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DIR Return to: Speeding and other criminal offences
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#Post#: 60582--------------------------------------------------
FPN (Points and Fine), no SAC offered
DIR By: jayudd
Date: March 4, 2025, 1:08 pm
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Hi all,
I hope all is well.
I had an urgent query if the community can advise:
My wife is a named driver on her brother's car. Brother is the
registered keeper and lives in one part of London. Wife and I
live in the outskirts of Essex.
This particular day in question, in September, my wife had gone
up to Cambridge and she was caught doing 80 in a 70 dual
carriageway.
The first letter came came in brothers name and he was to
identify the driver. This was submitted on the 5th February by
brother at the earliest opportunity. He identified my wife as
the driver on that fateful day.
A new letter came under wife's name, dated 6th February. Wife
and I had been away and recently returned.
Wife emailed the CTO office asking why SAC was not offered, they
replied with the following:
In order for a driver awareness course to be offered, we have to
receive an admission from the driver within 3 ½ months of the
date of the offence.
Regrettably your online admission was received on the 5th
February 2025 therefore this was 5 months after the date of the
offence.
In the circumstances, you will either have to accept the fixed
penalty or if you dispute the offence to request a court
hearing.
My wife received her notification on the 5th February so it was
already over the 3 1/2 months mark, and nowhere did it say about
the 3 1/2 months rule, from what I could remember. had we known,
the reply would have been given promptly. She replied back
stating the same. We await their response.
It's either she accepts the 3 points and £100 fine or go to
court.
This is her first time getting caught speeding, and is usually a
careful driver, don't know what happened that day.
What would be the best course of action in this case? Between
the both of us, this is the first time we've had such a thing
happen, so not sure what to do? She relies on her car a lot and
is afraid this will ofcourse push her insurance up.
I would be grateful for any advice and help on the matter. We
have until 14th March t respond to accepting the fine and points
or go to court.
Thank you all.
#Post#: 60585--------------------------------------------------
Re: FPN (Points and Fine), no SAC offered
DIR By: andy_foster
Date: March 4, 2025, 1:19 pm
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She can accept the fixed penalty, or be taken to court. Unless
she has a viable defence that you have chosen not to trouble us
with, the fixed penalty is the best disposal she will get.
#Post#: 60603--------------------------------------------------
Re: FPN (Points and Fine), no SAC offered
DIR By: NewJudge
Date: March 4, 2025, 2:28 pm
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Is your brother-in-law the Registered Keeper (i.e. does he hold
the V5C and are his details correctly recorded on it)?
If he is, and assuming he responded promptly, does he know of
any reason why the police took four or five months to contact
him?
What date in September was the alleged offence?
#Post#: 60771--------------------------------------------------
Re: FPN (Points and Fine), no SAC offered
DIR By: Logician
Date: March 5, 2025, 11:37 am
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As your wife appears to be the only possible driver, and the
police have refused to offer a course (to which there is no
legal entitlement anyway) the fixed penalty seems to be the
best available outcome, she cannot get less than 3 points if she
goes to court and the financial penalty will be greater. 3
points is unlikely to have much effect on her insurance premium,
if any.
#Post#: 62379--------------------------------------------------
Re: FPN (Points and Fine), no SAC offered
DIR By: jayudd
Date: March 13, 2025, 2:14 pm
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Hi All,
I challenged the CTO office and replied to their email above
saying how could we have reasonably replied back to the notice
if the registered keeper was notified first, who then sent in
the actual drivers details. The whole process by the time my
wife received the notice was more than 3 1/2 months.
This was their reply:
Thank you for the below email, after reviewing this matter, due
to the date of the offence, the decision has been made to
discontinue with this offence therefore please accept this email
as confirmation that no further action will be taken.
I would however advise that should a similar offence occur, we
would not be able to intervene again.
Good result in the end!
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