Free Traffic Legal Advice

Understanding your options:

https://review-magistrates-court-decision.form.service.justice.gov.uk/

(1) You can tell the court someone has falsely given your details in connection to the offence.
(2) You can make a Legal Statement in court that you didn't know about the case.
(3) You can ask the court to Reopen your case because you didn't get the opportunity to make your case in court originally (you'll need to attend a court hearing).
(4) You can ask the Court to review your fine, because of a low income, benefits or change of financial circumstances. (you may need to attend a court hearing).  This will not change the original outcome of your case including any penalty points.

What to do next:

(1) To complete the form click here - Review a magistrates' court decision form
(2) The attached document, Single Justice Procedure Notice (SJPN), has information to help you answer the questions on the webform. DO NOT post or email the SJPN this is for your records only.
(3) At the end of the webform, press submit.
(4) Once you submit the form, this is then provided to the relevant court. They will process this in line with their own processing times and can take up to 6 months for you to hear from them. Please do not chase this before the 6 months is up.

An email will be sent to Enforcement and Bailiffs (if involved) to advise them you have made an application for the court to review your case, any further action is at their discretion.

Good afternoon

Because you pleaded guilty to the matter, your option is to Appeal against the sentence.

Appeals are heard at the Crown Court, and you need to attend.  You should seek independent legal advice before Appealing as should you lose your Appeal, you could incur further costs.

I have attached an Appeal form that must be receive at this email address by 24.04.26 to process within the time limits.

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From: DIB-London <DIB-London@justice.gov.uk>
Sent: 09 April 2026 16:26

Good afternoon,

That is correct. He can appeal the sentence.

Kind regards

========

From: LondonStatDec-Reopen
Sent: 09 April 2026 11:01

Good morning Legal

This gentleman seeks a reopening, but when you look at his case he pleaded guilty online and his sentence reflects that the online plea was taken into account.

He mentions not receiving a Conditional offer from the police, but this would have been seen by the Legal/Magistrate when sentencing, so is his only option to Appeal now, rather than reopen?

Many thanks

Regards

Dear South London MC Administration,

Thank you for your email and for providing the Appeal forms.

I note from the internal correspondence provided that the Legal Adviser suggested an Appeal is the required route because the "online plea was taken into account." Respectfully, this misses the core of my application. While I am aware of the right to appeal to the Crown Court, I wish to first exercise my right to apply for a variation of sentence under Section 142 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980.

This application is based on a specific sentencing oversight regarding the "Fixed Penalty Equivalent" guidance in the Sentencing Council’s Explanatory Material. This guidance states that where a Fixed Penalty was unavailable due to administrative reasons, the offender should not be disadvantaged.

As this is a request to rectify a sentencing oversight rather than a challenge to the conviction itself, the Magistrates' Court retains the jurisdiction to hear this in the interests of justice, without the need for a full Crown Court appeal. To clarify, my application is not regarding the 33% guilty plea discount (which was correctly applied), but rather the Court's failure to apply the Fixed Penalty Equivalent as per the guidelines.

Furthermore, the sentencing remarks have taken into account the guilty plea, but provide no indication that my declaration of income was considered. Based on my net annual income of £15,391 (£296 per week), the total penalty of £269 appears disproportionate and significantly exceeds the threshold suggested by the judicial guidelines for this offence.

A guilty plea does not preclude the Court from exercising its power to vary a sentence under Section 142. This section exists specifically to allow a Magistrate to correct such an oversight, avoiding the need to force a defendant into a costly and time-consuming Crown Court Appeal process for an error that can be rectified at the Magistrates' level.

Please could you confirm that this written application will be placed before a Senior Legal Advisor or a Magistrate for a formal decision on whether the Court will exercise its Section 142 powers?

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours faithfully

I suggest you be more aware of speed limits in future. Make sure you inform them of your current status, if they find out via other methods they can revoke your PH licence. Double jeopardy I'm sorry to say.

Dear Clerk to the Justices,

I am writing to formally apply for my case (Ref: ) to be re-opened under Section 142 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, in the interests of justice.

1. On 3rd March 2026, I was sentenced to a total financial penalty of £269 for a speeding offence: exceeding a 30 mph speed limit (recorded at 35 mph). I believe the Court has erred by failing to apply the Sentencing Council’s guidance regarding 'Fixed Penalty Equivalents.'

