officer. If you get caught speeding by a speed camera the owner of the vehicle will be sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution commonly known as a NIP and will be sent a Section 172 Notice, this would normally be required to be served within 14 days of the offence. A section 172 notice is a requirement of the registered keeper to notify the police of who was driving the vehicle at the time at which the alleged offence took place.

It is absolutely crucial that you do not ignore a section 172 notice and failure to respond to a notice is itself a criminal offence. It is a defence to a failure to comply with a section 172 notice if the owner of the vehicle does not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained who the driver of the vehicle was at the relevant time.

A NIP and a section 172 notice will not be required if you are stopped by police officers. When stopped by police officers you will either be given a warning, issued with a fixed penalty notice, or notified that you will be reported to the Procurator Fiscal who may require you to attend court at a later date. A fixed penalty notice will require you to pay a £100 fine and have 3 penalty points added to your licence, this will not be considered a criminal offence. You will not be issued a fixed penalty notice if you are liable for totting up disqualification, i.e. you already have 9 or more penalty points on your licence, or if your speed is more than just over the speed limit.

If reported to the Procurator Fiscal they will require to serve a complaint against you within 6 months of the date of offence, failure to do may result in a bar to any prosecution.

If you need any advice regards to a speeding offence or any other road traffic offence please contact us today. Our specialist team are ready to take your call.

Alan Cameron

Alan Cameron

Dispute Resolution Team

“My motto is: ‘First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.’”

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