Speeding in Liverpool

[ant1977]

I got 3 points and £100 fine for speeding on Edge lane in Liverpool. My friend said i should of been offered the choice of completing a speed awareness course. Is this correct?

[renegadeimp]

All depends how fast you were going and what the speed limit was, and if you contested it or not.

[Conniff]

Why would you want a speed awareness course, you have a speedo in front of you.

[sailor sam]

All depends how fast you were going and what the speed limit was, and if you contested it or not.

 

Correct apart from that bit. Assuming the OP was caught by a camera, first you get a NIP (Notice of intended prosecution) which you complete and send back. Then they will either send out a FPN or an offer to attend a speed awareness course providing you haven't been offered one within the last 3 years.

 

You can only contest the FPN by attending court. If you get a FPN, then you couldn't of met the criteria for the course.

[ant1977]

Never been caught for speeding before. After completing and returning the NIP, just received a fixed penalty. No option for the speed awareness course.

[renegadeimp]

What was the speed limit and how fast were you going?

[ant1977]

Around 50 mph in a 40 zone.

[Nimrod205]

What does "around" mean? Can you be more specific?

[porkyp1g]

That's over the threshold, I think it's plus 5mph of the speed limit allowance. It's 40mph + 4mph speedo allowance + 5mph = 49 mph in total. Looks like you just missed out.

[Nimrod205]

The criteria used for assessing eligibility for the speed awareness course is speed within the range of speed limit + 10% + 2 mph to speed limit + 10% +6 mph. In a 40 mph speed limit, this equates to speeds from 46 mph to 50 mph.

[Aretnap]

It he current threshold for any force in the national scheme (ie almost all of them now) is 10%+9 and has been for years. So up to and including 53 in a 40. See here, page 7

 

http://www.acpo.police.uk/documents/uniformed/2013/201305-uoba-joining-forces-safer-roads.pdf

 

That said the offer is discretionary and there is no 'right' to demand one simply because you were doing a particular speed. The most common reason why you might not be offered one would be if it took a long time after the offence (a few months) for you to confirm that you were driving - perhaps because it was a hire or company car and they had to send NIPs to,other proper first before they caught up wit you. When was the actual offence? And what does "around 50" mean?