In my original mitigation, it was submitted that:

2. I was eligible to receive a Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty, as my recorded speed was well within the acceptable threshold for such an offer.

3. I never received any Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty. While the Metropolitan Police witness statement claims one was issued, I state categorically that it was never served at my address.

4. The Sentencing Council guidance states: “Where a penalty notice was not offered... for reasons unconnected with the offence... the court should consider imposing a penalty equivalent to the fixed penalty.”

5. The current sentence of £269 puts me at a significant disadvantage compared to the £100 Fixed Penalty I would have accepted had I received the offer. Furthermore, based on my previous year’s net income of £15,391, this fine represents approximately 1.75% of my total annual income, which is disproportionately high for this level of offence.

6. I respectfully ask that the Court re-opens the case to adjust the fine, costs, and victim surcharge to match the Fixed Penalty Equivalent (a total of £100), as per the judicial guidelines.

I am not seeking to overturn the conviction (the 3 points), but rather to rectify an error in sentencing. According to the Sentencing Council’s 'Explanatory Material,' the Court should ensure an offender is not disadvantaged by the unavailability of a penalty notice. To achieve the Fixed Penalty Equivalent of £100, I propose the following structure: a fine of £72 and a victim surcharge of £28, with prosecution costs waived, as costs are not applicable in a standard Fixed Penalty scenario.

I also request a Stay of Execution on the current collection order while this application is considered.

I look forward to your response regarding a hearing date or a decision by a Single Justice to rectify this sentence.

Yours faithfully,

How can you know whether a COFP was sent?

What you have shown us are not the evidential photos, but presumably cropped versions of the evidential photos - with the data block removed for some unspecified reason.

unless you can show that such a ban would cause exceptional hardship

cunningly hidden at the top of this forum.

I am pleading guilty to the offence of speeding (35mph in a 30mph zone). I accept full responsibility for the error. However, I respectfully request that the Court considers sentencing me in line with the 'Fixed Penalty Equivalent' principle (specifically £100 and 3 penalty points), as per the Sentencing Council’s guidelines for cases where a Conditional Offer was not received due to administrative reasons.

I would like the Court to consider the following timeline, which demonstrates that I have acted in good faith but was denied the opportunity to resolve this without court proceedings:

1. NIP Response: I attempted to respond to the NIP online up until 10/10/2025, but the Metropolitan Police portal was non-functional (recorded by a system error message). Consequently, I responded by post on the same day, including a letter explaining the technical delay.

2. Missing Conditional Offer: The witness statement claims a Conditional Offer was sent on 23/10/2025. I state categorically that no such offer was received at my address, which is the correct address of service.

3. Contradictory Correspondence: On 14/01/2026, I received an email from the Metropolitan Police (Laura Drury) stating they were in 'receipt of my admission' (which is 3 months after it was sent), and that they were only then 'implementing a new business process' for digital documentation and asking me to opt-in or out of digital service.

4. Action Taken: I responded immediately on 15/01/2026, requesting to continue via post. The police confirmed receipt of this preference on 16/01/2026.

It is my submission that if the police were just dealing with my NIP's response and still establishing my communication preferences in mid-January 2026, it is highly likely that the Conditional Offer supposedly sent in October 2025 was never successfully served or was caught in an administrative backlog.

As a professional Private Hire (PHV) driver, I am acutely aware of the importance of maintaining a clean driving record for my livelihood. This conviction will bring my total to 9 penalty points. Given the high stakes involved for my career, I would have had every incentive to accept and pay a £100 Conditional Offer immediately to resolve the matter. I would never have ignored such an offer and allowed it to escalate to court proceedings voluntarily.

In light of the above, and given that my speed (35mph) falls well within the threshold for a Fixed Penalty, I request that the fine be limited to £100 and that no victim surcharge or court costs be awarded, or that they be kept to a minimum, to reflect the position I would have been in had the offer reached me.

Exhibit A: Screenshot of the Met Police website error.
Exhibit B: Photo of the stamp/proof of postage.
Exhibit C: The email from Laura Drury.

Hello,

I’m still yet to receive the order of recovery, however, I’ve just read through another’s users post on a similar situation that seemed to advanced unfavourably.
After sending his witnessed declaration that he had not received ´notice of rejection’, he was asked to prove he didn’t receive post? How is it possible to prove such a thing?

FaiThe video is rubbish - sorry, of very little evidential value! What a cheek they have to pursue this. They remember you, of course.