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#Post#: 111275--------------------------------------------------
Fixed penalty speeding fine refunded but points remain
By: JollyChappy Date: February 26, 2026, 1:45 pm
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On 26/11/25 I received an NIP from West Midlands Police for a
speeding offence (code RR84018). I admitted being the driver and
received the COFP on 12/12/25 asking me to pay the £100 fine and
provide licence details, which I did online via the
penaltynotice.direct.gov.uk site on 16/12/25.
I have recently looked at my credit card statement for January,
and see that on 10/01/25 I was refunded the £100 by
HMCOURTS-SVS.GOV.U LEEDS.
I initially thought that the penalty notice had been cancelled,
even though when I checked my DVLA record, I found the 3 penalty
points recorded. I emailed
'centralticketoffice@west-midlands.police.uk'on 02/02/26 asking
them to confirm the date that the penalty notice was cancelled,
so I could approach DVLA to remove the points. I have not
received a response to that email.
I’ve now done a bit of digging and see forums which suggest that
the refund was given as I did not provide the correct licence
details via penaltynotice.direct.gov.uk, and that I may now
receive a court summons, a bigger fine and more penalty points.
I haven’t received anything official in the post yet but what,
if anything, should I be proactively doing now? I’ve had another
look at the COFP letter and it directs queries regarding licence
and/or payment queries to
fixedpenaltyoffice[member=6517]justice[/member].gov.uk. I’m
minded to email them but don’t know what to put in the email.
Annoyingly, no confirmation email was provided by
penaltynotice.direct.gov.uk when I paid the £100 fine on
16/12/25.
I’d be very grateful if someone could kindly advise.
#Post#: 111278--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fixed penalty speeding fine refunded but points remain
By: andy_foster Date: February 26, 2026, 2:09 pm
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Welcome to the sausage machine.
Unless/until you find out what has happened and/or why it has
happened, not much you can do, other than follow the general
advice regarding anything that has a likelihood of ending up in
court - keep everything in a safe place and keep contemporaneous
notes. As a wise man once said, blunt pencils are better than
sharp memories.
Personally, if it was me, contacting the fixed penalty office to
find out why the fixed penalty has been refunded would have been
a higher priority than asking an internet forum.
Logically, either some major issue with the alleged speeding
offence has come to light, causing them to cancel everything, or
they have refunded the penalty due to the perceived failure to
comply with what appears to be a questionable requirement to
separately provide your identification details (particularly as
they appear to have managed to apply the points without them).
For the most part, we will not be engaging in idle speculation
as to which of the possibilities applies, but we are vaguely
aware of an issue regarding the evidence in some Variable Speed
Limit cases - were you caught allegedly speeding in a variable
speed limit?
#Post#: 111301--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fixed penalty speeding fine refunded but points remain
By: JollyChappy Date: February 27, 2026, 12:56 am
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Thank you for your comments Andy - appreciated.
I have now emailed penaltynotice.direct.gov.uk with a copy of
the email sent to centralticketoffice@west-midlands.police.uk'on
02/02/26 and asked for an explanation. FYI, the
"Dear Sir/Madam
I am forwarding you the below email that I sent to the Central
Ticket Office at West Midlands Police on 02/02/2026, but to
which I’ve not received a response. My details are as follows:
NAME: xxx
ADDRESS: xxx
DATE OF BIRTH: xxx
NOTICE NUMBER: xxx
DRIVING LICENCE NUMBER: xxx
In summary, following receipt of the COFA on 12/12/2025 in
relation to a speeding infringement on 22/11/2025, I paid the
£100 fine and provided my Driving Licence details via the
penaltynotice.direct.gov.uk portal on 16/12/2025 (Option 1).
Please see attached.
I have checked my credit card statement and notice that, on
09/01/2026, a credit of £100 by HMCOURTS-SVS.GOV.U LEEDS was
made (which appeared on my credit card statement on 10/01/2026;
please see attached screenshot).
At the time, I assumed that the Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) had
been cancelled as there were media articles suggesting erroneous
issuing of FPNs. However when I performed a Licence Check via
the DVLA portal, I found the 3 points relating to the FPN
(please see attached screenshot).
I’m now concerned that there may be another reason why I was
refunded the £100 fine. Perhaps I entered one of the numbers on
my driving licence incorrectly when paying the FPN, although I
feel this is unlikely as the points are recorded with the DVLA?.
As per my request below to the Central Ticket Office at West
Midlands Police on 02/02/2026, please can you kindly confirm
that the FPN has been cancelled or provide a reason for the
refund by HMCOURTS-SVS.GOV.U LEEDS on 09/01/2026.
Yours sincerely"
FYI, the contravention stated is "exceed 70mph motorway limit -
automatic camera device"
Many thanks again
#Post#: 111328--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fixed penalty speeding fine refunded but points remain
By: Reentrant Date: February 27, 2026, 5:35 am
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Unless West Midlands have changed their system very recently,
you also have to sign and post the form confirming your address
and licence details (even though you did so online as well). If
you don't you have not fully complied with the Conditional
Offer.
#Post#: 111346--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fixed penalty speeding fine refunded but points remain
By: JollyChappy Date: February 27, 2026, 6:56 am
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Hello Reentrant
Thanks for your comments. I have had another careful look at the
COFA letter. At the top, in bold, in says:
"You must pay your fixed penalty and submit your licence details
using one of the two options below within the time limits
specified in your fixed penalty notice. Note: you must do this
regardless of whether you have submitted your licence details to
the police/online at a previous stage of the process. Failure to
do so may result in your fixed penalty offer being withdrawn and
the matter being referred to court.
I took Option 1 which says:
"Option 1: Payment and Driving Licence Details Submission Online
How - By visiting the website below or scanning the QR code to
the right and simply following the instructions on screen.
You may also want to make a note of your payment reference
Online number:
HTML https://penaltynotice.direct.gov.uk
You will need:
* The fixed penalty notice details shown at the top of this
page, a valid debit or credit card and your driving licence
details"
Hope that makes sense.
#Post#: 111384--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fixed penalty speeding fine refunded but points remain
By: Reentrant Date: February 27, 2026, 9:53 am
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Ah OK. Looks like the system has changed for the better.
#Post#: 111706--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fixed penalty speeding fine refunded but points remain
By: JollyChappy Date: March 2, 2026, 3:50 am
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In a weekend of globally bad news, at least there is one piece
of welcome news, just received from the Fixed Penalty Office
following my email to them on Friday.
"Thankyou for your email and attachments.
We are sorry to hear that you have not had a response yet from
the West Midlands police, however, they are extremely busy and
we can confirm for you that the notice has been cancelled. The
police will be able to confirm why it has been cancelled as it
is their decision as they issued the original notice.
They are also responsible for confirming that the points should
be removed etc so that the instructions can then be given to the
DVLA. Please bear with them while this process is arranged.
Kind Regards"
Once I hear back from West Midlands Police, I will share their
reasons here. As my car insurance renews in 10 March and I have
already declared the 3 points, I'm hoping that I'll hear back
from them beforehand as the policy amendment fees are high.
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